Catch up on yesterday’s introduction to an idea that can be easily misunderstood: that “avoid the world,” as true as that is, becomes a half-truth when separated from the whole of Scripture.¹

A certain YouTube video has been making its rounds about my online friends, posted by the Wretched TV program and host Todd Friel. This organization is one of the best when it comes to Biblically based discernment, and that remains mostly true in this video.

However, view this video yourself and consider: is this letter writer perhaps accepting the error of asking only, “WWTWD?TDTO — what would The World do? then do the opposite”?

A flawed foundation

What does our culture celebrate on October 31st?

Is that where Christians should begin to build their cases? I contend that will lead to more wrong thinking than right thinking that keeps the Gospel in the center, along with the fact that Christians are, like it or not, still in this world and must sometimes deal personally with sinful people (1 Corinthians 5). The apostles did not give cautions about worldliness by encouraging Christians to be contrarian: figuring out what’s popular in the world, then doing the opposite.

Yet many Christians haven’t discerned that this is exactly what they’re doing — nor do they, or can they, do this consistently without giving up all media, technology, working, breathing, etc.

Without knowing this is a potential flawed and imbalanced way of thinking, might we fall into our old instincts — the “default setting” even Christians have of lapsing toward legalism — and neglect to fix our eyes, not first upon the world we should avoid, but first upon Christ?

Shunning made-up sins

The letter-writer, Aric, continues to base his argument mainly on What the World is Doing:

If we look around at the decorations and advertising, then it is clear that death, horror, evil, and occult symbolism is the focus of the holiday. Because the evil celebrated is general, perhaps it doesn’t offend our sense of holiness as much as it should. But what if the holiday celebrated a specific evil?

“I wonder if he’s onto something here,” Friel remarked. “Yeah, it’s kinda — ghosts and goblins, and yeah, we stay away from the dark stuff. But at its core is it possible that it is the very stuff that God says He hates in Deuteronomy 18? He gives a laundry list of sins.”

Yet does that list of sins include even scary creatures such as “ghosts” and “goblins”? None of these exist. Occult practices and “witchcraft,” as in trying to contact spirits, manipulate events or be At One With Nature, do exist, and these are displeasing to God. Yet can anyone prove Biblically that dressing up as a “goblin” (a mythical creature) is also sinful by association? It might be pointless, or the person may have sinful motives. He may be saying that an imaginary bad creature is actually good in its badness — that is a sin. But imagining such a creature is not a sin. Writing stories about goblins is not a sin. Even dressing up as a goblin may not be sin.

An imaginary parallel

The letter-writer next finds more imagination, asking what-if, and positing a nonexistent world:

What if Halloween was a celebration of, oh say, abortion. The country celebrated abortion by dressing up as doctors, nurses and pregnant women. Kids went door to door, knocked and shouted, “Roe v. Wade,” and were given candy. The stores were filled with pro-abortion decorations. Advertising was centered on abortion. If that were the case, would most Christians still have their kids dress up (as alternative characters of course: farmers, princesses, bible [sic] characters, etc.) and go seeking candy just like the rest of society?

Notice I’m not saying imagination is wrong, or that what-if scenarios are always flawed. But they’re tricky to suggest in a debate, if you do not, say, prevent all analogy loopholes or take into account the fact that your made-up parallel does not exist. For the same reason, Star Trek episodes that ask what-if, and then have a story about an actual biologically androgynous alien, fails to give any legitimate challenge to Christian morality about gender roles. If such a scenario occurred in the real world, Christian ethicists would surely struggle. But so far, it is imaginary.

The same is true of National Celebrate Abortion Day. Yes, if such an event actually occurred, Christians would be wise to avoid it entirely. But what if the occasion had actually begun as a celebration of life and health care, and it just so happened that 90 percent of people ran off with perverting it into a celebration of murdering children? If most of The World takes a good Thing, such as a hospital or doctor, and tries to corrupt that into only a representation of evil, should Christians simply go along with them? ²

“We don’t want to make something a sin that is not a sin,” Friel acknowledged, adding that of course Christians are under grace. “But I’m kind of wondering if Aric is maybe, just maybe, onto something, that we have been a little desensitized to evil. … We’ve lost sight that it is a category, if you will, that God absolutely hates.”

That may be true. And I certainly don’t want to contribute to the wrong notions many well-meaning Christians have: that it’s no problem, or even fun, to glory in things like purposeless violence and horror.³ What I’m showing here is the other side. Some Christians have surely become desensitized to evil, but others have become desensitized to the real sources of sin: not Things, especially imaginary Things, but their own sin-shrapnel in their own hearts. And getting that wrong will lead Christians right back to worldliness.

