circular thoughts

Chapter 3: How Do Westerners Picture the World?

In Chapter 3 of Christianity with Power: Your Worldview and Your Experience of the Supernatural, Dr. Kraft describes some of the characteristics of the Western worldview.  He begins by giving a brief synopsis of the influence the "Enlightenment" has had on Western culture.  The "Enlightenment" was a period during which "modern science was being born...[and] humans became very impressed with themselves and with their ability to work things out rationally" (page 25).  We have inherited this mindset in such great depth that most of us don't even realize that we think this way.  

Dr. Kraft then gives six characteristics of the Western worldview:

1.  Our worldview is naturalistic.  Westerners have divided the world into two worlds, the natural and the supernatural.  Most Westerners then ignore the supernatural world since it cannot be explained by science.  "Occasionally we interpret something that happens as a miracle, but by definition we see such an act as a matter of God's interference in normalcy...which seems to contrast with Jesus' view that such acts ought to be considered normal in the kingdom of God" (pages 28-29).

2.  Materialism dominates Western Society.  We define success and security by things that can be seen and controlled.  We are driven to acquire more because in that more we find comfort and peace.  This pursuit of more keeps us focused on the visible and measurable, which means we have little time to focus on or believe in that which is not visible and not measurable.

3.  Western society is humanistic.  Many in the West are convinced that human accomplishment has no limits. (page 30)  "It is just a matter of time and effort, we believe, before we conquer such-and-such a disease or learn how to control the weather...and if we can just create an organization big and powerful enough to handle the whole world, we will at last have attained peace" (pages 30-31).  "Now our real religion is science, and our priests are the scientists.  For it is science that gives us control over the material universe and the promise of future control over everything else" (page 32).

4.  Reason has become our primary way of understanding REALITY.  The "Enlightenment" resulted in reason and rational thinking taking precedent over and dominating any suggestion of human intuition.  In fact, such intuition "and imagination in the discovery process [is now] ignored and scorned" (page 32).  Also ignored and scorned are "any recognition of unseen beings and powers, since they [are] not subject to the rigors of rational analysis" (page 32).

5.  We highly value individualism and independence.  This focus on our independence and individualism results in an isolation that "makes both Christians and non-Christians very vulnerable to Satan in the deepest recesses of our being...[where] problems such as anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, worry, fear, and lust are to be kept out of sight, even though they fester within us and make us sick [and give Satan freedom] to gnaw away at our emotional problems like a rat working under cover of darkness" (page 33).

6.  Westerners do tend to be open to change.  Kraft argues that one beneficial characteristic of the Western worldview is our openness to change.  We have experienced so much change in our lives that we are both expectant and open to such.  We do "tend to be much more hesitant when it comes to change in religious ideas or allegiances" (page 34). 

Dr. Kraft concludes this chapter with a discussion of "felt needs," which are "needs or wants that people have a strong urge to satisfy" (page 34).  "When the answers of science, materialism, humanism and naturalism fall short, people then begin to look for spiritual answers" (page 35).  Many Evangelicals are at a point where their felt need is not being met and they are sensing "that there must be more to Christianity than we have witnessed so far" (page 35).

I was at that point once.  What about you?

Eric

Chapter 2: Puzzling Reflections in a Mirror

In Chapter 2 of Christianity with Power: Your Worldview and Your Experience of the Supernatural, Dr. Kraft addresses our perception of reality.  He begins by quoting 1 Corinthians 13:12;

What we see now is like a dim image in a mirror; then we shall see face-to-face.  What I know now is only partial; then it will be complete - as complete as God's knowledge of me. 

Kraft differentiates between reality, which he defines as how human beings understand things and REALITY, which he defines as how God sees things.  He then presents four ways we view the differences between reality and REALITY.  These are as follows:

1. Denying there is any difference between one's own position and what is absolutely right.  This approach results in dogmatism and is technically known as naive realism.
2. Nobody is completely wrong or right.  These folks conclude that there is no REALITY, or, if there is, it is irrelevant.  This approach is technically known as relativism.
3. The Agnostic.  These folks conclude that if there is a REALITY, we cannot know it.
4. The Two-Realities Position.  The technical term for this position is critical realism.   These folks conclude that there is a reality as we actually perceive it and a REALITY, as it actually is.

What Kraft is arguing in this presentation is that in order to be open to a new and different understanding about the supernatural, we must realize the difference between reality and REALITY.  We must realize that even though "we cannot understand absolutely, we need to learn as much as possible about REALITY and to adjust our perception of reality accordingly.  To do this we must learn to be open to understandings that lie beyond those we now have."  (page 15)

Kraft then presents the ways we are taught to interpret things the way we do.  He suggests that "we are strongly indoctrinated long before we seek to make any of our own choices in perceiving reality."  (page 18)  He suggests that there are at least four ways this happens:

1. We are taught to interpret in culturally approved ways and rewarded when we conform.
2. We are taught to see selectively.
3. We accept things that confirm what we've been taught.
4. As pointed out by Paul, we see REALITY only dimly and partially (1 Corinthians 13:12).

