Beware the Rabbit Holes of Faith
Beware the Rabbit Holes of Faith
The Rabbit Holes of Faith… I’ve been a Christian for over 40 years. Over those years, I’ve seen a lot of special interests come and go in the Christian community… that is, areas that attract a great deal of attention and spark a lot of interest and discussion. People discover a topic that fascinates them and then beat the drum of that topic for years.
As interesting and as important as some of these topics might be, they can work against you if you get lost in the topic. In other words, the topic can take on a life of its own and consume you. It defines you and overtakes your life. It’s like crawling down a rabbit hole where you lose sight of what’s most important to your faith.
The Rabbit Holes of Faith
Here are just some of the rabbit holes where I’ve seen people get lost…
Styles of worship
End times prophecy
Jewish traditions and Old Testament practices
Social justice
Spiritual gifts
Women in ministry
Spiritual abuse
Inner healing
Politics
And most recently:
Conspiracy theories
Christian nationalism
Many of these topics are very important and worthy of discussion (the first nine). I’ve written books on some of these topics. But others are not (the last two). They are antithetical to the gospel message and take people way off course.
Falling Down the Rabbit Hole
Be careful how deep you dive into any topic. The problem being that it’s easy to get lost in a topic and lose sight of the bigger picture of what it means to follow Jesus and seek his kingdom. It’s easy to be pulled down a rabbit hole that eventually undermines your faith and ruins your testimony.
When you become known as a one-issue person… as THAT person… it’s easy for people to tag you with a label and then write you off. You are no longer relevant because people see you as caught in a web obsessing about your pet topic.
So, even though you hold great interest in a topic that matters to you, you may lose your audience. Your narrow focus can cause you to lose credibility as well as diminish the credibility of Jesus.
You might attract a following, but they are only following you down the same rabbit hole. Don’t mistake their presence as an affirmation that you are on the right track.
Churches can also be guilty of running down rabbit holes. There are many churches known for their special interests rather than the Good News about Jesus’ transforming love. They are the “prophecy” church or the “end times” church, etc. They may also attract a following, but for the wrong reasons and ultimately discredit the faith. Many people are leaving the church today, not for lack of faith but because their church has chased a rabbit and people are unwilling to go there with them.
Rabbit Holes Are Nothing New
Rabbit holes are not new to the church. Christians have been pulled off course for centuries by various teachings. For example, the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Galatia (Turkey) rebuking them for so quickly leaving the faith:
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! Galatians 1:6-8
This church probably thought they were into the “deep” things of God. They weren’t lost. They had special insights that other Christians didn’t have! But Paul said they had left the faith.
Paul saw a similar problem in the Colossian church (also in Turkey). They were into angels, Jewish traditions, and legalistic rules that had nothing to do with following Jesus.
…with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow. Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? Colossians 2:16-23
The Allure of Rabbit Holes
All these things sound fascinating, right? Angels. New Moon celebrations. Wow! I can just see the believers scouring the internet to read more and more articles about the various angels and rules and practices that would set them apart from other believers and experience God in new ways… texting each other with links… and recommending books by the latest author with new revelations.
It’s so easy to do.
It’s so tempting.
Paul is referring to false teachings here. But I think even good teachings, overdone, can cause you to “lose connection with the head,” which means that you are no longer connected to Jesus. You are now off doing something on your own, apart from Jesus. This doesn’t mean you’ve lost your faith, but it could mean that you’ve lost your usefulness to the faith.
Climbing Out From the Rabbit Hole
Paul had a simple answer for these people…
I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 1 Corinthians 2:2
That’s it. He wanted to know Jesus. In another letter Paul said that he wanted to know Jesus and the power of his resurrection (Philippians 3:10), meaning he wanted to experience the life-changing power of Jesus in his life.
I’m not asking you to ignore an important topic ( social justice, inner healing, etc.). But please make sure that your first priority is to be rooted in your knowledge of Jesus and your relationship to him. Keep your passion for your interest in check and in balance. Make sure that you are more concerned about knowing Jesus and behaving like Jesus than fighting for a cause, or researching a topic, that you think is important.
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