Men are so inevitably mad that not to be mad would be to give a mad twist to madness.
- Blaise Pascal
Opposition can be challenging enough. Opposing ourselves is a kind of mental and spiritual madness. Having previously broached the subject of dualism, much more need be said in regards to problem of double-mindedness. Perhaps the greatest human factor limiting the growth of sanctification within the community of believers.
While the topic covers a range of issues, in this article we will limit ourselves to closely examining the dualistic nature clearly and repeatedly identified through Scripture.
The leading cause of the dualism and double-mindedness plaguing humanity, individually and corporately, is the internal and external conflict between the wisdom from above vs. the wisdom from below. Worldliness, while offering the promise of pleasure, can and eventually will prove a hard taskmaster. Both within and without modern Christianity.
When it comes to the challenge of double-mindedness, Paul's well known and somewhat controversial treatise is a good starting point:
- "What I don’t understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can’t be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God’s command is necessary. But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time. It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge. I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question? The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different." Romans 7:15-25 MSG
Recognized as problematic from antiquity, few philosophical challenges have been as frequently and insightfully addressed as that of dualism. Yet millennia later humanity, collectively and individually, seem equally if not more confounded and entangled than ever. Those acknowledging the existence of God and Scriptural authority, particularly New Testament offers and directives, soon find the progress of their spiritual discipleship stymied, if not sabotaged, by acting in concert with our fallen natures.
The Bible identifies the culprit as "indwelling sin" comprising a third of the unholy trinity of the sin above through original sin, the evil one and demonic resistance, around and within. So persistent a foe is mankind to itself that it's been noted "we are not sinners because we sin but rather sin because we are sinners" or as the pithy bumper sticker bemoans "lead me not into temptation I can find it myself."
Double-mindedness is most frequently observed and attributed to new believers because young Christians are often shocked to find themselves among their own greatest enemies. Sadly, rather than overcoming dualism or at least continuing the good fight, most believers are simply incorporated into the status quo, learning to lower their expectations and join the Sinai shuffle, endlessly wandering about the Wilderness of Sin.
Charles Finney, the legendarily powerful 19 Century preacher and evangelist, leader of the Great Awakening and "Father of Modern Revivalism" repeatedly dealt with the issue of dualism but perhaps nowhere more succinctly than when addressing the need for "Poverty of Spirit":
- These seasons of spiritual poverty are indispensable to holding on to Christ. See a young convert--young converts know little of themselves or of Christ. They run well for a time, but they must be taught more of Christ, and this they can learn only by learning more of themselves. Well, Christ begins the work in a soul. The convert was all joy, but his countenance falls. Poor child! do not scold him. He is sad; he dares hardly indulge a hope. What is the matter? He desponds. You encourage him to trust in Christ and rejoice in him. But no, that will not serve the turn, that does not remove the load. Christ has undertaken a work with him--has set about revealing him to himself, and the work will cost the poor soul many prayers, and tears, and groans, and searchings and loathings of heart. He prayed before for sanctification and he is astonished out of measure. He receives any thing in the world but sanctification. He prayed for the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, and he verily expected some beatific sight. He thought he should see the heavens opened as Stephen did. But instead of this, what a state! He seems given over to the tender mercies of sin. Every appetite and lust is clamorous as a fiend; his passions get the mastery; he frets, and grieves, and vexes himself, and repents and sins again; he is shocked, ashamed of himself, afraid to look up, is ashamed and confounded. Poor thing! he prayed to be sanctified, and he expected Christ would smile right through the darkness, and light up his soul with unutterable joy. But no! it is all confusion and darkness. He is stumbling, and sliding, and floundering, and plunging headlong into the mire, till his own clothes abhor him, and he is brought to cry--"Lord, O Lord, have mercy on me!" He expected--O what a fairy land! and he finds--what a desert--barren, dark, full of traps, and gins, and pitfalls; as it were the very earth conspiring with all things else, to ruin him. Child, be not disheartened; Christ is answering your prayer. Cold professors may discourage you, but be not discouraged; you may weep and groan, but you are going through a necessary process. To know Christ, you must know yourself; to have Christ come in, you must be emptied of yourself. How will he do this for you? If you would but let go of self--if you would but believe all that God says of you, and renounce yourself at first and at once, you might be spared many a fall; but you will not, you will believe only upon experience, and hence that experience Christ makes sure that you shall have to the full. And now, mark: whoever expects to be sanctified without a full and clear and heart-sickening revelation of his own loathsomeness, without being first shown how much he needs it, is very much mistaken. Till you have learned that, nothing you can do can avail aught; you are not prepared to receive Christ as he is offered in the gospel.
