conjectural navel gazing; jesus in lint form

more on discipline

Argh! I just lost what was an entirely cogent post! This is such a rare event for me. I am devistated. *sigh*

Let me try to reconstruct it. *whine*

I think some of Megan's comments on the previous post on discipline were helpful. I like the challenges...and the warnings she offers. Fortunately, Foster responds on his own and I do not need to defend him. There is a section in the book entitled The Way of Death: Turning the Disciplines into Laws. How I understand Megan's warnings and concerns is related to this. It may not be what Megan was getting at, but it is the connection that I made.

The Spiritual Disciplines are intended for our good. They are meant to bring the abundance of God into our lives. It is possible, however, to turn them into another set of soul-killing laws. Law-bound Disciplines breathe death.

This is what I understand to be the underlying experience or fear of many I encounter. Doctrine and dogma need to be understood as Spiritual Disciplines so that they too may be sheltered by this warning. There is a discipline to Discipline. They cannot be legalized or, as Foster suggests, "externalized."

When the disciplines degenerate into law, they are used to manipulate and control people. We take explicit commands and use them to imprison others. The result of such deterioration of the Spiritual Disciplines is prise and fear. Pride takes over because we come to believe that we are the right kind of people. Fear takes over because the power of controlling others carries with it the anxiety of losing control, and the anxiety of being controlled by others.

The scriptural background for this is found in Matthew's gospel. 5:20 is a good start. There is righteousness beyond externalism. Also, there is a false burden involved in "externalism."

If we are to understand disciplines and doctrines as a burden similar to that of the Pharisees long prayer shawls or in the practice of strapping Torah to one's forehead, then they are false burdens. Matthew 23:4 suggests this strongly. Disciplines and doctrines can become inappropriate burdens. But overarching those burdens may be another. Foster continues:

If we are to progress in the spiritual walk so that the Disciplines are a blessing and not a curse, we must come to the place in our lves where we lay down the everlasting burden of needing to manage others. That need more than any single thing will lead us to turn the Spiritual Disciplines into laws...When we genuinely believe that inner transformation is God's work and not ours, we can put to rest our passion to set others straight. (p. 9)

This is how I often understand people's aversion to disciplines, doctrine and dogma. It is an understandable aversion. All Christian communities are guilty of this sin. Even if our traditions do not support such abuse, we have still slipped up and done so. We Baptists certainly have and continue to do so. And this is not limited to one end of the theological spectrum over another.

Foster suggests that such "management" is the ongoing danger in a community of thought and prayer. It is simply the trouble with discipline. It is what can happen when we are left to our own devices individually or as community. Fortunately, we are not abandoned by God. I must confess that I oft fall into a modified deism. I forget Christ's promises.

Jesus Christ has promised to be our present Teacher and Guide. His voice is not hard to hear. His instruction is not hard to understand. If we are beginning to calcify what should always remain alive and growing, He will tell us. We can trust in His teaching.

This is what I think needs to be highlighted most of all. The disciplines do not exist for their own sake. They do not exist so that an institution might control its members. No. They exist so that we may find ourselves in dialogue with God. They are portals to divinity. They are ways for us to learn to listen and to speak. They are never means of control...though we will try our best to make them so.

As an important aside, Foster reminds us of the reality that there is such a thing as "internalism." As there is "externalism" a false legalism, there is the tendancy to toss the baby out with the bath water. An internal work, suggests Foster, "is impossible to control." Frustratingly, he does not go into any explanation of this statement in this part of the book. I hope he gets back to it. But as I understand it, tradition, discipline, doctrine, and even dogma have their part in our spiritual growth. There must be something in which a plant takes root to grow. A structure is important. It would seem, from Foster's statement, it is perhaps as important as the "free movement" of the Spirit.

God cannot be hemmed in. No. It is not possible. The closest we come is imprisoning one another. This we do well. But Disciplines are modes of freedom, not imprisonment. By coming closer to God, we become more free, more ourselves.

Posted by tripp at November 2, 2005 12:03 PM