Experiencing God – A Critique
Steven R. Cook
This critique should in no way be construed as an attack upon the person of Henry Blackaby, or upon the major doctrines of orthodoxy he adheres to. I do not question his salvation, or much of his teaching on the Bible. He has written several books and much of what I have read appears consistent with biblical Christianity. This critique will specifically consider the book Experiencing God and what Mr. Blackaby says regarding divine revelation and personal experience. Again, this critique will only consider the book itself, and not Mr. Blackaby as a person, or any of his other writings.
Divine revelation is the disclosure of information by God about Himself, creation, mankind, sin, salvation, Jesus Christ, and all other matters found in Scripture which man could never arrive at through his own efforts. The Bible sets forth two categories of divine revelation from God to man.
1. General
Revelation (Rom.
2. Special Revelation:
a) Jesus
Christ (John
b) Scripture
(Deut. 31:24; Jer. 36:27-28; 2 Tim.
General revelation is that which can be known about God through creation. General revelation can lead the unsaved person only to the knowledge that God exists, but could never reveal anything particular about Him. General revelation is sufficient to bring condemnation to the one who rejects God after he has come to the knowledge that He exists.
Special revelation is found in the person of Jesus Christ and Scripture. Special revelation is particular and reveals God’s character and will to mankind. Since Jesus does not now physically walk among men, then Scripture alone is the only source of special revelation. Since Scripture is the only source of special revelation, it has authority to speak to mankind. Divine revelation and authority go together like two sides of a coin. Since the Bible is complete, God is no longer providing special revelation to man. J. I. Packer states:
Authority in Christianity belongs to God the Creator, who made us to know, love, and serve him, and his way of exercising his authority over us is by means of the truth and wisdom of his written Word…And since the Father has now given the Son executive authority to rule the cosmos on his behalf (Matt. 28:18), Scripture now functions precisely as the instrument of Christ’s lordship over his followers.1
Before the Protestant Reformation in the 1500’s the Catholic Church believed in the authority of Scripture, but they also believed in the authority of the Church and the Papacy. That is, the Pope, the Catholic Church, and the Bible were on equal ground. The Catholic Church believed it possessed authority to interpret Scripture, and that its interpretation was infallible. Therefore, when the Catholic Church set forth a doctrine, it was final; and to challenge the church was considered as a challenge to the Bible itself. Also, when the Pope spoke ex cathedra, his word was as authoritative and final as the Bible; so, new doctrines could be developed at any time (even though the canon of Scripture had been closed since ca. A.D. 100). The implication is obvious: If God communicates His will through the Pope and the Catholic Church, then to disobey them is to disobey God.
During the 14th century A.D., men like John Wycliffe (ca.1320 – December 31, 1384) and Jan Hus (ca. 1369 – July 6, 1415) were reading the Bible for themselves and coming to the conlcusion that the authority of the Catholic Church and the Papacy were wrong. This is especailly seen in Martin Luther, who, on October 31, 1517, nailed his 95 theses to the church door at Wittenberg and helped launch the Protestant Reformation. Luther’s position (like that of Wycliffe and Hus before him) was that the Bible alone (Sola Scriptura) was authoritative on matters of faith and conduct. Luther’s position was that when the Pope or the Catholic Church set forth doctrines in addition to the Bible, it was wrong. Martin Luther’s position of Sola Scriptura is still the Protestant position for most of evangelical Christianity. Paul Enns states:
For Martin Luther, the Bible was the only infallible authority regarding faith and salvation. In coming to this view, Luther rejected the authority of the pope, the church councils, indulgences, and the Roman Catholic sacraments.2
Since the Reformation, many believers have espoused and promulgated false notions that God’s wishes can be known through various sources in addition to Scripture. These include:
1. New acts of revelation: The notion that God still communicates to believers today by providing direct revelation on matters pertaining to church conduct, government, giving, prophecy, and so on.
