In this entry, I’d like to speak about two different kinds of counterfeits. First, I’ll address a counterfeit Christianity, and then we’ll move to discuss a counterfeit God/Christ. Though linked — inextricably so — these two different kinds of counterfeits each deserve their own brief treatment. To begin, we’ll consider a counterfeit Christianity.
Will the Real Christianity Please stand up?
About a decade or so ago, one of my best friends from Bible college left the faith. I saw his Facebook profile today for the first time in a while and it was, in a word, bittersweet. It was good to see him healthy and happy, wife and children and all, but it pained me to know that the home he once found in the Christian community has been long abandoned. A few years ago, we spoke on the phone about his de-conversion process; unsurprisingly, the reasons behind his decision to shed his faith resonated with me deeply, for they were, in large part, the reasons why I had my own deep struggles with the faith several years ago myself. In a phrase: a counterfeit Christianity.
Such a broad expression could mean any number of things in any number of contexts, but in the interest of both brevity and precision I’ll define it as follows: any religion operating under the banner of Christianity that has significantly (subjective, I know) departed from or added to the tenets and personality of the historical Jesus Christ. And here’s the most threatening — and if not the most threatening, the most frustrating — aspect of counterfeit Christianity: those who practice it usually don’t know it, or they’ve at least convinced themselves somehow that it’s the real thing.
And yes, this means I could be guilty of it, too. That’s why it’s so insidious.
That Sounds sinister…
Now, bear in mind that I don’t primarily have a damnable sort of counterfeit Christianity in view, though this sort of counterfeit Christianity certainly exists and — depending on which denominational tradition you ask or which confession or council you consult — the degree to which one can safely stray from any given denomination or group’s definition of Christianity and still be a “real” Christian varies widely. But for the sake of the topic at hand, I’ll limit my observations to the kind of Christianity that has, at its core, basically good doctrines with which any orthodox Christian could agree, but has quite a few carryons that are elevated to indispensable status.
By way of example in my friend’s life: we were taught, sometimes implicitly but most often explicitly, that certain things were sin that are not, in fact, sin. Conversely, we were also taught that certain things were not sinful that actually “missed the mark” to a staggering degree. In the end, all of these not-sins and not-not-sins were integrated into what they called Christianity and preached upon with greater fervor and frequency than the sublime beauty of the Gospel and the Son of Man himself!
How long are you going to go on, man?
Now, don’t you worry — this isn’t going to be another insufferable piece about theological triage or the dangers of elevating tertiary or secondary doctrines to the level of primary ones. Far better men have given far better treatment of those topics than I could (though I have tried once or twice). Instead, this section is quickly closing rather than opening further, as I think it’s plain to see the point I’m trying to make: what we often call Christianity is actually an amalgamation of actual, historic Christianity and our own extrabiblical and non-historic preferences, standards, convictions, and beliefs.
As a result, many times when people think they’re leaving Christianity, they’re not really leaving Christianity at all. They’re leaving a counterfeit version of it, a cheap imitation that passes for the real thing. But unfortunately, most don’t drink deeply of real Christianity in its place. In fact, most seem to go fairly hard in the opposite direction, leaving one pale, emaciated, flimsy construct of men for another: reactionary, militant, shallow atheism/agnosticism. Mind you, I didn’t say all who leave Christianity embrace this snarky edgelord (or, with some makeup, an academically rigorous) persona, but so, so many do. Because they’re upset. And understandably so! They’re angry that they spent so much time bound in a quagmire of man’s unnecessarily restrictive and hypocritical theosophy, and now they feel free, all while blissfully unaware they’ve traded one jail cell for another. And it’s tragic. And so that’s what I mean by counterfeit Christianity: the stuff that drives people away from Christ even as his name is used to justify all sorts of meaningless theopraxic ephemera.
and now for the second part (it’s shorter)
Similarly and just as harmfully, it is altogether possible and quite natural to worship a counterfeit God/Christ. Just this evening on social media (I suppose I’m here impelled to admit I spend a bit too much time gleaning from said fora), I saw a post of a stranger who was overtly and outspokenly transgender. It was a cartoonish picture of a starry night in the woods with superimposed words that boldly proclaimed that God was on their side, and that God would win in the end. It’s difficult for me to see these things, not because I don’t believe that the message of the picture is true, and not that the transgender person doesn’t believe that the message of the picture is true, but rather because this person and I are on opposite sides of the argument and both of us claim that God is for us. So that means one of us is wrong. More to the point, it means that one of us has a counterfeit God.
I remember during my own time of deconstruction, as it were, our church was building a parsonage. Announcements of God’s favor and claims to his blessing were commonplace: “God is doing great things here!” “God is blessing us left and right! This is awesome!” “Thank you, Lord, for being so good to us!” I recalled, though, that the 7th-Day Adventist church near us was saying the same thing as they were building their sanctuary, as was the Roman Catholic parish and the Unitarian Universalist church in my town regarding their own endeavors. This troubled me deeply back then, as such a thing was incompatible with my faith. To borrow from my first point, I had been trained in a counterfeit Christianity — at least in part. God could only bless us Baptists! And even then, only the independent, fundamental, KJVO ones! What I didn’t realize then was that I had ultimately been handed a customized, tailor-made God that was created in my denomination’s image.
So — back to the transgender person. This person clearly genuinely believes that God is for them. And I agree, to an extent: I believe that God loves and cares deeply, restlessly, fully — infinitely — for this person and wants this person to know Him and follow Him and flourish. And so should we, by the way. This person was created for a relationship with God (as was every person alive), and I believe that God, the Hound of Heaven, will pursue this person using nature, His Word, ordained events and maybe even things I don’t understand like dreams or experiences. But in another sense, this person has situated themselves as an opponent of God’s good way. This person has, with or without malice, rejected a good God while occupying space in His good world. So, no, I don’t believe this person can rightly say something like “God is on my side.” Not in that sense, no. God wants you on His side, to be sure, and that’s why He sent His Son — to reconcile you to Him. To make you alive. To give you everything for which you were created.
I thought you said this part was shorter
I must here force myself to curtail this post, though I find that more and more examples are coming to the forefront of my mind the longer I type. But I believe that this point is clear as well, even if I haven’t done a fantastic job of demarcating it from the first one in this short article: it’s far, far easier to follow the God we create in our image than the One who wants to remake us in His.
So the point, then: whether it’s a counterfeit Christianity we’re trying to shed or whether it’s a counterfeit God/Christ we need to throw down with our other idols, this can only be done one way: a thorough, contextually-sound, carefully-examined, peer-reviewed, unaltered-by-bias knowledge of the Scriptures. The Scriptures are, unlike us, not fickle and changing, not pressured by culture, and not fragile and weak. No, they’re perfect. “The Bible stands,” like the old raucous hymn says, and the Bible will indeed still say the same things hundreds of years from now.
This is why it alone must be our guide.
And so I conclude as follows:
While I recognize that there are going to be differences in how we approach some of the secondary and tertiary issues (and Super Bowl commercials), I can still broadly state the following: any Christianity to which we belong or any God/Christ we follow that doesn’t line up with the Scriptures (I mean specifically the Protestant Bible, and I believe I have good reason for this) is indeed a counterfeit, however noble the intent, however emotional the appeal, however persuasive the argument, however attractive the substitution. And instead of feeding your soul, the counterfeit will steal it. And so as with anything — money, sports cards, or Beanie Babies (don’t you judge me) — the only way to know the counterfeits is to be intimately well-acquainted with the real thing.