Never one to mince words, the Finney quote strikes to the heart of the matter, being indicative of the best of seven gospels of Christianity. Yet just as a 99 pound weakling joining a gym might hardly imagine lifting at championship levels, everyone can benefit from honest consideration of even weighty principals. As a favorite poster reminds at my old gym "You don't have to be perfect to start, but you have to start to be perfect."
The contemporary Christian group Jars of Clay makes a similar point in their musical tribute to double-mindedness:
Two Hands
I've been living out of sanity
I've been splitting hairs and blurring lines
I am a house that is divided
In my heart and in my mind
I use one hand to pull you closer
The other to push you away
If I had two hands doing the same thing
Lifted high, lifted high
I have a broken disposition
I'm a liar who thirsts for the truth
And while I ache for faith to hold me
I need to feel the scars and see the proof
And if we just keep digging we can reach the foundation
Of our souls
And if we just keep cutting all the chains from our hearts
We'll lose control
And it feels like giving in
It feels like starting over
It feels like waking up, and you know it's coming
It feels like a brand new day
Open your eyes
As a pastor, para church organization director and Christian author its been forty years since I've been involved in what's generally considered gross sin. Nevertheless, when it comes to the tug of war between discipleship and worldliness, I've long confessed being a "resistance fighter in the morning, a sympathizer by noon and a collaborator by evening." Not alone, I suspect a number of besetting sins and/or doubtful habits such as too much and/or inappropriate TV etc. have long kept hundreds of millions of Christians from greater depth and/or power in our walk and relationship with the Holy Spirit.
Sadly we do so in light of Scripture's clear warning to the contrary:
- "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." Luke 16:13 NIV
- "In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;." 2 Timothy 2:25 KJV
- "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do." James 1:5-8 NIV
As with most Scripture there is a principal in play. For example, should the double-minded example of the average Christian waisting thousands, if not tens of thousands of hours, watching TV prove to be a grave spiritual problem, it may not immediately follow that all believers who do are "unstable in all they do." On the other hand, hundreds of millions of Christians spending years, decades or even lifetimes simultaneously drawing near to and grieving God is clear evidence of spiritual, if not characterlogical instability.
One of Christendom's clearest voice regarding dualism was Blaise Pascal, the famous 17th century French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Christian philosopher. Among his significant contributions we're a thousand Pensées or musings, many of which perfectly captured the intractable problem of dualism:
- "Men are so inevitably mad that not to be mad would be to give a mad twist to madness"
- "Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction."
- "An inch or two of cowl can put 25,000 monks up in arms."
- "There are only two kinds of men: the righteous who think they are sinners and the sinners who think they are righteous."
- "Jesus, seeing all His friends asleep and all His enemies wakeful, commits Himself entirely to His Father.
Martin Luther also expounded on the dualism of sinners and saints. The following quote denotes a certain yet subtle principal likely lost on 99% of modern Christianity:
- “If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Wherever the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved and to be steady on all the battlefield besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that one point.”
- “The matter is quite simple. The bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament.”
