Ooey Gooey Sentimental Sandwich

American Christianity has long been dominated by sentimentalism. With that in mind, I believe that this is one of the single most dangerous things we bring into our worldview, friendships, relationships of all kinds, biblical interpretation--which ultimately builds our doctrine which makes up our foundational stones.

Nearly all christian churches today are filled with this ambiguous sentimental love, which isn't love at all, but an inglorious feeling. False unity is built around the idea that we all just love each other. If you're the poor sucker that disagrees with the majority, it's not the truth of the subject that is debated and worked through, it is your attitude. That's not to say that if you're being a jerk that you shouldn't be called into account for it. I'm talking about people who disagree on issues and want to dialogue them are discarded like the nursery's trash, "because they are not in unity with he rest of us."

Sappy feelings become the axiom to all truth in our lives, and that is what rules us. Feelings are then, in effect, the barometers to all decision making.

Sentimentalism causes us to interpret the bible through a sappy lens, which causes us to ignore the hard passages of scripture where Jesus, Paul and others rebuke people. If you're the unfortunate fellow trying to call someone to repentance, you'll be greeted with, "Judge not lest you be judge" or "remove the log from your eye then take the speck out of my eye." If you happen to cite certain passages where Jesus or Paul rebuked someone, then you are greeted with, "you're not Jesus" or "you're not Paul", but those same people would be happy to imitate Jesus on the more sentimental issues, i.e. love one another (which isn't sentimental at all)... lets just love everyone.  That is the result of a sentimentally viewing scripture.

Interpreting the bible sentimentally has plagued the American evangelical church, this is in my opinion one of the single most detrimental issues to our culture, which is ultimately a form of relativism.

Feelings are nature, but the are the reaction of decisions, and ought not to be the axiom to our decision-making.  Make a sandwich of substance, and not an ooey-gooey-sentimental, nutritionally void sandwich.


Coram Deo,

Douglas Herron