Sensuous ChristianityThe author, the late Phil R. Parise, was pastor and Bible teacher at an independent fellowship in Sydney, Australia. Originally published in 1981. Natural InstinctsJude, in verse 19 of his letter, spoke of those he described as “sensual, having not the spirit” (K.J.V.). What is a sensual Christian? One dictionary definition of sensuous is “pertaining to the senses or sensible objects: highly susceptible to influence through the senses.” The sensuous Christian is one who lives by his feelings rather than through an understanding of the Word of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit. The sensuous Christian cannot he moved to prayer, study or service unless he “felt like it”. This lack of true spirituality is sometimes camouflaged by the use of spiritual sounding phrases such as “I don't feel led”. Such a person is at the mercy of his emotions -- when stirred up a great flurry of Godly activity; when depressed, a spiritual dropout. He constantly seeks new and fresh “spiritual experiences” and uses them to determine the Word of God. Thus the scriptures are no longer absolute for such a person, rather his subjective “inner feelings” become the criteria for the determination of truth. The sensuous Christian does not readily involve himself in serious study of the Word of God because he thinks he already knows the will of God through his feelings. Thus he equates “simple faith” with ignorance, thinking that “simple faith” means a faith without content or understanding. He doesn’t consider that the Scripture teaches “in evil be babes, but in your thinking be mature” (1 Cor. 14:20) or that Paul tells us again and again “my beloved brethren, I would not have you ignorant”. (Rom. 11:25) The ultimate end of sensuous Christianity is a form of “relational theology” where personal relationships and experience take precedence over the Word of God. This results in a humanistic religious experience where God and His Word are made subject to the whims of man. If the Scripture calls for action which could compromise personal relationships, then the Scripture is compromised. The catch-cry of such people is “leave aside your doctrines - just have love” But this “love” can be based upon a false, humanistic concept of the “brotherhood of man” rather than on the Word of God. The apostle John described the “agape” love of God in chapter 5, verse 3, of his first letter this way: “for this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome”. Thus we see that it is impossible to separate the love of God from keeping the commandments of God. Jesus warned of those who teach for doctrine the commandments of men and said that such people not only invalidate the Word of God for the sake of their tradition but because of this they worship in vain. (Matthew 15:1-9) Note that these people were not worshipping false gods, they WERE worshipping Christ, but to no effect since they had set aside His word! To the sensuous Christian the highest law is not the divine absolutes of God's Word, but that uncomfortable teachings or feelings must be avoided at all costs. In the N.I.V. translation Jude verse 19 reads as follows: “These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.” A Rational BookThe Bible is primarily directed to our understanding, or our mind. This is difficult for many Christians to understand because for so many Christianity has been represented as a mystical, ethereal, irrational thing. Even today there is strong antipathy towards and lack of understanding of the place of the mind in Christian experience. On the contrary, however, I have found the Bible to be the most logical and rational book I have ever read. Christianity is intellectual although not intellectualistic. That is to say, the Bible is addressed to the intellect, but without embracing an intellectual Spirit. Thus it may be understood by simple and uneducated persons, because the degree to which God's written Word may be intellectually appreciated is not a function of education or IQ, but rather of spiritual receptivity. Because the Bible is addressed to the mind, however, does not mean that strong emotional feelings should not be part of our Christian experience. It would be virtually impossible to understand the tremendous truths of Scripture without experiencing deep and passionate feelings of joy, love and exaltation. God did not intend the Christian life to be one of cold rationalism or intellectual conjecture; it is a vibrant life of righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. (Rom 14:17). The correct approach is that the emotional, passionate experiences in our lives should be a response to what we understand to be true. In this way we will be protected from religious fanaticism or spiritual experiences from the wrong source. Teachings Of MenA particularly disturbing heresy has become evident in recent times. Many are relating esoteric, emotional experiences to the moving of the Spirit of God. They feel that if great emotional outbursts, yelling, laughing etc. are not evident then people are “bound”. Although in a meeting God's Word may have been powerfully expounded under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, because a lot of thrills were not seen and chills were not felt such immature Christians will say the meeting was “dead”, thus inhibiting the work of God by their unscriptural and anti-faith opinions. Such people find their spiritual kicks in stirring oratory and emotional speeches from their favourite preachers rather than in diligent and prayerful study of the plain Word of God. Among their ranks are the demon-regurgitators with their towels and paper bags, the “slayers” with their hefty bouncers standing behind to catch those who fall prostrate “slain in the Spirit” and that charismatic version of the lucky dip... “G-o-d is telling me... someone here has a pain in the neck ... !” (So called “word of knowledge!”) The pulp market and the