The following two quotes are from Provocations: Spiritual Writings of Kierkegaard as compiled and edited by Charles E. Moore:
- Kierkegaard is convinced that Christendom is nothing but a lifeless outer shell of mediocrity. “Think of a very long railway train – but long ago the locomotive ran away from it. Christendom is like this... Christendom is tranquillity – how charming, the tranquillity of not moving from the spot.” Kierkegaard argues that true Christianity is first and foremost a demand. “It is the deepest wound that can be dealt to a person designed to collide with everything on the most appalling scale.” In short, faith is the passion of sacrifice and self-denial, a way of being in the world that suffers ridicule and persecution from the established order with its religious hypocrisy. For this reason, “The will of Christ is this: an examination in which one cannot cheat.”
- As Kierkegaard reminds us: “It is true that a mirror has the quality of enabling a person to see his image in it, but to do this he must stand still.”
What alarms such brilliant Christians leaders? What need has a convert of Finney's "full and clear and heart-sickening revelation of his own loathsomeness?" What makes Pascal declare men so "necessarily mad, that not to be mad would amount to a mad form of madness?" What turns well meaning Christians into Kierkegaard's "bunch of scheming swindlers." Why should Christ seek to inflict upon us the "deepest wound that can be dealt to a person designed to collide with everything on the most appalling scale?"
In a word, "dualism." The incessant and intractable manifestation of indwelling sin struggling for supremacy of the souls of men, believers and unbelievers alike. Spreading as a plague throughout mankind since the fall of Adam and Eve, each infected human being becomes both victim and carrier:
- "GOD spoke to Cain: “Why this tantrum? Why the sulking? If you do well, won’t you be accepted? And if you don’t do well, sin is lying in wait for you, ready to pounce; it’s out to get you, you’ve got to master it." Genesis 4:6-7 MSG
- "Generous in love—God, give grace! Huge in mercy—wipe out my bad record. Scrub away my guilt, soak out my sins in your laundry. I know how bad I’ve been; my sins are staring me down. You’re the One I’ve violated, and you’ve seen it all, seen the full extent of my evil. You have all the facts before you; whatever you decide about me is fair. I’ve been out of step with you for a long time, in the wrong since before I was born. What you’re after is truth from the inside out. Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life." Psalm 51:1-6 MSG
The sin within, conspiring with sin above and about has been wreaking havoc with even many of the most innocent and godly throughout history. From mankind's first murder of righteous Able by his fallen brother Cain to the conqueror and king, psalmist and prophet David's adultery with Bathsheba and subsequent murder of her righteous husband Uriah, Satan's stock and trade has been to deceive even God's anointed.
Millennia of strategic and devilish deception has left humanity shell shocked, largely unable and/or unwilling to discern "good and evil." A condition bound to worsen exponentially with the unleashing of Revelation's judgments, including war in heaven ending in a furious Satan and his fallen angels cast to earth preceding the installation of his antichrist.
Tragically, even during the greatest period of prosperity and enlightenment the world has ever known, rebellion and entitlement are so rampant that the earth is largely a spiritual killing field. This being the case, the real remedy is for God to bring clarity to our double mindedness by forgiving our sins and filling us with His Holy Spirit to the point that working together we might "conceive a new, true life."
Quantum Hope
Such a scenario is exactly what Paul both teaches through his epistles and demonstrates throughout the Book of Acts:
- "So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? I should hope not! If we’ve left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didn’t you realize we packed up and left there for good? That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace—a new life in a new land! That’s what baptism into the life of Jesus means. When we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where we’re going in our new grace-sovereign country. Romans 6:1-3 MSG
- "That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don’t give it the time of day. Don’t even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time—remember, you’ve been raised from the dead!—into God’s way of doing things. Sin can’t tell you how to live. After all, you’re not living under that old tyranny any longer. You’re living in the freedom of God." Romans 6:12-14 MSG
- "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:1-2 NIV
"For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory,
to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,
that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith;
that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
may be able to comprehend with all the saints
what is the width and length and depth and height
to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge;
that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly
above all that we ask or think,
according to the power that works in us,
to Him be glory in the church
by Christ Jesus to all generations,
forever and ever. Amen."