2. Reason: The idea that human reason alone is sufficient to determine God’s will.
3. Experience: The understanding that experience is the measure of truth, and that one can discern God’s wishes through an experience. The problem with this is that experience is subjective, and ultimately there is no test one can administer to determine truth claims.
4. Mysticism: Mysticism relies on intuitive knowledge of spiritual matters stemming from one’s subjective and groundless speculations. In this case, the “gut-feeling” is equal to God’s wishes.
5. Creeds: A confession of faith, or
doctrinal statement, is often held by a church group; however, some have made
the confession of faith equally authoritative to Scripture.
6. Church consensus: This view seeks to
make the majority vote in a church equal to God’s wishes. That is, what the church votes on, is what
God wants.
7. Individual conscience: This is the
belief that every person has a moral compass and that it is sufficient to guide
him in all moral matters. This false
view believes that the Bible may speak to the human conscience, but that the
Bible does not have ultimate authority over the conscience to correct it.
Orthodox Christianity asserts that the Bible alone is the final authority in matters of faith and practice, and that God is not now revealing His will apart from Scripture. Therefore, any claims to know God’s wishes apart from Scripture must be considered suspicious.
Why do I go into this background? Because I believe there is a precedent for what I am about to argue for. I believe Mr. Blackaby has bought into and promulgated a way of thinking that says in effect “God is still speaking today and giving revelation just like he did in the Bible to the Prophets and Apostles.” In fact, Mr. Blackaby is not alone; there are millions of people today who claim that God speaks directly to them and gives new revelation about what they should do with their life, church, money, and many other specific matters. It’s bad enough that people are claiming to hear directly from God, but it does not stop there; they understand the implication that if God speaks, they are to be obedient. If God continues to communicate His will directly through people and the Church, then to disobey them is to disobey God. In fact, Mr. Blackaby draws this very conclusion in his book when he states:
If you know that
God loves you, you should never question a directive from Him. It will always
be right and best. When He gives you a directive, you are not just to observe
it, discuss it, or debate it. You are to obey it.3
Now, if Blackaby were talking about a directive found in the Bible, that’s fine; but he’s not. According to Blackaby, the Bible is not the only place where a believer can find God’s will. Blackaby teaches that God’s expectations can be known through the Bible plus experience. Blackaby teaches that “in the Scriptures knowledge of God comes through experience. We come to know God as we experience Him in and around our lives.”4 And at another point he states that “God wants you to come to a greater knowledge of Himself via experience.”5 The conclusion appears to be that the believer can know God’s will directly through experience just like people in the Bible received it. Please consider the following quotes from Blackaby to judge for yourself:
Does God really
speak to His people in our day? Will He reveal to you where He is working when
He wants to use you? Yes! God has not changed. He still speaks to His people.
If you have trouble hearing God speak, you are in trouble at the very heart of
your Christian experience.6
We come to know God as we experience Him. God reveals Himself to us through our experience of Him at work in our lives.7
You come to know God by experience at His initiative as He reveals Himself to you. As you experience God, you come to know Him more intimately and personally.8
God wants you to come to a greater knowledge of Him by experience.9
For Blackaby, the Christian experience is synonymous with the giving of divine revelation and the encounter with God. This can happen through the Bible, but it can also happen through “prayer, circumstances, and the church.” Blackaby also teaches that just as God spoke directly to Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Peter, John, and Paul; so God will speak directly to you. Please consider the following quotes from Blackaby:
Time and time again God invited Moses to talk with Him and to be with Him. God initiated and maintained a continuing relationship with Moses.10
The testimony of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation is that God speaks to His people. In our day, God speaks to us through the Holy Spirit. He uses the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church (other believers).11
When God starts to do something in the world, He takes the initiative to come and talk to somebody.12
Only God can
give you the kind of specific directions to accomplish His purposes in His
ways. After God spoke to Noah about building an ark, Noah knew the size, the
type of materials, and how to put it together. When God spoke to Moses about
building the tabernacle He was very specific about the details.13
If anything is clear from reading the Bible, this fact is clear: God speaks to His people. He spoke to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden in Genesis. He spoke to Abraham and the other Patriarchs. God spoke to the judges, kings, and prophets. God was in Christ Jesus speaking to His disciples. God spoke to the early church, and God spoke to John on the Isle of Patmos in Revelation. God does speak to His people, and you can anticipate that He will be speaking to you also.14
There is no mistaking what Mr. Blackaby believes. He makes clear that just as God spoke directly to OT and NT characters, “you can anticipate that He will be speaking to you also.” I think even a cursory reading of the Bible would lead a believer to realize that God does not speak to every believer directly. God spoke to Moses, but He did not speak directly to the other four million Hebrews living in the wilderness. God spoke directly to Adam, but He did not speak directly to all his offspring. I think what bothers me, is that Mr. Blackaby draws a line between those who have heard the voice of God and those who have not. He declares that “If you have trouble hearing God speak, you are in trouble at the very heart of your Christian experience.”15 I cannot help but think of the modern Charismatic crowd today who declares that “if you do not speak in tongues, you are not spiritual.” Such teaching is divisive.