Letting Christ, not the world, lead the way

Moreover, our letter-writer isn’t only suggesting that in this imagined parallel world, Christians simply avoid trick-or-treating on Celebrate Abortion Day. In effect, he’s suggesting that no Christian should even consider Wholesome Alternatives that contradict the world’s celebration of death and violence. Thus, we’d not only focus first on the world, we allow it to set the agenda.

PS: just a parting shot at the “harvest parties” thrown by many churches: is it really an alternative, or just a way for us to tell our kids that participation in Halloween is so important that we should come up with a way to still celebrate something on that specific day rather than actually not participate.

Perhaps Aric has only ever seen megachurches falling all over themselves to be popular, or in their own way to let The World set the agenda to follow. Yet it does not follow that all churches have this motivation, or that Christians who enjoy a “harvest party” ought to feel self-doubt or guilt. To correct obsessive world-gazing with more of the same defeats Christians’ whole point.

Fortunately, rather than pushing this mindset completely, Friel suggested Christians simply wrestle with this issue afresh. That seems good counsel, and I hope I’ve done that here.

Many wise Christian theologians (and Todd) have remarked about the “pendulum swing” many Christians take, going first to one extreme, then overcorrecting for that one, then coming back again in the next generation, and so on. I write not to defend Halloween (which I don’t even particularly care for, any more than yoga-esque stretching!) but to question whether “what would the world do? then do the opposite” is a Biblical concept, and if it makes sense to drag imaginary creatures, such as goblins, and practices, such as flying on brooms, into the debate.

This Halloween, let’s not fix our eyes upon The World and all that professes to be creepy and scary, at which point we try not to look, and avoid it all with legalism or “harvest parties.” Let’s instead fix our eyes on Christ. He doesn’t change us by being the world’s opposite, as if it somehow sets the agenda and leaves Him and us to contradict it, but by being Himself.

Moreover, even a sinful world can reflect some truths, even by contrast. All this “celebration” of death and destruction is often the result of pure evil. But often it is also because people truly fear death — so they laugh at it, trying to shake the thought away with feigned carelessness. Deep inside they may be hurting and genuinely frightened. What a conversation starter! Christ has vanquished all power of death and openly shamed evil spiritual forces (Colossians 2). And continuing to fear darkness, either real or imagined, makes little sense in that glorious light.

(Continued from Part 1 and Part 2.)

How often do you wish your pastor was one of the Big Pastors? Perhaps you don’t at all, and come to think of it, I’m not sure I have (that I can remember). Yet surely the hint of temptation is there. It’s a sort of covetousness: I really like my pastor, and thank God for him, but he’s so (insert flaw here) and doesn’t know about (insert favorite doctrine or Christian-practice issue here) and often doesn’t go as deep or isn’t as Big as (insert Big author/pastor’s name here.)

Maybe this is a habit for Christians. It’s the quiet, nagging, often subconscious notion that what we do — in church ministry, home ministry, work ministry or anywhere else God has called us — just isn’t as spiritual. The Bigger Christians, authors, musicians, more-popular pastors and Christian conference speakers, seem to be have much more influence for the Kingdom of Christ.

But according to one of those “bigger” guys himself, Wretched Radio host Todd Friel, Christians should stop that subtle implication. And it can be particularly hard on pastors.

[At the Do Hard Things conference], I ran into a woman. (And I apologized of course, because I almost knocked her over. Thank you.) … White woman, carrying a little black baby. Clearly adopted. I’m no geneticist, but I’m almost certain it was an adopted child.

Now that’s a big thing. That is not gonna make the history books. That is a hard thing. But it doesn’t need to be a spotlight thing. It doesn’t need to be a monstrous thing.

… There’s several groups of people that I think get hammered by this message more than anybody else.

… Let’s start with you, pastor. The pastor gets shellacked constantly with this message. “Hey, what are your numbers? What are your numbers, preacher? How many people you got at your church? How many square feet? How many does your worship center seat? Do, do, do! Get big, big, big!”

And there’s a huge amount of pressure on a pastor to be the biggest in town. And pastor, you feel it, don’t you? A lack of contentment. Just banging out that sermon, 20, 30 hours a week. And you think, “Oh, it seems so small.”

No no — that’s the world telling you it’s a small thing. Do a faithful thing. The hard thing is being faithful to God and growing in holiness.

And pastors are getting just the opposite message, not just from the world, but from the church too — not intentionally, I’m sure. But all the growth conferences: “Get bigger. Do more. How to get published. How to wear these clothes to attract that group. Put on those glasses, and they’ll think you’re nifty, and the numbers will go up.”

