Chapter 4: Breaking the Barriers of the Past
Rebuttal
In the beginning of the chapter, Joel tells the story of how, for a number of years, it was thought impossible for a person to run a mile in less than four minutes. That barrier was broken in 1954 by Roger Bannister. Joel attributes this to the four minute mile barrier being in the athlete’s minds, a kind of pseudo-psychosomatic problem. Let’s take a closer look at this. Joel cites that various “‘experts’ conducted all sorts of profound studies to show it was impossible to beat the four minute mile barrier. And for years, they were right.” He also says that the reason that no one broke it is because they believed said experts.
Here Joel’s argument relies on a premise that says the same thing as the conclusion.
Joel’s argument: experts said no one could run a four minute mile, therefore runners let in turn to negative thinking and none of them could run a four minute mile.
Experts said no one could run a four minute mile: It’s presumably impossible to run a four minute mile.
Therefore:
No one could run a four minute mile because of negative thinking: It’s presumably impossible to run a four minute mile.
Joel is using circular reasoning here, and his argument is clearly flawed.
As for the fact that in the decade after Roger Bannister broke the four minute mile barrier 336 runners followed in his place, health care, life expectancy, and population have all been improving and growing the world over. With those on the rise, quality of life is improving, babies are being born healthier and with a drastically lower mortality rate, and the human race as a whole is better off than it was even a few decades ago. I think we can attribute those 336 runners to the competitive human spirit and to microevolution. Joel is trying to attribute this phenomenon to a kind of pseudo-psychological effect, a sort of psychsomatosis, and it doesn’t make sense.
Joel says that if we think something is impossible, we never will be able to do it. No one is calling this point into contention; if I don’t believe I can jump off a cliff and fly I’m not going to jump off a cliff. Joel uses as scriptural support for this notion a well known verse, 2 Corinthians 10:4 “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of this world. On the contrary, they have the divine power to demolish strongholds.” Joel identifies Paul’s use of the word “stronghold” here as the aforementioned negative thoughts and attitudes that hold us back. While this is very compelling, it fails to take into account several things. The ancient Greek word for stronghold being used here, όχύρωμα, refers to a literal stronghold or fortress, but when used figuratively, refers to intellectual arguments, according to Strong’s Greek and Hebrew Lexicon. Joel is using it to refer to psychological issues that we as people develop during the course of our lives due to various traumatic events, and is mistaken in doing so.
As an example, Joel points out the story of the ancient Israelites. He theorizes that because they were held in slavery for four hundred years, were “mistreated, used, and taken advantage of,” the Israelites, despite God’s plans, “couldn’t conceive it. They couldn’t make room for it in their own thinking. Instead of moving forward with an attitude of faith, expecting good things, they insisted on going around and around with a poor, defeated mentality”. As I remember it, the Israelites got stuck in the desert for four decades because they could visualize what they wanted quite well: “When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, ‘Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’” That’s the first verse of the 32nd chapter of Exodus. Aaron is quick to oblige them and without any objection. Later, in verse nine, God says to Moses, “I have seen these people and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them.” Sounds kind of harsh, right? Not exactly God poking them and telling them to conceive on the inside. Lucky for them, however, Moses speaks up in the next verse. “But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. ‘Oh Lord’, he said, “Why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand...Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people.’”
Two things are worthy of note here: first of all, the text says that Moses “sought the favor of the Lord his God. He does this simply by making a request, not by expanding his thinking or conceiving on the inside. Second, this text points out that the Israelites were not exiled because of their bad attitude, like a 40 year time out, but were sentenced to wander around in the desert until an entire generation died off because, just days after being delivered from Egypt where they had spent four hundred years in slavery, they decided that the God who got them out of there wasn’t good enough for them anymore.
In the following few paragraphs, Joel addresses those of us that have been abused, walked out on, or similarly mistreated. He urges us not to “inhibit the great future God has for you by dwelling on the pains of your past”. He says that “if you keep the right attitude, God will pay you back double for your trouble.” Joel claims that God will tally up all the hurt, injustice, and pain people have caused you and “pay you back with twice as much joy, peace, and happiness. That is God’s desire for you.” While it’s true that you’ll never get anywhere in life brooding all the time, Joel takes this beyond veracity. As scriptural support, he uses Isaiah 61:7, in the Osteen Proof Text Version, “a twofold recompense for our former shame.” (A note: the aforementioned version is a facetious invention of my own; proof text is the practice of using decontextualised quotations from a document, and this verse is one where Joel does not cite the version used.) Instead of explaining that this passage is being used out of context, as can be presupposed by now, I’ll just save space and explain how. Isaiah is a book wherein God is communicating to his people in exile that it’s not going to remain like this forever; that there is a light at the end of the Babylonian tunnel. Joel has already taken several passages from Isaiah out of context, see previous works. In the NIV, this verse reads, “Instead of their shame, my people will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace, they will rejoice in their inheritance; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs.” Joel uses this verse to support the idea that we will retroactively receive compensation equal to double the amount of abuse/neglect/abject suffering we have experienced. Unfortunately, worker’s comp is not part of the Christian’s benefit package. 2 Timothy 3:12 says, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” (Emphasis added).