The expansive verbiage of such a wonderful words is just one of myriad of reasons for embracing the promise of hope of a quantum kind. While Churchianity may extol God's virtues of mercy, love and faithfulness to the point of excluding most if not all the Biblical conditions through which such grace is offered, prophetic Christians understand the importance of integrating all of Scripture into our Bible study and doctrines, prayers and lifestyles.
Peter is touted as the Bible’s best example of the tension between absolute dedication and double-mindedness. Previously, he famously confessed Jesus was the Messiah, for which he earned Christ’s greatest compliment. A major reason for his name upgrade from Simon to Cephas or Peter. Yet, literally within a few verses, Jesus issues an equally stinging rebuke, calling him Satan.
For millennia, millions if not billions of believers have wrested with the specter of dualism. Wedged tightly between Romans chapters 7 and 8, we find ourselves desiring to be radical disciples, yet all too often failing the test of complete commitment.
Thankfully Scripture records just such a battle waged and won by none other than Peter himself. Chosen as one of the twelve, among millions of Jews and hundreds of millions of Gentiles, he rises through the ranks to become one of the three most entrusted disciples. Yet, as modern Christianity is want to do, having prematurely declared his undying love and commitment to Christ, he fails the test by denying the Lord three times that very night! A dismal track record, mirrored by the interview of all interviews:
“After breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Master, you know I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” He then asked a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” “Yes, Master, you know I love you.” Jesus said, “Shepherd my sheep.” Then he said it a third time: “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was upset that he asked for the third time, “Do you love me?” so he answered, “Master, you know everything there is to know. You’ve got to know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. I’m telling you the very truth now: When you were young you dressed yourself and went wherever you wished, but when you get old you’ll have to stretch out your hands while someone else dresses you and takes you where you don’t want to go.” He said this to hint at the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. And then he commanded, “Follow me.” John 21:15-19 The Message
Jesus begins by using the word for the greatest form of love, Greek: agapao.
Peter responds with a word denoting what may be a weaker form of love, meaning brotherly affection or friendship, Greek: phileo. Face to face and eye to eye with God the Son, Peter for all practical purposes answers, "I obviously don't love you as I previously boasted.”
Jesus probes again, repeating His first question.
Peter replies in kind.
Here, for the first and only time in Scripture, Jesus lowers the bar in light of the broken hearted, humble confession from His fractured disciple. He does so by restating His previous questions. Only this time Jesus uses the lessor word for brotherly love or friendship when asking if Peter loves Him.
Peter, clearly having failed the test of agapao love, humbly stands his ground in declaring his phileo love for Jesus.
Jesus, satisfied with the honesty of Peter's confession, assures that he will indeed one day love Him so much as to be His faithful martyr.
