Mad in Pursuit

"We find that whole communities suddenly fix their minds upon one object, and go mad in its pursuit; that millions of people become simultaneously impressed with one delusion, and run after it, till their attention is caught by some new folly more captivating than the first."—Charles Mackay, in Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (1841)

 

I find it remarkable that we in the Church, year after year, run lickety-split after every new-born fad the world conceives—mad in pursuit. We readily embrace each system; but seldom do we "test the spirits" to see if these ideologies fully embrace and reflect the mind of God (1 John 4:1).

 

For that reason, I often caution young pastors against running after new theologies. There’s something about youth that loves new and unusual, experimental, progressive ideas, but the gospel is not avant-garde. We go back to “that which was from the beginning,” to the old orthodoxies, to the clear teaching of Jesus and his apostles (1 John 1:1). 

 

Inevitably, progressive concepts fade away as the world finds them wanting and moves on to "another folly more captivating than the first." Yet the Church clings to these ideas tenaciously, long after they have been found wanting and have been jettisoned by the world. Indeed, as Jesus said, the sons of this world are more shrewd than the sons of light (Luke 16:8). 

 

Peter, instead, writes of “the living and enduring word of God… This word is the good news (the gospel) that was preached to you" (1 Peter 1:23-25).This is the gospel that was “once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). 

 

In contrast, "the world and its passions are passing away" (1 John 2:17); its systems soon become passé. What will become of us, then, if we have staked our lives and ministries upon them?

 

Pity the gods,

no longer divine.

Pity the night

the stars lose their shine. —Dana Gioia

 

David Roper

11.13.21