Kraft concludes the chapter by presenting the five factors that he believes influence our view of REALITY.

1. Our worldview, which he defines as "the culturally structured assumptions, values, and commitments underlying a people's perception of REALITY." (page 20)
2. The limitations of our experience.
3. A person's personality or temperament.
4. Our will.
5. The sin factor.

Kraft's purpose in this second chapter is to help his reader see the limitations our culture and worldview place on our perception of REALITY.  If we are unable to walk in the realm of critical realism, we will never be able to approach a paradigmatic shift in regards to the supernatural.

I like Kraft's analysis.  I believe that one of the sins of evangelicals, especially those of us who have historically been closed to the supernatural activity of God, is our dogmatism.  We seem to be convinced that we can fully understand and explain the ways of God.  We seem to constantly take the position that anyone who disagrees with our understanding of God is simply wrong.  I am convinced that this sin of dogmatism is nothing less than pure fear; of the unknown, of not being right and of being out of control. 

Where do you stand when it comes to these things?  Are you a naive realist, a relativist, an agnostic or a critical realist?  I have to admit that I was a naive realist until my experience of REALITY overseas came into conflict with my reality here at home. 

Chapter 1: Signs and Wonders Are for Evangelicals, Too

Chapter 1 of Christianity with Power: Your Worldview and Your Experience of the Supernatural, is Dr. Kraft's story of his personal journey in experiencing the supernatural.  As I read, I was amazed at how similar my story has been to his.  Dr. Kraft was raised in a dispensationalist context.  He became a missionary in Nigeria, where his no power theology was confronted head-on with the reality of witch doctors and animistic beliefs.  Kraft's failure in confronting the witch doctors and prevalent spiritism led him to reevaluate his deeply rooted belief system, which led to an openness to things he had been closed to previously as well as a shifting paradigm through which he  read the Bible.  This openness led Kraft to what he calls a credible witness in John Wimber.  Wimber was teaching a Signs and Wonders course at Fuller Theological Seminary, in Pasadena, California, and had come from a similar spiritual background to Kraft.  The thing about Wimber that Kraft liked was his "rational and unemotional, yet clearly powerful and scripturally based approach" (page 8) to the supernatural.  This meant that Kraft was able to follow Wimber's lead and begin to experience Christianity with power for the first time.

I, too, was raised in a dispensationalist context, which led to frustration and a reevaluation of my beliefs when my no power theology failed on the mission field.  My credible witness came through my friendship with brother Albert and brother Ravi, who are my ministry partners in India.  Their balanced and authentic approach to all things supernatural helped me to embrace an openness to such things, which led to the journey that I am still on, as evidenced by this blog series.

I think Kraft's experience has elements to which many of us can relate.  The major hurdle, however, is that many of us have not served as missionaries and many of us have not yet found our credible witness.    Perhaps this blog series can serve as such for some of us...

Favorite quotes from Chapter 1:

I had to a large extent overcome my early dispensational training against the possibility of God working through faith healers today.  But I continued to interpret the Scriptures as I always had, assuming that Jesus' healing ministry was something he could do as God but that I could not do as a mere man.  I still assumed that the "power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases" that Jesus gave the disciples (Lk 9:1) was just for them and a few others in the early centuries of the Christian era.  So though I now believed that a few today might also have been given the gift of healing, I had never seen such a gift in operation.  Therefore I acted as if it didn't exist.  (page 2)

Though we talked a great deal about spiritual things, the Nigerians understood most aspects of spirituality much better than we did.  I'm afraid we were doing what Paul accuses the Galatians of doing: starting in the Spirit but then turning to human power (Gal 3:3).  In the name of Christ, as if this was the best he could offer, we had simply reproduced Western secularized approaches to illness, accident, education, fertility, agriculture, and every other problem of life.  We acted as though Western scientific methods were more effective than prayer.  (pages 4-5)

I want all that God has for us in this area, but in a balanced, reasonable way.  The extremes in power ministry still bother me greatly.  I have no desire to move toward those extremes. ... Ministering in spiritual power was integral to Jesus' ministry.  And he didn't seem to be very emotional about it.  Jesus simply took the authority and exercised the power his Father gave him. Then he deliberately gave the same power and authority to his disciples (Lk 9:1) and later in his ministry instructed them to "teach [your own disciples] to obey everything I have commanded you" (Mt 28:20).  I want to obey whatever Jesus meant by "everything."  (page 8)