cassette tape manufacturers extract millions of dollars every year from gullible Christians eager to believe that the next charismatic best seller or taped “end time message” will at last show them the way to long life, health, peace and plenty! One after another we hear these preachers with their various messages. One speaks of the “higher life” message, while another has “deeper life” message. We are told that the ultimate truth is to be found in the “end time faith message”, or is it the message of the “new creation”? Then there is the gospel of “possibility thinking” not to mention the “praise message” or the “uncompromised word of faith”. And so the restless and immature go from fad to fad, blown about by every wind of teaching, never finding what they are seeking because they don't really know what they want. Now we need to understand that there may not be serious doctrinal error in some of these “messages” (although there sometimes is). They usually present one aspect of the total revelation of God and need to be expounded from time to time. The error exists in isolating ONE passage or theme from the scriptures and then presenting it as THE God-given panacea for all spiritual ills. There are many who cannot tell the difference between what is external, ephemeral, temporary, and that which is substantial and permanent. Like thinking that the sizzle is the steak or that all that glitters must be gold! The fact is, however, that God has given us His Word, for...”for teaching, correction, reproof, training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Thus while certain men may be gifted to proclaim or expound God's Word, the Word by itself is sufficient and is always the final authority. Being sensitive to the flow of the Holy Spirit - a rushing, mighty wind - is not to be confused with being at the mercy of every fickle spiritual breeze! We are not obliged to welcome every new fad or gimmick and we do not have to believe every new preacher whose “end time message” tells us that we lack the “power” or that we are still in “bondage” because we don't accept his updated “word from God”, or because we refuse to believe that true spirituality consists of spewing out demons every week, or falling flat on our backs when hands are laid on us, or promiscuously embracing strangers of both sexes to prove our “love”, and the like. Now it will at times be appropriate to do some of these things, to fall down before the Lord, to laugh, dance, clap, sing, embrace, etc. - but it is damnable heresy to teach that these things constitute the real liberty of the Spirit, or to attempt to make them compulsory and so bring people into bondage and condemnation. There are some things that we should embrace in obedience because they are enjoined in scripture for all believers. The things that are truly part of God's commandment to all believers have two important characteristics: firstly they are permanent - hence they are not the product of some preachers imagination but are clearly and demonstratably expounded in the Word of God. Secondly, they bring liberty and peace, leaving freedom for each person to do or not to do as he himself sees fit before God. By contrast, the teachings of man are temporary - they last a short time then decay into oblivion. Secondly, they bring bondage for while they promise freedom, they bring eventual frustration. We need to understand that only God's Word is rock solid and absolute and thus retain freedom of choice about everything else. Don't allow yourself to be bullied into mindless conformity. “For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, as God's free men, and refuse to be locked again into the shackles of slavery!" (Gal. 5:1). The Clarity Of ScriptureIn the sixteenth century, the Reformers declared their total confidence in what they called the perspicuity of scripture. What they meant by the term was simply the clarity of God's written Word. They maintained that the Bible is basically clear and lucid. it is simple for anyone to comprehend and grasp its basic message. Biblical Christianity is not an esoteric religion. Its meaning and content are not concealed in vague symbols that require some sort of special insight or understanding to grasp. It is most unlike what we see in Eastern religion where spiritual insight is limited to some remote guru who lives in a shack somewhere in the Himalayas. Maybe the guru claims to have been thunderstruck by the gods with some special revelation, a profound mystery of the universe. You go to enquire and he tells you that the meaning of life is to be found by chanting the name of his god. That's esoteric. It's so esoteric that even the guru himself does not understand it. He cannot understand it because it is an absurdity. Absurdities often sound profound simply because they are absurd. They are incapable of being understood. When we hear things of this nature, sometimes we think that they are simply to deep or weighty to be understood when in actual fact they are simply unintelligible nonsense. The Bible does not speak like that. The Scriptures speak of God in simple, clear, meaningful patterns of speech. Some of these patterns may be more difficult than others, but none are nonsense statements that only a guru can comprehend. Praise God that we may say with Peter “and so we have a more sure word of prophecy...” (2 Pet. 1:12) on which to base our lives. Not as sensual Christians, following our emotions and the "mere natural instincts" but as fervent, disciplined people, building our lives on the absolute truth of God's Word. Copyright 1981, Good News Ministries Copyright Policy All publications of Good News Ministries are protected by copyright. Our intention in copyrighting our publications is not to gain financial advantage, but to protect our stewardship of the material. All our publications may be freely copied subject to the following conditions:
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