There’s huge pressure. Pastor, you resist it. And you do the faithful thing. Do the hard thing of growing in holiness, right where you are.

Tomorrow: For women especially — is political activism superior to being a mother?

(Continued from Part 1.)

Wretched Radio host Todd Friel continued with questioning why Christians imply (or say directly) that living for God in the best ways mean doing things for Him in the biggest ways.

I mentioned that I went to the conference this week, and a little bit of it — didn’t get to see the whole thing. What I saw was very nice and very good. But there is even a danger in a nice conference like Do Hard Things. That’s the name of the book by Alex and Brett Harris, encouraging teenagers: “do something hard. … Do something for God.”

But we gotta be careful that we don’t do Do Hard Things, and turn it into Do Big Things.

… We are so inclined to grab a story like — okay, pick your favorite missionary. “Look at what this missionary did and accomplished by the age of six. Do that.” And I’m afraid that we put a monstrously big burden on people, first of all, especially if it is not Gospel-centered. “Do this in response!” needs to be our do message, not just do it because — hey, do you want to be considered great?

(The Duran Duran song starts up again …)

Do you want to be in the history books?

(“Do-do, do-do-do, do-do-do, do-do-do, doo-doo …”)

We gotta get away from that message.

Fortunately, though I haven’t read the book, I understand the Harrises include a chapter about how it’s often hard to do small things. Yet I also know, based on human nature with supporting evidence from my own thought processes, that it’s very easy for those who’ve done the big Hard Things to rise to the top. And those who’ve attempted the Hard Things, but for whatever reasons failed, don’t get as much time to share their testimonies, do they?

To paraphrase Kevin DeYoung: sometimes we need to Do Plodding Things. Such tasks may not save the world, or be worth hosting a conference or writing a book, but they glorify our God.

Tomorrow: Pastors have many pressures to do more; but God only wants faithfulness.

Sometimes I wish I were a talk-radio host — a Christian talk-radio host. I’d have the advantage of people expecting me to talk on and on about my favorite topics. I’d get to pontificate ceaselessly. And I’d get to be goofy for money. (Side effects for the Christian host may include crossover of put-on radio persona into real life, and increased susceptibility to un-Biblical pride.)

Perhaps best of all: I’d have access to the Sound Board, a very powerful instrument capable of interjecting fun effects into my vocal performance. Even better, the Sound Board can ascribe fun, possibly memorable ditties to underscore, literally, whatever point I’m making.

Case in point: Todd Friel, host of Wretched Radio. He himself would jovially admit it’s a less-than-perfect show.¹ One thing he does well, however: seeking Biblical balance and infusion of Gospel-based grace into every teaching Christians do. And speaking of do, that’s his new ploy:

“Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do …”

… Playing that frequently, when discussing some Christians’ (real or not) constant refrain to “do, do,” while either not mentioning, minimizing or overtly opposing basing this on the Gospel.

First it was something by The Police(?). Then it was a song by something called Duran Duran.

Either way, now it’s stuck in my head. And I’d like to share this joy. Seriously, it’s helped me remember: some Christian leaders, books, sermons and other teachings only encourage us to Do, Do, Do. And often it’s almost like they intentionally ignore Jesus Christ’s Done, Done, Done.

This isn’t just those darned Emergents, either. I’ve noticed some orthodox Christians falling into this (and should it surprise us that we struggle too?). And in their case, it’s not so much failure to believe the Gospel, but failure to remember it as having higher importance than all the encouragements to Do, Do, Do. The results not from a “lie” of commission, saying “the Gospel doesn’t matter as much as what you do,” but of omission: simply ignoring other Gospel truths.

Todd Friel himself, this past Monday, put this truth together with at least three things I’ve been considering for some time. And yet even his admittedly-often-disorganized mind did this very well. All I can do is quote him, after a laborious (and only slightly edited) transcription.

Why is it these days that in Christendom and in politics and in our society that if we’re doing anything to be considered big and important, it’s got to be something like politics or Hollywood? Or “hey, if you’re gonna be a pastor, if you don’t have a megachurch, or if you don’t have a bestselling book or if you haven’t made a movie — well, I guess you can stay, but you haven’t done something big for God.”

We gotta watch out for that. Faithfulness is what God is asking for. And that is plenty.

And we have got to resist the temptation of thinking that if we’re to be radical Christians, fanatical, sold-out, on-the-narrow-road Christians, that it requires doing something big. That it requires being in politics. Don’t get me wrong — nothing wrong with being in politics. Go ahead and do that. But staying home and taking care of your kids: that’s a big thing too. That’s an important thing. And doing your job, and being faithful at your church, and raising your family.

Continued tomorrow:  Beware turning “do hard things” truths into “do obviously big things.” …