Jim's PERSPECTIVE
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February 10, 2015
This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine…..let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
A few years ago I was downstairs in our basement playing my digital piano, and I found myself, while in an inspired joyful and praise-mode frame of mind, playing and singing the old gospel children’s song, “This Little Light of Mine” in an up-tempo, gospel-blues-jazz style that drives the song for me. Most everyone knows the tune and the words to at least the first verse. “Hide it under a bushel, no, I’m going to let it shine” is another verse with which many are familiar. So is “I won’t let Satan blow it out, I’m going to let it shine.”
I was singing the line, “I won’t let Satan blow it out….” and without consciously trying to invent new words I spontaneously (and happily) began coming up with other things that I wouldn’t let blow out this little light of mine: “Principalities,” and “Strongholds.” Those two words formed a complete verse. Then I began thinking of what a “stronghold” actually is. Many Christians automatically assume that it is something evil or demonic, and ascribe the context of evil to the mention of the word in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5
for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before
God to the casting down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and
every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing
every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ;
The word in the Greek for “stronghold” in this passage is ochyrōmatōn, and it refers to a fortress. That started me thinking about the most basic way of grasping the idea of a stronghold. It is anything strongly held. (See the March 04, 2014 Perspective for additional explanation on “degrees” of a stronghold.) “A strongly held opinion” is an expression most of us know. It is this understanding of a stronghold that led to the rest of the song.
I thought of “atheism,” “agnosticism,” and “secularism” as other forms of “strongholds” that seem to want to blow out the light. Those three made another nice verse for the song, at least for a Christian audience. Of course, atheists, agnostics, and secularists probably would not enjoy that verse. That was followed by, “I won’t let evolutionism blow it out.” Uh-oh: Red Flag Controversy brewing here, but not from the Right. Anything positively associated with evolution is anathema to many evangelical Christians. So I’m OK not saying anything favorable about that particular hot-button topic. Hold that thought, however, until farther down the page.
The next line in the fourth verse is, “I won’t let Creationism blow it out….” Now as far as many of my more conservative Christian brothers and sisters are concerned, I have quit preaching and gone to meddling. This is where I need to try very hard to clarify what I am trying to say in the entirety of this song. I frequently tell people that I am a Creationist without being into Creationism. Yes, there is a difference, in my mind. Many so-called Creationists have intellectually—not to mention emotionally— invested in a “young earth theory,” which holds that the world is only around 9,000 years old. This belief is based on a literalistic approach to scripture, specifically Genesis 1, which records the account of God having created the heavens and the earth in six days. That God made it is not in question for me. How long He took to do it is a different story, I think. The strict literalists out there believe that a “day” is a unit comprised of 24 hours as we understand them. If the Bible says “six days,” then for them that’s what it means.
When I was in seminary I took Old Testament under Dr. Roland Murphy (God bless his life), a Carmelite monk who had come out of retirement to teach another year or two at Duke Divinity. Dr. Murphy was a very smart guy (he was one the editors of the 1968 two-volume Jerome Biblical Commentary). While discussing Genesis 1 near the beginning of the semester, Dr. Murphy, a Socratic-type teacher, searched down his role book looking for someone to whom he could ask a direct question and get a dialogue going. “Mr. Radford,” said Father Murphy when he spied my name, “The Bible says that God created the heavens and the earth in six days. What do you make of that?” I was feeling somewhat anxious because Dr. Murphy, with his six-foot-six frame and booming voice and brilliant mind, could be more than a little intimidating. I replied, “I always thought of a “day” as a kind of “time period.” Dr. Murphy made a kind of slightly protesting guttural noise and said to the rest of the class, “Mr. Radford here is a “concordist.” He wrote the word on the board. As I looked around the room, I became a little more relaxed because I realized that no one else knew what a “concordist” was, either. Dr. Murphy explained, “A concordist is one who tries to reconcile scripture with reality.” “Hot dog,” I thought silently to myself. “I am a concordist. Yeah, that’s right. That’s what I am.” Dr. Murphy concluded his Socratic grilling of me with these words: “But I don’t think you’re going to win many arguments with that.”
