Like many of you, I’ve been dealing with a lot of anxiety and other related emotions over the past few weeks as I try to stay informed while keeping positive. I’m up on the tight rope, as Leon Russell sang, one side hate and one side hope. Well, not hate exactly–but a good deal of anger. So, I realize that some of my reactions to things might be a little out of whack. (If any of you know where to get a good deal on whack, let me know.)
One thing in particular has been really bothering me lately. Without mentioning any names, there’s a Facebook group based on a podcast whose name includes “God” and a common Mexican food. When I first started following this group, they seemed to be a fairly standard collection of “deconstructing” (I don’t like that word) Christians who occasionally quoted from someone I have read and respect (and who I have quoted in my book). However, the more I followed this group, the more I detected some weirdness in how they used certain key words.
Key Words like “trinitarian”
The first one is their use of the word “trinitarian.” I thought it odd at first, as usually one doesn’t have to distinguish a Christian church on the basis of being trinitarian. I mean, that belief is pretty established aside from a few fringe groups and cults. But, they seemed to have a specific meaning to it that I couldn’t figure out. Some of them also tend to refer to God as “Trinity,” which to me brings to mind Carrie-Ann Moss, but that’s beside the point.
After more digging, I discovered that there is a smallish movement that has pushed back from the Calvinist concept of the Father separating himself from Jesus on the cross, which is understandable. The division of the Trinity in that way in my mind is heresy, too. However, these trinitarians have gone to the other extreme, it seems, seeing no kind of division at all. And furthermore, they see all of humanity as being a part of that “trinity,” which in my mind makes it something much more than a trinity. Three-in-one plus everyone? I understand the notion of being “in Christ,” but they seem to take it a bit too literally.
One of their favorite apologists, John Crowder, has the Nicene Creed as his own faith statement, which is great. I was at first excited to see that. But, it seems his teaching goes a bit beyond the standard understanding of the Creed into a more mystical union concept. It’s all a bit confusing, because at times it sounds normal, then at times it sounds completely wacko. Here’s a post by Crowder from December 23, 2022:
In the incarnation, Jesus came not only to impart His divinity but to endorse our humanity. Possessing both natures, God and man (in His one Person), one nature deifies and the other is deified. There will always be a human being seated in the Trinity of God: a glorified human, but a human nonetheless.
We have been woven into the humanity of Christ and exist in this very circle of the Trinitarian life. Even in our delusion, every breath we’ve ever breathed has been Trinitarian air.
See what I mean? There’s just something a little odd about this thinking.
Whatever became of sin?
Another interesting concept with this group is that sin is a misunderstanding about who we are. Repenting, therefore, is not necessarily changing anything about our life, but rather coming to understand that we have always been in union with God. If this sounds a bit new-agey, you’re right.
Take a look at this “translation” of 1 John 2:1-2 from what is called The Mirror Bible:
My darling little children, the reason I write these things to you is so that you will not believe a lie about yourselves.
If anyone does believe a distorted image to be their reality, we have Jesus Christ who defines our likeness face to face with the Father.
He is our parakletos, the one who endorses our true identity, being both the source and the reflection of the Father’s image in us.
Jesus is our at-one-ment, he has reconciled us to himself and has taken our sins and distortions out of the equation.
What he has accomplished is not to be seen as something that belongs to us exclusively; the same at-one-ment includes the entire cosmos.
The Mirror Bible is a so-called translation by a South African names Francois du Toit. From what I’ve read, du Toit left Christianity and got heavily into new age nonsense, then after some time decided to reenter the Christian world, merging his new age nonsense into a form of Christianity, leading him to rewrite parts of the Bible his own way. This seems to fit right in with this “Mexican food” crowd.
So why does this bother me so much?
It’s true, for some reason this particular angle of heresy–which has largely slipped under the radar of mainstream Christianity–seems to bother me much more than some of the more common kinds of heresy we see every day, like “Christian” nationalism, far out prophetic weirdness, and other forms of conservative evangelicalism that push Calvinism and penal substitutionary atonement. Those bother me too, but I guess I’m used to them and other people talk about them a lot. One reason this trinitarian heresy bugs me is that they have also become fans of some good people, which I think creates kind of a guilt by association. These good folks, some of whom have appeared on their podcast, are not flakes, but in some of the later episodes anyway, it seems the hosts go out of their way to try to lead them into murky waters, talking about things that are clearly outside of the guests’ areas of expertise.
The good news
The good news is that buying into this nonsense isn’t going to make someone a bad person, unlike some of the Christian nationalist nonsense. And, I don’t think believing their nonsense will cause someone to end up in hell eternally, because I don’t really buy into that scenario (you can read my book for more on that). I do believe in refining fire, so there’s that. I’m afraid we all have a bit of hay and stubble (I’m hoping grace can help with that).
The best advice I have is to stay vigilant, and to think critically. There’s nothing wrong with theology and Mexican food, just avoid the heresy.
C’est la vie.
