Schaeffer's Answer

Matthew 5

1 And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a

mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came

unto him:

2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them,

saying,

3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is

the kingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be

comforted.

5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit

the earth.

6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst

after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain

mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall

see G-d.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be

called the children of G-d.

10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for

righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of

heaven.

11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and

persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil

against you falsely, for my sake.

12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is

your reward in heaven:


As I read this passage, I have the image of Jesus

pulling his disciples aside at this point in time

to remind them what it's all about. You see,

they had a huge mob of people following after

them about this time. As an analogy, they were

inside groupies of the hottest act in the

country. They were gaining celebrity status. So

Jesus sits them down away from the teeming masses

to remind them of who they really are, who he

really is and what the world is really about. I

imagine him with a big smile on his face, trying

to get the attention of the disciples away from

the distraction of the crowds, so he could take

this opportunity to remind them that this earth

and the kingdom of man, is not Paradise it's just

the opposite. He's saying, in effect, that all

of the images of greatness that they imagine

right now, have nothing to do with the kingdom of

heaven. Nowhere does he say, Blessed are you if

the world treats you well. He says just the

opposite. If the world treats you poorly, it's

then that you are reminded that you have a great

reward awaiting you in the coming kingdom. Jesus

was all about the coming kingdom.


Schaeffer goes on to write of a 'new theology' as

an expression of modern philosophy and culture,

and titles the chapter 'Modern Mysticism: Despair

Beyond Despair'. In the passage above, Jesus

gave one answer, because he IS the answer. When

you meet him, there is no reason to despair,

because the reward is never going to be found in

this world. Jesus is all about the coming

kingdom. I can't hope to attempt an explanation

of all the technical details, but as he makes his

case to describe the present world system,

Schaeffer offers this view:

"...philosophy, art, music, theatre, and so on --

differ in details, and these details are

interesting and important, but in a way they are

only incidental. The distinctive mark of the

twentieth-century intellectual and CULTURAL

climate does not lie in the differences, but in

the unifying concept. The unifying concept is

the concept of a divided field of knowledge.

...the concept of truth and the method of

attaining truth." p 43


If I were to put it in simple terms, I would say

that the unifying concept is simply an absence of

truth. We live in an anything goes society, and

that is self evident to any casual observer who's

had any experience with the 'real world'. It's

usually considered to be naive if you even

mention the possibility of 'absolute truth'.

What strikes me as even more naive is failure to

recognize that truth remains a stubborn presence,

especially in the 'real world'. Yet so many will

swear to its absence.


I don't know how it strikes you, but whenever I

begin to think about the cultural conflict with

'truth', my mind goes to images of Abbott and

Costello's 'Who's on first' routine. The

statement 'there are no absolutes' is a

'first-order' experience of the level of

confusion that characterizes the kingdom of man.

You have to laugh, or you will cry. Oh, never

mind.


So we've come to the point that we've arrived at

a 'new theology' modeled to conform to the

unifying concept (we can't know truth), and the

technique that's been applied is the same that's

used liberally across the social spectrum -- the

misuse of words and symbols. Schaeffer uses the

term 'semantic mysticism' to describe the modern

religious experience that lacks an ability to

describe what the experience is (we can't really

know).


"Real communication is not in fact established,

but an illusion of communication is given by

employing words rich in connotations... Every

word has two parts. There is the dictionary

definition, and there is the connotation... the

new theology uses such words, without

definition... useful in arousing deep

motivations. " p 59


"This is something beyond emotion. An illusion

of communication and content is given so that

when a word is used in this deliberately

undefined way, the hearer 'thinks' he knows what

it means. The use of the word pantheism is a

good example. Though it really speaks of

something absolutely and finally impersonal, yet

the theism part of the word causes a reaction of

acceptance, since theism carries overtones of

personality. Now suppose you were to substitute

the word pan-everythingism (which is what it

really means). The whole reaction would be

different." p 59-60


And then there is the critical point to take away

from this -- "To the new theology, the

usefullness of a symbol is in direct proportion

to its obscurity." p 60 If you don't get

anything else from this discussion, this is the

point to always remember when approaching modern

religion. Symbols have meaning. New theology

does its best to make sure that the authentic

meaning is hidden, so that it can mean something

different to every person. The crucifix is an

example of a popular symbol almost completely

lacking authentic meaning in modern culture. The

crucifix was an instrument used by the ancient

Romans to inspire terror and dread. It's like

wearing a miniature electric chair around your

neck. The meaning of the crucifix is that OUR

guilt before G-d resulted in the wrongful

substitutionary conviction and brutal sacrifice

of Jesus. Yet, he willingly bore OUR guilt and

paid the penalty of OUR rightful death sentence.

There is the obscure meaning -- it means nothing

or it means whatever you want it to mean. And

there is the authentic meaning, that Jesus took

upon himself the guilt of all mankind, and the

paid the full penalty for OUR sin.


"At first acquaintance this concept gives the

feeling of spirituality. 'I do not ask for

answers, I just believe.' This sounds spiritual,

and it deceives many fine people." p 60


And here is what I take away as a very good

response or answer to the situation where we find

ourselves when confronted with new theology:

"Whenever men say they are looking for greater

reality, we must show them at once the reality of

TRUE Christianity. This is real because it is

concerned with the G-d who is there and who has

spoken to us about Himself, not just the symbol

god or christ which sounds spiritual but is not."

p 61


What Schaeffer is getting at in this statement is

the fact that TRUE Christianity relies ONLY on

the doctrines of scripture and not on the

subjective experience of others. ONLY scripture

is able to communicate the essential message

about who we are, who G-d is and what the world

is. Period.


'The symbol god or christ' that Schaeffer refers

to above is represented in the pantheistic idea

that all religions have different names for gods

and christs, but are all the same spiritual

entity. Yet we know that can't be accurate,

since there was only one Jesus, and only one

Bhudda, and only one Mohammed, etc. and they

never claimed to be united as a spiritual entity.

They would be the ones to know about that. In

fact, Jesus claimed just the opposite. He

claimed to have an identity unique from all

others. That was one of the excuses used to turn

him over to the Roman authorities for

crucifixtion -- he claimed to be Divine. On his

cross, Pilate wrote: This is the King of the

Jews. There was no secret about what Jesus

claimed to be. He was not a symbol. He was

authentic. (Proven by the resurrection.)


One of the Jesus People groups from the 60's

called themselves 'Christ Is The Answer'. Now,

we are given the line about experiencing Jesus.

But what Jesus do we want to experience? Are we

looking for the experience of the one mystical

spiritual entity that is supposed to represent

ALL spiritual enlightenment? Or are we looking

for the one authentic Lamb of G-d? You see, man

and the world don't really NEED another

experience so much as they need a Savior. As far

as I know, the only religion that offers an

authentic Savior is the personal G-d who we find

revealed in the pages of scripture. It's just

like the Jesus freaks said in the 60's -- Jesus

IS the answer.