Theology Basics: Vague Spirituality

Increasingly in the culture we live in, I hear people who would say that they’re spiritual, but not religious. On a practical level, it can be confusing and hard to know what to do with the seemingly increased spiritual awareness in our culture. Can someone be spiritual without being religious? Is all spirituality just different expressions of the same thing?

The God of the Bible

Good theology has a way of clearing away confusion and bringing peace and clarity. To understand the growing popularity of what I would call “Christless Spirituality” we need to start with the basics:

God, who created the world, has intervened in human history by revealing himself to Abraham and his descendants, and the Bible is the written record of what and how God has revealed himself to humankind. God has revealed himself to us through the Scriptures, and from the Scriptures we get a clear picture of who God really is.

First of all, God is alone and unchallenged as the sovereign, uncreated origin of the universe. God simply is. He was not created, he is eternal. He is the source of everything and is the ultimate cause of existence.

Next, God is a personal God, which means that he is not some vague impersonal force, but is rather a being with whom we can have a relationship with. We can commune with God, interact with him, and get to know him personally.

Another part of what makes God God is that he alone has the authority to create life and to take life. These are sacred things and are reserved for God alone. This is why murder is so widely recognized as taboo. Human life is sacred, and for another human being to snuff out human life is deeply profane.

There are lines that God forbids us, as human beings, to cross for our own good, and murder provides a great example of those lines.

God and the Occult

Another thing that God, in his infinite wisdom, universally condemns is dabbling in what we would today call generally the occult. This includes things like attempting to communicate with the dead, the practice of witchcraft, sorcery, or divination, and the worship of/appeal to celestial bodies. Both the Old and New Testaments are unanimous in their condemnation of these practices (Exodus 22:18; Leviticus 19:31; Leviticus 20:6-7; Deuteronomy 17:2-5; Deuteronomy 18:10; Isaiah 8:19; Isaiah 47:12-15; Acts 19:19-20; 1 Timothy 4:1; and Revelation 21:8 to name a few).

But why does God forbid these other spiritual practices? Why are some forms of spirituality (praying, for example) encouraged and others (like divination) forbidden?

The answer is very simple. In terms of the spiritual realm, things are remarkably black and white. There are only 2 kingdoms in the spiritual realm. There is God’s Kingdom, in which God has the authority and his subjects gladly and willingly submit to his rule, and there is Satan’s kingdom which rejects God’s rule and seeks to subvert God’s authority by leading others in rebellion. They are vehemently opposed to God's goodness and loathe God's creation and everything good in it.

Jesus is clear on this point in the human realm as well. The gospel message is one that requires response, and to ignore the gospel is to reject it. You are either part of God’s kingdom or you aren’t, and there’s no in between – no straddling the proverbial fence (Luke 9:23-26).

What this means, as far as the spiritual realm is concerned, is that any form of spirituality that recognizes Jesus’ authority and submits to him as Lord is part of God’s kingdom. But any form of spirituality that doesn’t recognize Jesus as fully divine and submit to him as Lord is, by definition, outside of God’s kingdom and is therefore opposed to him.

This is a point of great confusion among the current generation. The thought of being “spiritual” without having to be constrained to the rules or doctrines of an organized religion sounds appealing, even freeing.

The New Age practices and the resurgence of pagan spirituality, like the practice of wicca don’t seem nefarious. People practicing wicca are, by and large, very pleasant people. They often appeal to spiritual entities and to celestial bodies like the sun and moon to give good fortune not only to them but to loved ones, and often try to use their “powers” for what they see as good. Mediums contact the spiritual realm with good intentions of helping people reconnect with deceased loved ones.

But, theologically speaking, it doesn’t matter if a given form of spirituality claims to be good. What matters is where it lands in relation to King Jesus. Any spiritual being who rejects Jesus’ authority, regardless of whether it says it’s harmless, is demonic.

The reason God forbids people from engaging in pagan spirituality, astrology, divination, and things of that nature is that the spiritual forces behind those things are not acting for the benefit of humankind. Satan and his demons want only to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). The truth is that mediums who are contacting the dead are not really conversing with your deceased grandma. They’re conversing with demons who are pretending to be your deceased grandma. That thought alone should be enough to deter anyone from seeking communication with the dead.

There are countless testimonies of people who have been rescued out of the occult, and the stories always start out seemingly harmless, but the longer it continues the more sinister it becomes.

This is why God tells us not to dabble in the spiritual realm aside from our spiritual relationship with him. We don’t know what we’re dealing with, and God does.

For this reason, I firmly believe that there is no common ground between orthodox Christianity and many of the "spiritual practices" which are common in the New Age. Focusing on things like good versus bad energy, peoples' auras, and vibrational frequencies. Things like using crystals, consulting tarot cards and using Ouija boards. Things like mediation (in the eastern sense which has one empty their mind). Finding your "inner God" or your "Christ Consciousness." Anything that sets yourself up as the ultimate source of truth and authority (as opposed to God).

None of these things blend with the Christian faith. These are all things to actively avoid.

Only Jesus

The Church is faced with a great opportunity. There is a generation that is very aware that the zeitgeist (the prevailing spirit of the times) leaves them empty and seeking spiritual fulfillment. Every kind of pagan spirituality (that is, any kind of spirituality that is outside of God’s Kingdom), will leave them emptier than before. We don't need to convince the world of this, we need only wait. Sin always fails to satisfy in the long term.

But Jesus offers living water, and real fulfilment. Jesus alone can satisfy the deep yearning in the souls of our neighbors, and what Jesus really offers us is freedom. Freedom from the sin that holds us in chains, and freedom to have a spiritually life-giving relationship that feeds and sustains us and brings about complete joy.

Ironically, the attempt to have spirituality without Jesus results in oppression.

What Jesus offers is not a set of strict rules which prevent us from having fun and living life to the fullest. What Jesus offers is eternal life, satisfaction, and wellness of soul. He offers us freedom, and a relationship with him. The gospel is less like a “get out of hell free” card and more like adoption of an orphan into a loving family.

We have a great opportunity. The Church has what the world is desperately looking for, and understanding the difference between the Christian faith and the pagan culture is the first step in introducing our neighbors to Jesus.