Restoration Nation

[MEET MY FRIEND, SHAWN HESKETH OF HOUSTON, TEXAS. HE IS ON STAFF AT LIFE REVEALING COMMUNITY AND IS THE BRAINCHILD BEHIND MY WEBSITE AND SOON TO BE NEWSLETTER. THE FOLLOWING IS A POSTING ON HIS WEBSITE (ShawnHesketh.com). I LOVE THOSE GUYS WHO THINK WITH THEIR HEART AND NOT THEIR BRAIN!]

The mainstream church has bought into the Knowledge Age hook, line and sinker. We have attempted to reduce the deep and meaningful spiritual truths of the Scriptures to a set of formulas, facts and steps to happiness, health and wealth. Modern Christianity is nothing more than a means to achieving the illusive AMERICAN DREAM.

The Bible is not a collection of facts. It’s a powerful story. And contrary to our modern culture, stories are infinitely more powerful than facts.
Sadly, as we have reduced the Bible to “just the facts,” it has become irrelevant to an increasingly high-touch culture that is desperately searching for significance.

Fundamentalists have argued that the Bible is 100% accurate in every fact, historical, scientific and otherwise.You don’t have to look very far to realize that this is a completely irrational argument.

But the backlash of this argument is that the Bible is no longer viewed as the transformative, paradigm-altering, life-enriching story it was intended to be. The gritty, emotionally gripping story of real-life humans—just like you and I—struggling to discover meaning, purpose and connection with God. I once heard that history itself is God’s story: His story.

I sincerely believe that there is a great spiritual awakening taking place right now. Ironically (or not), our churches seem to be losing members at an unprecedented pace. Many fundamentalists would argue that this is evidence our society is hell-bound. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The reality is that folks are searching for a deeper experience of the spiritual than what is offered in our churches today. More than four quick steps to this and a cute platitude about that. This morning, the pastor of one of our largest churches delivered a sermon about the “favor of God,” citing examples of how God had literally “parted traffic” so he could drive through, and given him a front-row parking spot at a crowded parking lot. Really? God—the Creator of the Universe—exists to make your commute easier? What an enlightenment.

Perhaps if we returned to the teachings of Jesus—the power of the story—we would find a renewed source of life. If we stop arguing that the Bible is completely and irrefutably literal, we may discover that the stories have even more meaning, are even more relevant and deeply significant than we ever imagined. And lastly, we may re-discover the ability that the Bible once held to emotionally touch and transform our souls. (You do remember your soul, don’t you? It’s that part of you that causes you to feel, rather than think.)

We need more than just the facts about God. We need an emotional encounter with God. We need to lose ourselves once again in the story. Let’s all tell our minds to take a break from all the intellectualizing and share a story instead. Your story. God’s story.