Miller's website has a section for his different books. As I mentioned in the previous post, I was given and read Searching For God Knows What. The website description for this book, which was presumably written by Miller himself, reads [emphasis mine, grammar and spelling his]:
I wrapped this book up in a bar on Hawthorne and that night I felt like I was losing it a bit. Essentially, I had begun to wonder if had misunderstood the gospel of Jesus, thinking of it in propositional terms rather than relational dynamics. The latter seemed too poetic to be true, but the former had been killing my soul for years and was simply illogical. If we hold that Jesus wanted us to "believe" certain ideas or "do" certain things in order to be a Christian, we are holding to heresy. In that bar on Hawthorne, I finished the last paragraph and felt a kind of sickness at the thought of whether or not I was telling the truth. But after further consideration, and after rewriting the book, I realized the formulaic version of Christianity was irrational, and for that matter, unbiblical. True Christian spirituality mirrors relational dynammics more than the workings of a free-market economy. This seemed to open up an entire new world to me, a world where every thought and feeling operates as a kind of living metaphor for the workings of the Godhead.
As a year has passed since the release of the book, I've seen more and more how, in my own life and in the lives of the Christians around me, we subscribe to false gospels that are troubling our souls. Because we live in a constant sales enviornment where we are told a certain car will make us sexy or a certain dishwashing detergent will be a miracle for our dishes, we assume the gospel of Jesus works the same way, that is, if we invest something, we get something more back. But this is not the case. To understand what the Bible explains Jesus' gospel to be, we must look to each other, to the way a father interacts with a child, a bride to a bridegroom, a doctor to a patient. When we let go of the idea of Jesus as a product and embrace Him as a being, our path to spiritual maturity begins.
Honestly, the more I read by this guy, the more I realize that he really has no understanding of what the Bible says or means. That entire book left me feeling, even on a page-by-page basis, that he was 'making it up as he went along' - not only the book (which rambles and jumps around in nauseating fashion), but his own version of what Christianity is or what he wants it to be. Everything this guy says reflects that he does everything to meet his own felt needs, including how he formulates the 'gospel of Jesus'.
Miller says, "If we hold that Jesus wanted us to "believe" certain ideas or "do" certain things in order to be a Christian, we are holding to heresy." He doesn't provide any support or authority of any kind for such a statement, and I don't remember seeing any in the book itself either. So what did Jesus want, if he didn't want us to 'believe' or 'do'? Let's see what his word says, shall we?
Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.(Matthew 21:32)
Miller says Jesus did not want us to "'believe' certain ideas or 'do' certain things". According to Miller, that is heresy. But Jesus clearly had a different idea. That's right, JESUS HIMSELF. Jesus faults the chief priests and the Pharisees for failing to believe John the Baptist. He tells them that the tax collectors and prostitutes would enter heaven before them. Why? Because they believed! In other words, their belief was a condition to entering the kingdom of God. Without belief, no entry. Then, in case there was any doubt about what Jesus was saying, he criticizes them again! Why? Because they did not "repent and believe"! It sounds a lot like Jesus DID want them "to 'believe' certain ideas and 'do' certain things (e.g. repent).
Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen. He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.(Mark 16:14-16)
Again, God's Word is crystal clear. Jesus rebukes his disciples for refusing to...believe! Why? Because he told them repeatedly that he had to die and would rise again. Then, he commissions them to go into the world and preach the gospel, the good news of Christ's resurrection and victory over death and sin. What is the point of the disciples' preaching? What is the reaction that should be found to the good news? Belief! What happens to those who will not believe? They are condemned. Clearly, Jesus desired that the world believe.
How Miller can miss this is beyond me - unless he misses it on purpose because it doesn't fit his needs.
Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.(John 14:11)
This passage is particularly instructive here. Jesus answers Philip's request to show them the Father by instructing them on his relationship to his Father. Jesus explains that he is in the Father and vice-versa, and tells the disciples that the miracles they have witnessed are evidence of his unity with the Father. Attention Donald Miller: this is doctrine! This is theology, and Jesus is giving it to us! And when he does, he tells us to 'believe' and 'do'.
But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Simon himself believed and was baptized. (Acts 8:12-13)
This one sums up perfectly what we're talking about. Donald Miller says that Jesus did not want us to "'believe' certain ideas or 'do certain things". But here, as his disciple proclaims the good news, the hearers ignore Donald Miller: "they believed" and "they were baptized". Just as Christ instructed Philip, so Philip instructs them: believe and do.
Here are a few (of many) more passages worth reading: Mark 5:36; Luke 8:50; John 3:16-21; John 20:31; Romans 10:9.
Miller's little book description goes on: "I realized the formulaic version of Christianity was irrational, and for that matter, unbiblical." Again, no support for this statement. Nothing from the Bible to show us that this idea is unbiblical. What Miller calls "formulaic" and "irrational" winds up being those things about the Bible and Christianity he just doesn't like, isn't comfortable with, and doesn't want to bother with. In other words, if it meets his needs, it's rational and Biblical. If not, toss it out. This sounds like one of those "Choose Your Own Adventure" books I used to read as a kid. Sadly, it isn't confined to Miller alone, but many, many people in evangelicalism and emergent-ism who glom onto his books.
Miller concludes by saying that true chistian spirituality is "a world where every thought and feeling operates as a kind of living metaphor for the workings of the Godhead." Wow. I sure don't remember reading ANYTHING like that in my Bible. Maybe Miller is reading a different version. My Bible says,
All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.(Isaiah 64:6)
And,
"There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God."(Romans 3:10-11)
And,
Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.(Psalm 51:4-5)
And especially,
I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.(Romans 7:14-20)
It seems pretty clear from the above passages that we are infected completely throughout with sin. From the moment of conception, we are sinful creatures who do not seek God. We are slaves to sin, and nothing good lives in us. Do we really agree, with Miller, that this is a "living metaphor for the workings of the Godhead"? No, and neither does the Bible. I don't have any confidence that Miller even understands the Godhead at all, and this is evidence of that. Contrary to Miller's mistaken musings, our every thought and feeling are hostile to God and filled with sin. Thankfully, by God's unlimited love and mercy, he forgives us of that evil through the sacrifice of His Son. That is, through Jesus' death and resurrection we are spared the just punishment for our sinfulness and are then transformed by His Spirit to live a life pleasing to God. Only through God's grace are we saved and made holy in His sight. This is made even more certain when we understand that Paul was writing that last passage as a Christian! Even as a redeemed sinner, saved through Christ's shed blood, Paul knew that he was a wretched sinner without Christ.
Donald Miller strikes me as a very sincere and very honest man. Everything I have read by him shows me that he is not afraid to bare his soul to the world. But sadly, he has completely forgotten what lies within our souls without the true Jesus Christ of the Bible - it is unclean and unwilling to seek God. No amount of fighting against injustice will do it, as "all our righteous acts are like filthy rags". Only the true Christ and His true gospel will suffice. Until Donald Miller is willing to dispense with his superficial felt needs, get over his hang-ups with "formula", and stop trying to shape 'christian spirituality' to meet his idea of what it is and what he wants, he will be the one who "subscribes to a false gospel". Miller thinks that "to understand what the Bible explains Jesus' gospel to be, we must look to each other". You're wrong, Mr. Miller, and you need to hear it. Don't look to others. As Paul lamented, "I know that nothing good lives in me. ... What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" Is that really the one you think you should look to? No, Paul answers. Look to CHRIST - "Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!"
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