What Joel says in the next paragraph would, omitting the word “God”, might cause a reader to believe that it was about Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny.
He knows when we’re operating with integrity, and yet somebody comes along and cheats us out of what should have been ours. God sees every time you’ve been taken advantage of… every time you turn the other cheek and let an offense go by. He sees every time you forgive, or try to restore a broken relationship, even though it wasn’t your fault. God sees all that; He’s keeping a good record (does he check it twice?). And He’s promised to take all the evil that comes into your life, turn it around, and use it for your good.
What Joel is saying here violates one of the fundamental laws of nature: life’s not fair.
He alludes to Romans 8:28, a fairly well known verse, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Joel uses this, purportedly in his own words, having not cited anything or put anything in quotes, to support the above paragraph in box quotes. A proper analysis of this verse reveals that Paul does not state whether or not said “good” will be material or even occurring in this lifetime.
Joel again uses one of his trademark phrases that should trigger red lights in the head of any person who has even a minimally comprehensive grasp on biblical doctrine: “will you take thelimits off what God can do in your life?” (Emphasis added.) It is downright silly to think that we can limit God simply by what we think he can do or by what we want in life. Joel asserts that that El-Shaddai, one of the many names for God used in the original text, means “God of more than enough”. Based on this, he claims that “God wants you to live an overcoming life of victory. He doesn’t want you to barely get by. He’s not ‘El Cheapo’, the God of Barely enough!” Maybe taking scripture out of context isn’t Joel’s problem; maybe he just can’t tell the difference between Hebrew and Spanglish. Not to belabor the point, but according to The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, the meaning of El-Shaddai in the original text is uncertain. Its various roots suggest that it “means ‘sufficient,’ ‘lord,’ ‘rain-god,’ or ‘mountain-god.’” The Illustrated Dictionary and Concordance of the Bible defines Shaddai as “strength.” Perhaps this is beating a dead horse, but according to the New Bible Dictionary, the Hebrew El is “derived from a root indicating strength or might,” hence Elyon, Elohim, Eloah, all different names with different meanings referring to God. The Spanish El, however, simply means “the”.
A few paragraphs later, Joel explains how we must expand our thinking, and that we must do so in order to experience God’s favor; that God is waiting on us to stretch our faith. Following, Joel graces us with the hidden insight into God’s nature which only he seems to possess: “Notice the words God uses. He says to ‘enlarge, lengthen, stretch out.’” While these words are in the Bible, Joel provides neither text nor reference nor context. It’s really sloppy work for an author, without an exhaustive concordance we’re just taking his word for it, and we have no idea where and how those words are used. There is a second option, though. Joel could be conveying information imparted to him by specific revelation, that is, God speaking directly to him.
Later, Joel asks us “Why not stretch your faith and believe God for more so you can help somebody else in need? God is saying, ‘If you’ll make room for more of my blessings, I won’t disappoint you. Soon you’ll be bursting at the seams.’” Again, Joel gives neither chapter nor verse for this quote. It is absolutely absurd, ridiculous beyond belief, that one could just sit down and write, “I think such-and-such, so I’m going to say that God said something to that effect with absolutely no scriptural support. There is, without exception, no motive to make up things that can be introduced by the words “God said” that does not have a second, self-serving agenda.
This God actually did say:
Acts 9:16
“I will show him how much he [Paul] must suffer for my name.”
Philippians 1:29
For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him.
Joel goes on to describe the concept of how the sins of the father are passed down through generations. He refers to divorce, incarceration, alcoholism, and others. In order to break this chain of defeat, Joel suggests we start “speaking in terms of victory rather than defeat.” He suggests we pray the following prayer:
I don’t care how defeated this family has been in the past. This is a new day. I boldly declare that we are more than conquerors. It doesn’t matter how broke we’ve been. I declare we’re going to lend and not borrow. I don’t care how big our obstacles are. I declare that no weapon formed against us shall prosper. I don’t care how powerful our enemies are. Greater is He who is in us that he who is in the world. We’re not victims anymore. We are the victors. We are blessed and we cannot be cursed.
In the above quote, Joel alludes to Romans 8:37, Deuteronomy 28:12, Isaiah 54:17, 1 John 4:4, and 1 Corinthians 4:12. As again he neither quotes nor cites, he can bend the language of scripture to his will, as well as take a few creative liberties in translation. This is nothing unusual for Joel, quotes or no quotes, it’s just that this time it sounds to the layperson like the above catechism is of Joel’s own making and, when they read the actual verse later, they think, “Oh, I recognize that. It was in that book I read once, and it must mean something completely different than what it was intended to mean to the original audience.” Besides what he is saying in the preceding paragraph is basically cutting and pasting different verses together that have completely different meanings and contexts and inserting miscellaneous sentence fragments in between them to convey a message of warm fuzzy feelings inside. Joel says that we were born to be great, born to win, and “created to be a champion in life.” How can any of us win or be great or be champions if we are all winners or great or champions? By definition, everyone can’t win, and everyone can’t be a champion.
When I started this project I asked myself if Joel was deliberately misinterpreting the text or was just misguided. There is now no doubt in my mind that Joel is distorting the meaning of scripture for his own ends.
No comments:
Post a Comment