Slideshow image

Pagan Spirituality and a Christian Response

In 2008 I (Pastor Keith) attended an invitation only ThinkTank on Pagan Spirituality and a Christian Response (this was sponsored by what became TruthXChange).  We covered our postmodern culture and discussed a particular interest in warning the church about the pernicious influence of neo-paganism.  The purpose was to alert Christ-followers and equip them to respond in a biblically appropriate way to the growing paganism in the United States and the world. The “predictions” made in the conference have born out. The study coming up will be based on my notes (and audio recordings which I still have).

We relied on a host of experts to assist us in confronting and responding to neo-paganism.  The director set forth the thesis: “If, as contemporary thought contends, all religions are the same, then the spirituality of all those religions is also essentially the same, whether in its ‘primitive’ versions or in its Western ‘interfaith version.”  Therefore, we must ask ourselves, “Will we worship Nature or the God who created nature?”

The topics of this study include a description and response to a host of worldviews including Witchcraft, Chinese spirituality, Syncretism, Gnosticism, Kabbalah, Astrology, Shamanism, and more.

Andrew Young is a fine example of a Christian responding appropriately to neo-paganism:  He said, “Mystical techniques and the inward journey have no place in true biblical spirituality.  If there is reality experienced in such things, it is a reality other than that promised in the gospel … Christian spirituality, consequently, does not journey inward in search of an immediate experience of oneness with God.  Instead, through the indwelling Holy Spirit it looks toward Christ and through him to the Father.  Contemplative mysticism is not the path of biblical spirituality; faith-based relationship with the Triune God is.”

The final discussion will be very helpful.  We will learn to discern truth from error by setting up an antithesis.  Look to the apostle Paul who declares an antithesis in 2 Corinthians:

  • “What partnership has righteousness with lawlessness?”
  • “What fellowship has light with darkness?”
  • “What accord has Christ with Belial?”
  • “What portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?”
  • “What agreement has the temple of God with idols?”

A great comment from my notes, “Human thinking is idolatrous or autonomous because it raises itself to the level of ultimate truth, a place only the mind of God can occupy.  As creatures, we see a miniscule piece of the cosmos.  Of God, we see nothing, except what God chooses to reveal.”

Everyone needs to understand this.  We will steer clear of legalism.  We will educate and inform and encourage cultural engagement.  And challenge neo-paganism from many angles.  Pagan Spirituality and a Christian Response is a call for Christ-followers to reclaim lost ground.  It is time for the people of God to affirm and defend the Creator-creature distinction and penetrate a lost world with the saving message of the gospel.

This begins the evening of June 24th at 6:00 p.m.