Blackaby does believe God speaks through the Bible, and
that the Holy Spirit is the divine illuminator for the Christian. Blackaby states “the Holy Spirit will teach you all things,
will call to your memory the things Jesus said, will guide you into all truth,
will speak what He hears from the Father, will tell you what is yet to come,
and glorify Christ as He reveals Christ to you.”16 This is ok. It’s only when he teaches
that the believer can receive divine revelation in addition to the Bible that I
cringe. Blackaby holds to the idea that
the Bible is one source of divine information, and that the believer can and
should seek God’s will in other areas such as prayer,
circumstances, and the church. Regarding
the church Blackaby states:
When God wants
to reveal His will to a church, He will begin by speaking to one or more
individuals. Because of the nature of his call and assignment from God, this is
often the pastor, although it may be another member of the body. The pastor's
job is to bear witness to the church about what he senses God is saying.17
Whenever I think about seeking God’s will, I go to the
Bible, not a church member. If I seek
the counsel of another church member, I do so with the understanding that they
may have a Bible verse that I had not considered. If a church member comes to me with a claim
to know God’s will, I expect him to point to Scripture; not to give me some
claim that he discerned the voice of God through some experience.
As a person, I am in a perpetual state of
experience. That is, I am perpetually
experiencing the weather, the economy, politics, sin, and many other
things. Experience is the result of an
encounter with something or someone I come into contact with. As a Christian, I experience the Holy Spirit
as He brings Scripture to my thinking and beckons me to rely upon it (John
When God speaks through the Bible He
does so through the use of human language.
Much of the Bible consists of propositional statements set forth in an understandable
language that is observable to all who wish to investigate. For example, John 3:16 it states “For God so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in
Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.” From the meaning of words used in context,
and the grammatical structure of the sentence, I can extrapolate a clear
meaning that I could then share with others.
If another person wanted to investigate my understanding of the same
Bible passage, he could read it for himself, and
through the use of words and grammar could arrive at the same meaning. Why, because words and grammar have meaning
to the human mind. This is why the Bible
is objective; because everyone can come and look at the same words and see the
text for themselves. This understanding
was the basis for why men like Martin Luther, William Tyndale, and others
wanted to translate the Bible into the language of the common person. God’s will can be known directly from the
Bible, and any attempt to place something in front of the Bible, or in addition
to it, only clouds men’s minds to divine truth.
The only way to know God’s will is through the Bible alone. The Holy Spirit illumines the mind of the
person who reads the Bible in a straight forward manner, relying on the basic
meaning of words and grammar.
In the
world in which we live, words have meaning which communicates ideas and
concepts; this is true wherever we are, whatever we are doing. This article is predicated on the assumption
that words have meaning, and that you can understand what I write because we
share this assumption. As an
illustration, when a person drives down the road he observes words on signs all
around him. As he approaches a STOP sign
at a street corner, he accepts that he must stop and allow others to move
through the intersection before he progresses.