QC acknowledges there are differences in opinion as to the ancient Greek meaning of agape vs. phileo. Nevertheless, the above version seems to fit the facts of the case. Clearly Peter failed miserably to live up to his previous boast, “I will never desert you no matter what the others do!” Should this rendering be accurate, it is rich with meaning. In Peter's first great confession, "you are the Christ" Peter reveals the truth about Jesus. In his second, "I don't love you but I like you life a friend" he admits something of equal value. The truth about himself. Such a confession was tantamount to being an unworthy washout. Jesus had warned only those taking up their cross and following Him would be worthy of being a disciple. Peter's denials and confession made it clear he was ineligible to be a disciple. Much less an apostle. The meanings of this conversation are exhaustive. For our purposes, the vital concept is that contrary to the contrivances of modern Christianity, Jesus always raised the bar, as clearly indicated in the Sermon on the Mount:
- “You’re familiar with the command to the ancients, ‘Do not murder.’ I’m telling you that anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder. Carelessly call a brother ‘idiot!’ and you just might find yourself hauled into court. Thoughtlessly yell ‘stupid!’ at a sister and you are on the brink of hellfire. The simple moral fact is that words kill.” Matthew 5:21-22 The Message
“You know the next commandment pretty well, too: ‘Don’t go to bed with another’s spouse.’ But don’t think you’ve preserved your virtue simply by staying out of bed. Your heart can be corrupted by lust even quicker than your body. Those leering looks you think nobody notices—they also corrupt. Let’s not pretend this is easier than it really is. If you want to live a morally pure life, here’s what you have to do: You have to blind your right eye the moment you catch it in a lustful leer. You have to choose to live one-eyed or else be dumped on a moral trash pile. And you have to chop off your right hand the moment you notice it raised threateningly. Better a bloody stump than your entire being discarded for good in the dump.” Matthew 5:27-30 The Message
“Remember the Scripture that says, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him do it legally, giving her divorce papers and her legal rights’? Too many of you are using that as a cover for selfishness and whim, pretending to be righteous just because you are ‘legal.’ Please, no more pretending. If you divorce your wife, you’re responsible for making her an adulteress (unless she has already made herself that by sexual promiscuity). And if you marry such a divorced adulteress, you’re automatically an adulterer yourself. You can’t use legal cover to mask a moral failure.” Matthew 5:31-32 The Message
“Here’s another old saying that deserves a second look: ‘Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.’ Is that going to get us anywhere? Here’s what I propose: ‘Don’t hit back at all.’ If someone strikes you, stand there and take it. If someone drags you into court and sues for the shirt off your back, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it. And if someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously.” Matthew 5:38-42 The Message
“You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.” Matthew 5:43-47 The Message
“In a word, what I’m saying is, Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.” Matthew 5:48 The Message
Pentecost reshaped early believers and through them the world. Yet this was only the first of many battles to be waged, won and lost. Over millennia, much of the radical commitment and miracle working power of the early Church was replaced with religious tradition and societal advances. For most, an hour or two a week spent attending church has replaced being the Church. Modern medicine, rather than the "elders of the church," heal the sick. Regular and serious corporate prayer is a lost art. Worldliness within the body of Christ abounds while Bible study and Scriptural recall is at an all time low.
The major obstacle before modern Christianity continues to be spiritual and ethical dualism. The solution therefore begins with prophetic Christians softening hard hearts to the point of being willing to admit our perilous state and act accordingly. Rather than the current gospel of positivism, prosperity and even inclusion, we must embrace the full promise and demands of Scripture rather than the presumption and permissiveness of passes for Christianity today.
The Apostle John is a perfect example of a wholehearted and quantum disciple. Blessed with perhaps the greatest revelation of the love of God, he was not only among the three comprising Christ's inner circle, but literally called "the disciple whom Jesus loved." At the foot of the cross Jesus entrusted him with the care of His mother Mary. Author of John 3:16 he also pens the New Testament's three great "love epistles."
On the other hand, far and away the Bible's greatest revelation of the judgment of God is found in John's Book of Revelation. From Jesus judging His Church to Satan's accusations, from war in heaven to the terrors of the Great Tribulation John prophesied the global outpouring of unprecedented woe.
In John we find an example so desperately needed today. Through his intimacy with Christ and love for mankind, particularly for the fellowship of believers, he takes hold of God and man in such a way as to allow the unrestricted flow of the Lord's mercy and hope. Of course, the cost was great for John and all who would follow in the footsteps of Christ. Nevertheless we must find the courage and commitment to begin, trusting that God will make a way even when there may be none. In the words of Admiral Chester W. Nimitz commander and chief of the US Navy's Pacific Fleet and Allied air, land and sea forces during World War II: "God grant me the courage not to give up what I think is right even though I think it is hopeless." The pursuit of which may be reminiscent of Winston Churchill's famous mindset, "Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm."
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