The House On The Sand

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.  But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that guise, and it fell with a great crash."
--Matthew 7:24-27


Shallow Christians carry shallow ideologies, and shallow ideologies do not prepare people for the harsher realities of life--doubt, uncertainty, pain, and difficulty.  These shallow Christians do not benefit themselves by playing in the theological and philosophical equivalent of a kiddie pool all while proclaiming how wonderful and complete their Christian lives are.  The Jesus they describe does not align with the Jesus of the Bible.  They do not have the same moral positions or end goals or intellectual awareness that the Biblical Jesus possessed.  When they confront true trials, real pain, and genuine challenges, how they will respond to such difficulties will determine if they will be shattered personally and ideologically or if they will allow these difficulties to change them into something stronger, more knowledgeable, and more aligned with reality.

I see other people professing Christianity--in at least many cases, whether or not they are Christians is beyond my ability to know--who's houses are constructed on a foundation of shifting sand and may very well be destroyed the moment actual storms come.  Intellectually and Biblically speaking, their worldview is ripe for destruction.  Whether those storms take the form of intellectual challenges or personal demons, neither they nor their houses seem prepared to survive the exhausting and plentiful trials that await practically all humans.  "In this world you will have trouble," Jesus says in John 16:33.  If these words are correct, then those with houses built on sand will have much to regret when these storms arrive and wash away flimsy foundations, foundations that cannot withstand the onslaught of rain which will dissolve the illusory protection they pretended to offer.

I see this danger of being washed away especially present in the lives of people who's commitment to Christianity stems from either family or social conditioning or some emotional experience, both of which represent deeply fallacious and shallow attachments to Christianity--but they not only will not repulse legitimate intellectual problems and questions, they will also quite likely not provide support during periods of emotional distress.  If one's commitment to Christianity hinges on some feeling, then what happens when the feeling departs or diminishes?  What happens when other feelings seize such a person?  What will become of the person who never prepared for storms beforehand?

Life can summon many trials--depression, loss, financial pressures, intellectual dilemmas, uncertainty, physical and mental pain--and life will not cease to elapse simply because of the presence of these trials.  Shallow Christians remain in severe danger of finding themselves in the very situation Jesus described in Matthew 7:26-27.  It's pretty easy (at least I would hope) to not drown if one stays in the kiddie pool, but, at least in many of our cases, life will not allow us to remain in the kiddie pool for very long; it will hurl us into the deeper water.  Periods of peace and respite may be infrequent and brief.  The house on the sand simply does not have a high probability of surviving turbulent storms.

Unfortunately, much of what I see of Christian music, preaching, community, and culture around me remains entrapped by ignorance, inconsistency, and lack of serious depth.  But staying in such traps is not something inevitable or the only possible option; escape from theological and intellectual mediocrity into an honest and strong worldview is not only possible, but something that will transform those who do escape.  And that is one of the primary objectives of my blog--to provide access to information that will help facilitate the process of intellectual, moral, and spiritual growth in the lives of those seeking these things.  Let us build our houses on solid stone, not on sand that washes away when exposed to the ferocity of life's storms.