Dear Madonna,
I know that the chances of your reading this letter are extremely slim, but I feel compelled to write anyway. I know it might sound a bit crazy, but I care for your soul and I think that your devotion to Kabbalah is dangerous. I do not wish to be critical or hateful or point fingers, nor am I a cold fundamentalist who demands that he be right and everyone else a liar. My points are simpler than that. I just believe that the teachings of Kabbalah are not true.
In my research of this mystical religious offshoot of Judaism, I have found that the authority for whether something is true or not is really unknowable. True knowledge of Ein Sof is behind the text of the Torah, not in it (or on the surface of it). That means that a person must be enlightened, transcending rational thought, in order to come to grasp Ein Sof. The major problem with this belief is that anybody can come up with whatever they want, so long as they believe that they are enlightened. Thus, there is no standard of truth within the system itself. There seems to be a turning off of rational faculties in general in order to come to the higher, spiritual knowledge.
But does it not seem clear that humans have rational faculties that are meant to guide us? Madonna, in order to write children’s books or perform music on a stage with electrical equipment or to be successful in business, you must use your reasoning skills. When placed beside the esoteric teachings of Kabbalah, orthodox Christianity stands in stark contrast. Instead of looking for hidden or coded meanings within the text, orthodoxy desires to find the historical, grammatical meaning of the text. This assumes that God has communicated in a way that can be understood by everyone, not just a few spiritual elites and that the things God says are true to reality.
Personally, I decided to be a Christian because of the words of Jesus. He leads me to rationally trust in Him. He tells me that I am a sinner in a legal sense, but that God has written up a contract (called the New Covenant – see Jeremiah 31) that can pardon me of my crimes. He tells me these things are true to fact, not obtained by mystical religious practices. True salvation is summarized in Hebrews 13:20-21.
“Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
The Orthodox Christian need not look beyond Christ and His sacrifice of Himself on the cross for answers to the problems of life. He is working to make us complete by washing away our sin. Kabbalah is dangerous for the soul because it offers no true help for the immense guilt that plagues our hearts as humanity. It might offer a temporary numbness (most religions do), but it cannot deal with factual, legal guilt that we possess since Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden. We are not on a journey back to that Garden, Madonna. Remember they were naked there. After the Fall they were clothed with animal skins, which we still wear today. But according to the New Testament, God’s people will one day wear white robes, a symbol of their purity. That is a different and better place than Eden and only those in Christ can enter in.
And so I’ll close. I just encourage you to contemplate whether Kabbalah is offering you truth. I also encourage you to consider that a relationship with Christ, the Messiah, might be the most spiritually invigorating decision you could make.
With Deep Respect,
Jason Dollar
In my research of this mystical religious offshoot of Judaism, I have found that the authority for whether something is true or not is really unknowable. True knowledge of Ein Sof is behind the text of the Torah, not in it (or on the surface of it). That means that a person must be enlightened, transcending rational thought, in order to come to grasp Ein Sof. The major problem with this belief is that anybody can come up with whatever they want, so long as they believe that they are enlightened. Thus, there is no standard of truth within the system itself. There seems to be a turning off of rational faculties in general in order to come to the higher, spiritual knowledge.
But does it not seem clear that humans have rational faculties that are meant to guide us? Madonna, in order to write children’s books or perform music on a stage with electrical equipment or to be successful in business, you must use your reasoning skills. When placed beside the esoteric teachings of Kabbalah, orthodox Christianity stands in stark contrast. Instead of looking for hidden or coded meanings within the text, orthodoxy desires to find the historical, grammatical meaning of the text. This assumes that God has communicated in a way that can be understood by everyone, not just a few spiritual elites and that the things God says are true to reality.
Personally, I decided to be a Christian because of the words of Jesus. He leads me to rationally trust in Him. He tells me that I am a sinner in a legal sense, but that God has written up a contract (called the New Covenant – see Jeremiah 31) that can pardon me of my crimes. He tells me these things are true to fact, not obtained by mystical religious practices. True salvation is summarized in Hebrews 13:20-21.
“Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
The Orthodox Christian need not look beyond Christ and His sacrifice of Himself on the cross for answers to the problems of life. He is working to make us complete by washing away our sin. Kabbalah is dangerous for the soul because it offers no true help for the immense guilt that plagues our hearts as humanity. It might offer a temporary numbness (most religions do), but it cannot deal with factual, legal guilt that we possess since Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden. We are not on a journey back to that Garden, Madonna. Remember they were naked there. After the Fall they were clothed with animal skins, which we still wear today. But according to the New Testament, God’s people will one day wear white robes, a symbol of their purity. That is a different and better place than Eden and only those in Christ can enter in.
And so I’ll close. I just encourage you to contemplate whether Kabbalah is offering you truth. I also encourage you to consider that a relationship with Christ, the Messiah, might be the most spiritually invigorating decision you could make.
With Deep Respect,
Jason Dollar
12 Comments:
How can any Christian have "deep respect" for Madonna???????? Good grief.
Showing respect for people becuase they are people (no other reason is needed) is part of the agenda set forth by Christ Himself. His disciples could not figure out why in the world He would speak to a Samaritan woman (John 4). His deep respect for her won her soul.
"Against Christianity" needs to be rebuked for being overly hostile to Christian brothers and sisters without biblical mandate. He wants a holy war and has made himself the general, thinking apparently, that he is the only one who is interpreting the Bible correctly. Click his name and read his blog in order to see what I am talking about.
It is precisely this kind of arrogance that shames Christianity.