If he were to drive past the STOP sign, he might get pulled over by a
police officer and get a traffic ticket.
If the driver of the car were to argue with officer that the word STOP
really means something else, the officer would think his statement was
nonsensical, and would properly dispense a traffic ticket. Likewise, God communicates through the Bible
using words that have meaning within a context. To teach that God communicates to believers
today through avenues such as “prayer, circumstance, and the church” is to open
the floodgates of speculation because “prayer, circumstances, and the church”
are more subjective than objective in interpretation.
Does this mean the believer is
without the ability to accurately interpret his experiences? No. I
believe God does answer prayer, and that God does work through circumstances
and the church. However, seeing God
answer prayer, and observing Him work through circumstances and the church does
not constitute divine revelation. I do
not seek God’s will from any source other than the Bible. From my knowledge of the Bible I can perceive
when God answers prayer, and I can see God work through circumstances and the
church. However, to try to know God’s will through prayer, circumstances, and the church is to say
that the Bible alone is insufficient.
God does not speak in addition to the Bible. Yet, Mr. Blackaby would have us think that
since God spoke directly to Moses and other OT characters, that “you can
anticipate that He will be speaking to you also.” God did speak to Moses “face to
face,” yet the other millions of Hebrews were left to rely upon the prophetic
test (Jeremiah 28:9; Lamentations
Claiming to have
a word from God is serious business. If you have been given a word from God,
you must continue in that direction until it comes to pass (even 25 years like
Abram).18
Abraham received “a word from God”
directly, as God spoke to him through the use of audible language. If believers today are still receiving direct
information from God, then the idea of Sola Scriptura is wrong. More so, if believers today are still
receiving direct information from God, then the canon of Scripture is not
closed, and we can write down the words of the Lord and obey them with the rest
of Scripture. The person who seeks to
know God’s will from sources in addition to the Bible is in a dangerous
place.
Conclusion
Blackaby’s understanding of divine revelation opens the door for believers to think they can receive divine information in addition to the Bible. This fits well with modern existentialism where experience is made to be the measure of truth. That is, because I have an experience that “seems right,” it must be. Objective observation gives way to subjective interpretation based on experience and what “feels” right. Ultimately, the believer’s experience becomes the final determinate of what is true or not true, and “God’s Truth” is validated through subjective experience.
I would like to state again that I agree with many of the teachings of Mr. Blackaby. As I read through Experiencing God, I agreed with him on his view of the Trinity, the full humanity and deity of Christ, the illuminating role of the Holy Spirit, and several other doctrines. However, his view of divine revelation is seriously flawed, and I think his book has led many believers to seek God’s will outside of, or in addition to, God’s written Word.
I stand upon the foundation of the Protestant Reformation that the Bible alone (Sola Scriptura) is the single source of divine revelation and that there is no authority outside God’s Word. The believer who would seek God’s directive-will from any source in addition to the Bible will find himself on a slippery slope.
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For further
reading, I would recommend the following reviews:
http://www.behindthebadge.net/articles/a20.html
http://www.svchapel.org/Resources/Articles/read_articles.asp?ID=54
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Endnotes:
1.
J. I. Packer, Revelation:
Concise Theology (
2.
Paul P. Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology (Chicago, Ill.:
Moody Press, 1997) p. 446.
3. Henry T. Blackaby & Claude V. King, Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God, (Nashville: Tennessee, 1994) p. 148.
4. Ibid., p. 7.
5. Ibid., p. 19.
6. Ibid., p. 136-137.
7. Ibid., p. 9.
8. Ibid., p. 12-13.
9. Ibid., p. 30.
10. Ibid., p. 55.
11. Ibid., p. 56.
12. Ibid., p. 103.
13. Ibid., p. 149.
14. Ibid., p. 132.
15. Ibid., p. 136-137.
16. Ibid., p. 36.
17. Ibid., p. 166.
18. Ibid., p. 140.