Be that as it may, I do believe that God created the heavens and the earth. Reputable science states that more-than-likely it took 3 and ½ billion years. That is OK with me because I believe that truth is truth, and I believe that scientific truth and scriptural truth, in the end, are not going to contradict one another. What’s at stake for the young earth Christian believers is NOT the age of the earth. It’s the claim that the age of the earth is measured in six-24 hour days. What’s at stake is the Doctrine of Inerrancy. Believers in this doctrine feel that the Bible (their understanding of the Word of God) has to be air-tight and 100% free-of-error, or it can’t be relied on. This is not the place to discuss inerrancy— that’s way too complicated. But I should point out that the logical end of this belief is the assumption that the means to truth is objective rational thought. I don’t buy that for a minute. For me, it’s one thing to state, “The Bible says thus-and-such.” It’s another thing for God Himself to say thus-and-such. Many believe that when the Bible says it, this is the same as God saying it. Does not interpretation, for both the reader and the writer of scripture, play a fairly significant role in comprehending “what God says”? But again, scriptural inerrancy and the inspiration of the Word of God is too complicated a subject to take on here. Besides, it is one’s own dogmatic and doctrinal belief systems (read: traditions) that create splits, schisms, and, ultimately, denominations. Those belief systems also drive attitudes and behaviors. And these attitudes and behaviors are what I am addressing in the song.
When I end the fourth verse of “This Little Light of Mine” with the words, “I won’t let rationalism blow it out,” please understand that it is a continuation of the thought from evolutionism to creationism, and, for that matter, it includes all the groups mentioned from the beginning of the song to its end. Both Conservative and Liberal Christians will use a rationalist critique in attempting to explain “what the Bible says.” They both point to a particular passage in scripture and say, “This means that.” They are doing interpretation, and doing it under the false assumption that they are bias-free and “objective.” They often fail to recognize that they are interpreting within the context of their own traditions, prejudices, and other cultural factors. Evolutionists, but probably more accurately, Darwinists, do the same thing as the Creationists (and often more articulately); furthermore there is in some natural selection-minded folk a kind of dogmatic bias that drives them, as well. For such persons, random chance is driving the universe (some particle physicists, some string theorists, some astral physicists, and some men and women of the other sciences). I don’t buy that, either. And yet I believe that the God who created also built adaptation into the foundation of the universe.
My version of “This Little Light of Mine” is really about people’s mistaken belief that their tradition is the correct tradition. Their opinions, their theologies, their experiences, their methods, their ways are the right ways. I have tried in this song to anticipate the categories of people and practices that not only insist that their approach and path are the correct ones, they often look down on others who do not share their point of view. Fundamentalists tend to denounce Charismatic/Pentecostal Christians. I myself have heard Charismatics/Pentecostals dismiss many High Church expressions of worship, and vice versa. Many High Churchmen and women scoff at the sentimental music and emotional worship styles of other less “reserved” or “dignified” people of God. They and I, as I have gone on to admit in the seventh verse, (“And I’ll try not to blow yours out….), can be very dismissive of others. And we are all guilty of blowing out, or, even if unconsciously trying to blow out, the lights of our brothers and sisters. We do this every time we so much as think, “If you’re not doing it the way we’re doing it (or I’m doing it), then you’re not doing it.”
Two dear friends tell me that they don’t like the song because I have “equated” churches—high, low, fundamentalist, and Pentecostal (in addition to “tradition”) with Satan, or evil. Their interpretation is, IMHO, an incorrect conclusion, and it certainly is not the intention of the song. They should try to see it as satirical. Nonetheless I do think that we should all be extra careful not to “blow out” the lights of our Christian brothers and sisters. Remember those New Testament injunctions/warnings not to offend the weaker brothers or sisters (or, rather, ones who are weaker in conscience) or cause them to stumble. And yet I feel that what I have said should be said. One of the two afore-mentioned friends does not have any problem with the existence of many denominations, but, unlike her, I don’t at all think that God has an appreciation for this unreal reality. But like other, even if dissimilar, evil in this world, He tolerates a lot of foolishness in us out of His love for us and grace extended to us and His determination not to give up on us. While encouraging people to “let your light shine before men….” did not Jesus also say, more-or-less, “Hide it under a bushel?” NO! My feeling exactly. I believe that is what I am doing, and NOT doing. And I really love playing and singing this song.
- Jim Radford
