THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY. 4/25/24

In Don Whitney’s book Spiritual Disciplines For The Christian Life, Whitney stated: “The only road to Christian maturity and Godliness passes through the practice of the Spiritual Disciplines.”1 Whitney, Foster, and Willard don't tell us that these practices originated Roman Catholic Jesuit practices that can lead one to mystical pursuits and Open Theism.2 One Christian I talked to called herself a Christian mystic. She is heavily involved in the Charismatic movement. The broadly evangelical church in the twenty-first century openly promotes these disciplines, whether stated or assumed. 

Aside from the fact that orthodox, Reformed Christianity rejects such formations, Whiten prescribes these disciplines for believers today to improve their spiritual maturity. Some of Whitney's disciplines include Bible intake, prayer, worship, evangelism, service, stewardship, fasting, silence and solitude, journaling, and learning. Added to Whitney's inventory are confession, accountability, simplicity, submission, spiritual direction, celebration, affirmation, sacrifice, ‘watching,’ and more, which also qualify as Spiritual Disciplines.3 The list can be as straightforward or detailed as a Christian makes it. 

Some of these "disciplines" are easily found in Scripture: Bible intake, prayer, worship, evangelism, service, and stewardship. However, the fallacy of spiritual growth is easily understood when we consider what Scripture advises. Sanctification is not a discipline or work that we do to become more like Jesus. That's Roman Catholic theology, sanctification before salvation. Holiness is our status before God. It is also fruit produced by the Spirit in and through us to God's glory. Why do we need the Spirit if we can do these holy things ourselves? 

Other disciplines mentioned above come from men's imaginations. No one questions a person's desire to grow in Christ. That's not at issue. What is simplicity exactly, and where do Paul or Peter mention it? Journaling? Silence? Affirmation? Performing these works is an attempt to establish one's righteousness before God.

Whatever looks and sounds spiritual is fair game. Whether it comes from Scripture remains to be seen. The Pharisees were masters at making lists. D.A. Carson writes,

"It is not helpful to list assorted Christian responsibilities and label them spiritual disciplines. That seems to be the reasoning behind the theology that smuggles in, say, creation care and almsgiving. But by the same logic, if out of Christian kindness you give a back rub to an old lady with a stiff neck and a sore shoulder, then back rubbing becomes a spiritual discipline."4

Where does the Bible even suggest these disciplines will benefit Christians, much less those of us with PTSD? For example, I served as an elder in a local church where the pastor wanted each leader to have an accountability partner. He insisted I have one because I needed one to protect against sin and keep me spiritually moving. I told the pastor I had not had an "accountability partner" in all my years as a Christian. The Holy Spirit was good enough. My response made no sense to the pastor. This pastor had embraced at least one of the disciplines Foster et al. promoted without knowing it. 

Even with traumatic stress, the Spirit of Christ, working in, by, and with the Word, had stood me in good stead for fifty years. God has richly supplied me with godly counsel throughout my walk with Jesus. 

I understood what he meant, but the pastor would not have been able to show me from Scripture Paul's or Peter's accountability partners or their need for one. I should have asked. And this was a Reformed church. We are far too familiar with trusting men rather than God. 

Carson continues: "…some of these so-called spiritual disciplines are entirely divorced from any specific doctrine whatsoever…they are merely a matter of technique. That is why people sometimes say, “For your doctrine, by all means commit yourselves to evangelical confessionalism. But when it comes to the spiritual disciplines, turn to Catholicism or perhaps Buddhism."5 Worse, "this type of teaching, … subtly cajoles us into thinking that growth in spirituality is a function of nothing more than conformity to the demands of a lot of rules, of a lot of obedience.6

Forty years ago these disciplines came into vogue in evangelicalism. "Foster, Willard, and Whitney’s books that they have embraced a non-biblical view developed by Jesuit, Roman Catholic and Mystic theology."7

How do we grow in Christ-likeness? Faith. Faith is a gift from above. The Belgic Confession of the Reformed Faith, written in 1561, states,

Therefore it is impossible that this holy faith can be unfruitful in man; for we do not speak of a vain faith, but of such a faith which is called in Scripture a “faith working through love”, which excites man to the practice of those works which God has commanded in His Word.8 

And lastly, John Calvin, in the Acts of the Council of Trent, wrote,

"In short, I affirm, that not by our own merit but by faith alone, are both our persons and works justified; and that the justification of works [sanctification] depends on the justification [forensic] of the person, as the effect on the cause."9

When we struggle with the effects of traumatic stress, our spiritual performance must not enter into the process of holiness. We have no faithfulness to offer that meets God's just demands—none. The Gospel adds nothing to the work of Christ on our behalf. The Gospel demands nothing of us. Faith is its gift. Any religion that is anti-grace, such as Roman Catholicism, Mormonism, Jehovah's Witness, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Pharisaism, promoting performance—the establishment of self-righteousness over grace—is to be rejected. Another way of saying this is, right doctrine matters, especially when you have PTSD pressing hard against you from the inside.

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1 Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 1991, 16-17.

2 "Open Theism is the idea that God doesn't have foreknowledge of all future events and that the future is open. It's based on the idea that God loves us and wants us to freely choose to reciprocate His love, so He has made His knowledge of, and plans for, the future conditional upon our actions. Although omniscient, God doesn't know what we will freely do in the future."

3 Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines, 16-17.

4 D.A. Carson, Themelios, Volume 36, Issue 3, 378.

5 Ibid., 378.

6 Ibid. 379.

7 Jon Moffit, "The Biblical and Historical Problems with Spiritual Disciplines Part 1, Theocast, July 27, 2016.

8 Belgic Confession, Article XXIV. "We are indebted to God for the good works we do, and not He to us, since it is He who “worketh in us both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.”

9 Jean Calvin, and John Dillenberger, John Calvin: Selections from His Writings (Garden City, NY: Anchor Books, 1971), 176.

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