The Parachute Parable

Disclaimer: None of the following subject matter is intended to cast aspersions, or unqualified doubt upon any intimate revelation a Christian may have been given and which they may call, whether rightly or wrongly, "Baptism in the Spirit", or for that matter upon any other form of revelatory wonder to which they may have been witness. About such things I here make no comment whatever, deeming them to be matters well beyond the scope of the present discussion. My concern here is largely with the causes of, and description of, a Christian culture often found riding on the back of such experiences; a culture that categorizes Christians, limits them, labels them, antagonizes them, divides them, and with a partisan spirit makes implicit valued judgments about Christian diversity..... 
April 1997

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A comic caricature of the actual situation I know, but it gets the point across: Trance-like states of consciousness and sublime inner gnosis of the Divine are de rigueur in some churches.

  

Recently in an email I found myself writing the following in regard to the ethos found among many contemporary Christians: 

Today’s postmodern/existential Christians believe that the highest form of faith is expressed in those highly intuitive states of mind involving experiential epiphanies, inner-light revelations, ecstasies, high passions, emotional unravellings, swoonings, sublime “gnosis”, altered states of consciousness etc etc (call them what you will). In this context Biblical “head knowledge” tends to be regarded as second best to these more sublime “power” orientated spiritual states of consciousness.  In these days of a marginalised and troubled Christian culture many seek this kind of “deep soul” faith as a fix for a spiritual existential crisis and/or to authenticate faith. Bible study for its own sake doesn’t sell well here. None of this is to say that Christians don’t, from time to time, have indescribable epiphanies & ecstasies; rather, I’m referring here to an underlying postmodern/existential influenced philosophy that nowadays tends to put a premium on the “passions” of the inner life. 

I have, in the past, related this seeking of sublime experience of God to the almost sensual revelation depicted in Bernini's image of St Teresa. But before I go any further let me make it clear that the foregoing certainly doesn't apply to all evangelical and fundamentalist Christians: For example, the hyper-conservative Christians who identify strongly with the reformation patriarchs tend not to go in for this kind of experience bending Christianity; in fact it is something they regard as most unhealthy and recommend instead a "Word" based faith; Logos as opposed to Pneuma is their preferred slant.  Also, many reasonable Christians in academia would not be attracted by an over emphasis on Christian "gnosis".  Let me also mention here a group of charismatic Christians I refer to as  reformo-charismatics.  They are Charismatic Christians who were completely put off by the bizarre excesses surrounding the "Toronto Blessing" as it reached its demented crescendo in the mid 1990s; for them enough was enough! The reformo-charismatics continue to strongly critique Christians who are constantly on the look out for supernatural novelties. The reformo-Charismatics see the so-called  "Baptism of the Spirit" as a one-off initiation into "the power of the Spirit" and would likely condemn Christians who constantly seek to "get high" on novel experiences; which is, in fact, what a portion of Charismatic sub-culture has degenerated into. 

Interestingly, and very significantly in my opinion, you will also find an interest in "gnostic" states of mind among new-agers as they seek some inner connection with ultimate Truth in reaction against the seemingly profane "materialist" worldview which has, apparently, swept the cosmos clean of sacred mystique. But the new-ager can be just about as wacky as the gnosto-fundamentalists!

I have posted on this subject of the "gnostic" drift of Christianity many times before. Here's a sample:

http://viewsnewsandpews.blogspot.com/2017/04/mythos-versus-logos.html
http://viewsnewsandpews.blogspot.com/2012/10/dallas-willard-catches-up-on-gnosticism.html
http://viewsnewsandpews.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-existential-drift.html
https://norwichcentralbaptistchurch.blogspot.com/2010/05/once-more-unto-breach-dear-friends-once.html

https://norwichcentralbaptistchurch.blogspot.com/2010/12/another-manifestation-of-logosmythos.html

https://norwichcentralbaptistchurch.blogspot.com/2007/12/having-sex-with-god-sometimes-life.html

It is true to say that an interest in "inner-light" and altered states of consciousness are not always quite so pronounced and bizarre as we see in the "Charismatic Dubstep" video above. More usually we see gnostic interests manifested in a spiritual value system which regards the inner encounter with God (Or as it used to be called "the touch of God") as the pinnacle of spirituality. Here is an example of a quote which, I submit, comes out of a spiritual value system biased toward initiations into the transforming power of "God consciousness":

Pray for the Encountering God for all of us. How we need so much more of the Holy Spirit and to truly encounter God to be totally transformed”

Another piece of evidence which I believe comes out of a gnostic slanting world view is the habitual quip which refers to the "18 inch gap between head and heart". By and large the users of this quip don't mean the difference between knowing about something and actually believing it and practicing it; for if you practice and believe as hard as you might, to the Christian gnostic belief is pretty second rate until you have had an experience the Spirit or had the touch of God or Encountered God  or had what ever cliche may be used to  describe the required sublime epiphany.

I believe in the science of parachutes, but
put one on my back and ask me to jump at
10,000 feet is another thing....!

I myself reject this false dichotomy of head vs heart. Emotions, feelings and deep intuitive states are useless unless they are channelled as a kind of fuel driving the organisation imposed by the so called "head"; head and heart can not be separated anymore than a working car can be separated from its fuel. That head and heart, so called, are inseparably linked becomes clear in the following illustration.

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If you sent me up in an aircraft and put a parachute on my back and asked me to jump out at 10,000 feet I couldn't do it! This wouldn't mean, of course, that I don't have a deep belief that parachutes work. But if we were to think about this scenario in polarised gnostic terms it might be claimed that I only had a second rate "head knowledge" of parachutes as opposed to the "experience of parachuting". But this dichotomy is really to misrepresent the situation. I certainly believe "in my heart" that parachutes work; the trouble is that my lower level preservation instincts don't believe it! But if, say, I had decided to start doing parachuting as a hobby then I would seek enough training in order to re-educate my low-level instincts. What would be the deep seated motives driving this training period? Firstly there would be the desire to join in the fun of parachuting, but secondly there would also be the underlying "intellectual" belief in the science of parachutes and this deep seated intellectual belief is entirely necessary to drive the project.

In this parachute scenario we see that what might at first sight be classed as "head knowledge" is in fact an important factor in motivating the project; without it parachuting as a hobby would never get off the ground, so to speak. It is ironic then that what today's existential Christian is inclined to identify as second rate  "head knowledge" is in fact at one level actually "heart knowledge"! Intellect and heart can not be portrayed as a sharp dichotomy.  It is the deep beliefs located in our worldview, and not the emotional froth and bubble, which drives the faith.

But let me end once again with my usual disclaimer: None of this is to deny that some Christians have ecstasies and epiphanies; it's just that not everyone does and the gnostics need to acknowledge that and stop underrating Logos Christians.