Christianity and the Paranormal, Part III

The Spiritual Materialist: In the world and of it

Our final category (for now) involves what I think is probably the most ironic type of mindset we’ve considered thus far. It is also probably the most common. It involves Christians scoffing at all paranormal claims reflexively because “everybody” knows things like that don’t exist.

I say this is ironic, because if ever there were a people who had reason to take paranormal claims seriously, it would be Christians. In theory, our entire life is based on the existence of a world beyond the natural realm, from which incredibly powerful non-human entities regularly enter in order to influence our reality. Of course, the ultimate example of this is the Creator of the Universe passing into our space-time to sacrifice Himself and pay for the sins of our world, but there are plenty of other instances. We also say we believe in angels, demons, cherubim, seraphim, prayer and miracles. The list could go on for some time.

And yet, if someone comes up and claims to have seen anything out of the "ordinary," what is the average western Christian's most common reaction? Denial. Sometimes mockery. In short, they react very much like your average atheist or secular humanist We see this beautifully illustrated in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, when Lucy first returns from Narnia and tries to convince her siblings of where she’s been. Edmund immediately declares her to be “Batty!...Quite batty,” while Peter and Susan come to believe that she’s mentally ill.

The end result is that those who are best equipped to look at the world beyond the normal—the paranormal—through the lens of spiritual understanding are in fact blinded by a bias that has nothing to do with what they really believe.

I think the reasons for this sad state of affairs varies from person-to-person. Many people have absorbed so much of the pseudo-scientific nonsense spouted by the secular world that they have accepted the false idea that in order to be “intelligent” one must reject the supernatural entirely and think wholly as a materialist. At the same time, they hold to Christian beliefs that positively require the presence of the supernatural to make any sense. Both of these mutually exclusive propositions somehow co-exist inside their heads until such time as one or the other wins on a practical level. From my experience, very rarely are either thought through.

All this reminds me of definition from Donald T. Williams' excellent foray into the mind of Hell, The Devil's Dictionary of the Christian Faith: "Liberal 1 (n): One who believes that Jesus never said most of the words or did any of the deeds attributed to him, but that, for some reason which remains unclear, we should follow him anyway" (52). It is one of the best ploys of Screwtape's "Father Below"; the "faithful" do not have to actually believe in much of anything in any practical way beyond mere hypothetical assent. They never expect to really meet any of these entities, and when they do, the refuse to accept them. That means they are prevented by default from developing any tangible relationship with a Christ in whom they have no real belief, and are not on their guard against interference from devils who they do not think exist. From Hell's perspective, it is a perfect arrangement.

Clearly, I’m not suggesting that Christians are somehow bound by honor or logic to accept every half-baked claim of a supernatural occurrence that somehow floats our way. Far from it. We are told, in fact, to “test the spirits.” Demons are not hiding behind even a large minority of bushes. Still, we should at least be consistent enough with our own presuppositions to keep a truly open mind and not preclude any possibilities for no other reason than vague preference or mindless prejudice.

Besides, I think a Christian who, in practice, does not allow for the existence of spirits or the supernatural in some real way has some serious self reflection to do on what, and in whom, they actually believe.

Christianity and the Paranormal, Part II

The Hyper-Literalist

For centuries, Christians have maintained the infallibility of the Bible. It is God’s Holy Word, a guide to salvation, and useful for all kinds of preaching and teaching. I myself believe in the verbal-plenary theory of Biblical inspiration. (Any fans of Richard Dawkins in the audience will take note that my head has yet to explode, and that I have yet to beat anyone with a Bible the size of a compact car.) The Hyper-Literalist is a point of view that takes these good, right, and True ideas, and then runs completely out of the park with them.

The Hyper-Literalist believes “if it ain’t on the page, it ain’t on the stage,” to adapt a phrase from some southern thespians of old acquaintance. Their idea of a Biblical approach to the paranormal is to insist that the realm of the supernatural is expressly limited to that which is spelled out in Scripture. Anything else is, by definition, excluded from consideration.

Sometime in the future, I intend to address this issue in more depth, so I don’t want to steal all my own thunder here, but in a nutshell, I don’t believe that is an appropriate assumption to make concerning Scripture. Let me be clear: I believe that everything that the Bible says about the spiritual world or the paranormal is True. The Bible contains the complete and total Knowledge sufficient for the salvation of humankind. But it doesn’t follow that the Bible tells us everything there is to know about the larger spiritual world any more than it tells us everything there is to know about mathematics, biology, or astronomy. Everything the Bible says about those subjects is true, but the Bible makes no claims to being the full and final repository of Creation’s knowledge on them. Any claims that it is have been made by insecure, immature believers, not the Book Itself.

The next step in the Hyper-literalist argument is to state that since the Bible has already told us everything there is to know about the subject, we are somehow committing sin by continuing to ask questions. The assumption is that there must be something spiritually wrong with you if you do. Though the images I've used here poke fun at the KJV-only crowd, it can affect anyone who uses any translation.

So, it should be obvious what problems I have with this position: It is unnecessarily limiting. It arbitrarily prevents us from appreciating the full spectrum of God’s Creation, and all of the events, creatures, and entities inherent to it. It inhibits legitimate study.

It also has the unfortunate tendency to reinforce the stereotype of Christians as small minded bigots. That is because this view is most vocally expressed by those whose faith has not yet matured to the point where they can realistically weather criticism. In these cases, the individual often identifies the details of his own personal belief system (which may or may not all be in accord with Scripture) with Divine Truth. Such a person often feels obligated to defend the whole rickety theological edifice, since to be proven wrong on a small point may imply that he could be wrong about something more important. To a mind like this, the “fact” that there were three magi at the stable in Bethlehem becomes as important as the Incarnation and Resurrection. (BTW, there were no magi at the stable. They visited later. Get over it.) In the end, the denunciations and ad hominem attacks come fast and furious, much to the detriment of the Church’s collective witness.

At the same time, believers interested in the paranormal would do well to heed the Hyper-Literalist’s warnings. I do believe that there is a very fine line between legitimate student and manic fascination in matters of the paranormal. What to one person is a healthy curiosity to another is an obsession that will open doors that should stay closed. In the worst case, the believer will take one spiritual baby-step after another away from the narrow path until the hope of return is almost purely academic. (It’s a danger I myself am acutely aware of; I just hope I’m aware enough.)

Up Next: The Spiritual Materialist