The history of dogma contains a history of theological reactionism where un-Biblical caricatures of doctrine are attacked, defeated, and supplanted by equally un-Biblical caricatures. The church has perpetually faced the problem of the pendulum—moving in reaction from one untenable position to an other.
Our generation is no exception. The pressures are strong to get the church off course in several areas, but paramount among them is the pressure of experientialism. We face a tension between doctrine that doesn't produce vital experience and experience that doesn't grow out of sound doctrine. Although there is variety among Christians as to their particular place in the continuum of this tension, today the pendulum has swung heavily and dangerously toward the latter—namely, experience that hasn't grown out of sound doctrine. People are driven more by the authority of experience than by the experience of authority.
This drift is seen clearly in the secular world by Journalist Melvin Maddocks, who believes that our society is infected with a "new cult of madness" where thinking is bad. "We have become the first people," he claims, "to proclaim their age the age of unreason. 'Reason' and 'logic' have, in fact, become dirty words—'feeling' and 'impulse.' Consciousness—the rational—is presumed to be shallow, and the unconsciousness the irrational to be always interesting, often profound and usually true." Unfortunately, observes Maddocks, we have given way to Dionysus, the old Greek god of ecstasy, intoxication, and madness.
In the religious world, this Dionysiac tendency is evidenced by a number of things. In Like a Mighty Wind (Creation House) Mel Tari argues that the Indonesian revival can be duplicated here in America if we "take out that small computer which is your brain and put it in a little box and shoot it to the moon," letting God use your heart.
Perhaps the most common expression of the experience-over-knowledge trend is seen in popular talk. We often hear, "It must be right—it changed my life," or "I don't know any Greek and I have not studied any theology, nor have I been to seminary, but I know this: I have had an experience and you cannot take it away from me." Still others maintain, "The man who has an experience is never at the mercy of the man who has an argument."
Even from the pulpit, well-educated ministers cite proofs for the resurrection of Christ, but conclude by saying some thing like, "How do I really know Christ is alive? I talked with Him this morning." This kind of evidence is supposed to confirm the doubter and wilt the op position—especially if it is said power fully, sincerely, and passionately.
Howard Ervin, a popular leader in Baptist charismatic circles, frequently states this, claiming that, in the final analysis, "neither application of exegesis nor logic to the written word can infuse our conclusions with the self-validation of personal experience." John Sherrill, another popular charismatic leader, says much the same, claiming that experience, not logic, "lets us know who Christ is."
The weakness of this type of approach is obvious. The same type of "reasoning" is used by those who claim they have found the answer in transcendental meditation, ESP, Hare Krishna, the Di vine Light Mission, and other bizarre cults.
In addition, how different is the new experiential approach from the objective message of the apostles. The early church did not turn the world upside down by telling people about their exciting experiences, nor was the burden of their teaching concerned with telling people how to discover the ecstasy of the spirit-filled life. The church had something infinitely larger and more weighty to preach about.
The point is that evangelism and theology should not be centered on what has happened to the individual. Rather it should be centered on the proclamation of the gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ and His work, not about you and me and our life histories. If one checks the book of Acts, he will find the focus on the character of Christ, not on the character of Christ's followers. Obviously, we do not do away with the fact that one who is in Christ is a new creation, but that is not the heart of our testimony.
While the experience drift has affected most of popular evangelicalism, it also has made its way into seminaries. Many observers today see a major movement away from what Bernard Ramm calls "transactional" theology to interpersonal or relational theology. Transactional theology emphasizes the preaching of God's great transactions with man and in man (e.g., the cross, resurrection, Pentecost, justification, re generation). But interpersonal or relational theology places an emphasis on persons and the quality of relationships within the family, the church, and the community. It has two focal points, the person and his relationship, and is concerned primarily with psychology and learning how to cope in the vast personal matrix in the church, the family, and the community.
This trend should not be considered bad. It has brought some healthy correctives to an otherwise static and sterile situation. However,-we need to realize the problem of the pendulum. The danger is that our understanding of the faith can easily become self-understanding. The search for salvation can become an effort to know thyself, in contrast to the Biblical insight that "this is life eternal, that . . . [men] might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom . . . [He has] sent" (John 17:3). As a result, theology may become nothing more than anthropology.
Therefore, in assessing this tension, we should keep in mind that the Bible is truly balanced at this point. It avoids the problem of the pendulum by not sacrificing prepositional theology on the altar of interpersonal relationships or vice versa. At the same time, the Scriptures indicate that doctrine and sound teaching precedes experience.
Christ plainly teaches that experience of deliverance grows out of an encounter with truth. Truth that doesn't lead into a growing experience is truth that has been prostituted to something less than God ever intended. But experience that is not founded upon truth lacks proper moorings and sets us hopelessly adrift on the sea of subjectivity.
