Despite what I wrote in my last post I have found something to blog about, courtesy of Eddie. Hamo the Backyard Missionary has written a provocative post The Problem is Christianity, about the Christian scene in his own Australia but also largely applicable here in England, and I dare say also, even all the more so, in North America. Eddie quotes Hamo’s own summary of his post, so for variety I will quote some different parts, with just an extract from the summary:

The greatest obstacle to the advance of the kingdom of God in most of the West is … a resurgent Christianity.

Here is part of his explanation:

The Church of England Newspaper May 26, 2008 says, “Islam is being institutionalised, incarnated, into national structures amazingly fast, at the same time as …. the ‘excarnation’ of Christianity… out of state policy and structures”. Whilst this may be sad for those who sentimentalise about the loss of the fides historica (inherited conventional religion), it is surely a sign of the judgement of God on the human construct of privilege and compromise called “Christianity” and a preparation for a return to radical Christ- centred faith that disappeared from Western society long ago.

I was especially struck by this point:

The people of God can only know their deepest inward identity as the Bride of Christ through an immediate and passionate awareness, in the Spirit, that Jesus is their Bridegroom (John 3:29; Rev 19:6 – 8). Where this is lacking, much of what transpires as Christian spirituality is simply “spiritual masturbation.” It may have the appearance of godliness, but is part of a religious culture that lacks the interpenetrative power of holiness (2 Tim 3:5).

I wish I dared to use “spiritual masturbation” as a post title, but I don’t want to seem too shocking. The verse referred to is this:

having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

2 Timothy 3:5 (TNIV)

Does Hamo really mean that we should have nothing to do with these practitioners of “Christian spirituality [which] is part of a religious culture”, the supporters of “the fides historica (inherited conventional religion)”? That is certainly a strong challenge. If Hamo is right, we who are looking for the kingdom of God (I hesitate to say “we Christians” because that makes us sound like supporters of the Christianity that Hamo criticises) should abandon any attempt to preserve the institutional Christian basis of our society and instead accept with joy the role of outsiders with a prophetic message.

If this is right, the latest Church of England report Moral, But no Compass is fundamentally flawed. This report calls for a reverse in the decline of the influence of the church within the government corridors of power, even for the appointment of a government “Minister for Religion”. I don’t suggest that the report has no value, for it has clearly identified some of the ways in which the British government is failing to take proper account of what Christian churches are doing, especially in the charity sector. But in so far as it is at least in part a call for the re-establishment of church influence over the state, and inevitably vice versa as a corollary, this report seems to be an attempt to restore “the human construct of privilege and compromise called “Christianity””, also described as “the greatest obstacle to the advance of the kingdom of God”.

So let us, as believers in Jesus, set aside both the spiritual adultery of looking to the state for support and affirmation and the spiritual masturbation of looking for it in our own religious culture. Let us instead seek our spiritual satisfaction only in God, in worshipping him in holiness.