You wrote:
His disciples could not figure out why in the world He would speak to a Samaritan woman (John 4). His deep respect for her won her soul.
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You fail to make a very crucial distinction. There was nothing immoral in being a Samaritan woman wheras Madonna is very proudly the poster girl for immorality.
Christians ought not to be the sycophants of Madonna types. To express "deep respect" toward her is tantamount to unfaithfulness to Christ.
You must be an Evangelical, blurring the lines between genuine Christianity and the world, as you do. It is actually people like you who rob the world of a faithful witness to King Jesus.
"You fail to make a very crucial distinction." I cannot believe you tried this route of argumentation since Jesus pointed out the immorality of the Samaritan woman - she was WORSE than Madonna!
Militant fundamentalism misses the point of being salt and light in the culture. Since Jesus ate with tax collectors, sinners, and prostitutes, I doubt He would be allowed to join your church.
I cannot believe you are changing your argument in mid-course! Go back and read what you wrote. Here. I'll quote it for you again. "His disciples could not figure out why in the world He would speak to a Samaritan woman (John 4)." Your argument there is not her sinful life, but her status as a Samaritan! Try and figure out which argument you want to make and then stick with it.
If you want to try the other route of her sinful life, my response is simply that Jesus was not fawning over the woman, expressing "deep respect." It is one thing to listen to a person sunk in a sinful life and engage that person respectfully; it is quite another to tell that person how much respect you have for them. That, my friend, is ridiculous and it's actually an offense against the One you are trying to serve.
I believe in "hanging out" with sinners, so as to win them for Christ. But your expression to Madonna goes far beyond what you can support from the example of Jesus. The Friend of sinners did not fawn over the wicked like a sycophant and never did He express "deep respect" to one commmitted to the path of immorality.
Yours is the mistake of one who tries to live the Christian life on a set of derived principles. In applying your specious principle, you look silly. And the more you try to defend your obvious error, the more silly you look. Better to repent and acknowledge your error.
You wrote:
Militant fundamentalism misses the point of being salt and light in the culture.
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I am all for being salt and light in the culture (and though I may be militant I am certainly not a Fundy), but your expression of "deep respect" to Madonna dims that light and diminishes that saltiness. You cannot express "deep respect" for the wicked and be a light to the world. Such an expression aligns you more with the sons of darkness than the children of the light.
Rather than continue to defend your mistake, why not simply acknowledge the error in humility. Or would you also express "deep respect" to Adolph Hitler or to some child molestor??
Respect for a person as a person is not an endorsement of their behavior. I even have respect for you but it certainly isn't your humility that I respect. I will grant that I respect some people for their beliefs and teachings (John Piper for example) and others I do not respect on that level (that is the point of my letter to Madonna to begin with). But every human is the same is some sense: we all our born in sin and are struggling because of it. Madonna is no exception. Therefore as a fellow human being I maintain my deep respect for her, though I believe she is terribly wrong in regard to her belief system.
Truly, there are plenty of things for me to repent of as I am full of sin, even this very moment. I do appreciate you calling me to repent and I do. But I feel comfortable before the Lord in maintaining my position on this issue.
You wrote:
Therefore as a fellow human being I maintain my deep respect for her...
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You evaded my question.
If you were visting a convicted child molestor and rapist in prison, and you just had your 30 minutes with him all the while he dismissed your counsel, could you conceivably conclude your talk with him by saying, "I have deep respect for you and wish you the best."
You are nuts and foolishly committed to a spurious principle if you could actually express the initial phrase of that sentence.
But let's see how consistent you are here, mr. philospher.
I have deep respect for child molestors and rapists because they are (nothing changes this biblical fact) created in the image of God. Jesus makes the point that if we hate someone, we have effectively murdered them. In other words I am no better than they are, nor Madonna. It is the grace of Christ that I am heavenbound and not to be tortured forever in hell. I am a worse worm than Hitler. So why not respect people who are no worse than me? I guess if you are genuinely morally better - and thus undeserving of the wrath of God - than the rest of us then you are not obligated to respect us. Hope this is consistent enough.
Well, you are indeed consistent, but to the point of folly.
You serve your doctrines and principles without proper balance and nuance, which makes you something of an idolater.
1. A child molestor and rapist is not worthy of deep respect, even though made in the image of God. Love is not bound to moral quality but deep respect most certainly is. You turn the Kingdom of Christ upside down in expressing "deep respect" to Madonna. It's just silly and childish to make such a statement, not to mention dishonoring to Christ.
2. Your reasoning continues to be very poor. To deny "deep respect" to someone is not equivalent to hating them. That point in your "argument" above is a complete non sequitur. You may be in over your head as an apologist.
3. It is ridiculous for you to say that you're worse than Hitler. That's an Evangelical mantra, which you really don't believe. It's pious gush really.
Yes, all stand condemned apart from the Grace of God, but not all sins are equally heinous and not all persons are equally wicked.
Grow up, Jason. Your views are childish and silly, regurgitations of facile principles you imbibed from Sunday School.
BTW, the apostle Paul called himself the chief of sinners not as an example for all Christians to copy, but because he really was the chief of sinners! He hounded the church and murdered God's people...that's why he referred to himself in that way.
Your superficial Evangelical hermeneutic makes a principle out of what Paul was stating as a fact!
You can't see the forest for the trees, Jason!
This message is regarding Robin McGraw. She is not qualified to speak at the WOF....but because Dr. Phil is behind her and pushes WOF to include her, she is brought aboard....so, maybe this time she will confess that Jesus is Lord of All....not Phillip, and her family....God....is...
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