Theological Tourism

Do you have a history of making swift, stream-of-consciousness theological changes?

As a fledgling minister, I heard a much older minister declare at a conference that he hadn’t changed his mind on one of his theological beliefs in 40 years. I knew even then that he was either a fool or a liar, though as a much younger man I didn’t say so aloud. Any man who doesn’t sufficiently grow in grace and theological knowledge for decades is a fool, and if he had changed and was unwilling to admit it, he was a liar.

Theological Sanctification

We refer to the process of sanctification as “growth in grace,” but theological and intellectual sanctification are no less important than moral and ethical sanctification. We should constantly be growing in our knowledge, not only in our relational knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord, but also in our knowledge of the Bible and of the Faith. Stunted theological growth is a blight of many Christians, including pastors who are intellectually lazy, and church members who are taught they already know everything they need to know as they hear the same points regurgitated from the pulpit every Sunday.

The Next Best (Theological) Thing

Alternatively, frequent theological change, particularly drastic change from one school of thought to another, is a mark of instability and immaturity. It seems we live in a time scourged by theological tourism. I’m riffing on nomenclature I first encountered in, I believe, Theodore Dalrymple when he referred to “political tourists” — political scientists and political philosophers and politicians themselves who seem to have great political conversions every 10 years — or every election cycle. On the Right J. D. Vance and Marco Rubio are conspicuous examples. They resemble well-heeled full-time tourists as they globetrot chasing the next new exciting, exotic populist location or experience. This month they are in Kathmandu salivating over Nepalese cuisine, which is “positively” their new favorite ethnic dish, and next month they plan to visit Cambodia and tour the Killing Fields, their “most riveting” experience ever. They are not destination-driven. They are latest-and-greatest driven.

The theological tourists are analogous, always looking over their confessional neighbor‘s fence to check the green tones of the grass. A Baptist professor becomes an Anglican and a week later has a job at an Anglican seminary. Another Baptist pastor becomes a Presbyterian and a couple of years later converts to Anglicanism. And then there’re the numerous evangelicals who become Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox (interestingly, movement in the opposite direction is much rarer). These sorts of conversions are more understandable and justifiable in the lives of young Christians who are still working out their theology. But when men in their 40s and older frequent the theological sawdust conversion trail, it often says something about their (in)stability and own inner convictions … or lack of them.

The Most Recent Heresy Is Always the Worst

A nearly infallible mark of the theological tourist is his inclination to assault in the most energetic and often intemperate terms the latest theological tourist train station from which he has departed. If he is a Baptist who becomes Presbyterian, he inveighs against all the Baptists, who “treat their children as pagans.” If he’s a Presbyterian who transitions to Anglicanism, he ridicules the “mediocre sacramentalism” of Presbyterians. If he is an evangelical who converts Roman Catholicism or Eastern Orthodoxy, he mocks the “lack of historic Christianity” among the evangelicals. As a friend once quipped, “There’s no heresy worse than the one from which you’ve been most recently rescued.”

Conversely, a characteristic of an individual converted to a theological persuasion after much prayer and consideration is his continued appreciation for the theological tourist depot his confessional train just left. He has little or no bitterness about his experience there, knowing that God does not lead every one of us along the same theological train track. He appreciates what he has learned and is willing to transition without jettisoning the best parts of the theological school he left behind.

Concluding Counsel

Some concluding counsel: First, before changing theological schools, first weigh what you are gaining in your new school against what you are surrendering in your present school. Is gaining the long history and organizational cohesion of Rome or Eastern Orthodoxy (for example) worth losing Reformation doctrine?

Second, consider whether your contemplated change is driven more by existential and life circumstances than theology. In short, don’t convert from Baptist to Presbyterian simply because you are sick of Baptist sociology. You need a better reason than that. Theology should never reduce to autobiography.

Third, look into the mirror and objectively consider your own theological track record. Do you have a history of making swift, stream-of-consciousness theological changes? Do you pray and labor over and seek godly counsel about theological decisions? Are you responsible and accountable to your own local church? Depending on your honest answer to these questions, look long and hard before you leap to a new theological school.

Finally, don’t burn the house down on the way out the door. Even in seriously misguided groups, there is always teaching and experience that benefited and shaped your life, and you can always appreciate them. Consider that faithful Christians who invested in you and express gratitude to them. And remember that your new theological school will not be without problems — and possibly greater problems than the school from what you have just departed.

Be a growing, mature Christian. Don’t be a fickle theological tourist.✞

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Would you like to know one of the principal reasons the church is so weak, emaciated, and defeated today? Because she expects to be weak, emaciated, and defeated. The church revels in an eschatology of defeat. This is because the church revels in a protology of defeat. Right from the beginning, the church sees defeat.

Friends, I urge you to stand on the promises of the word of God. Live in victory. We’re soldiers not just of the cross but also the resurrection. Satan’s victory is not predestined before the second advent.

Christ’s victory is predestined before the Second Advent. We’re called to faithfulness and zeal and expectation, even in the face of hardship, persecution, martyrdom, and death. Yes, we might end up dying for the Faith, but the Faith will not die. The faith will grow and grow — the small stone flung by the sovereign God at the kingdoms of this world is becoming a mountain that fills the entire earth.

The wicked are not the inheritors of God’s good world. We are the inheritors.

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