Spiritual Asbestos - Silent Killers

While our church was having asbestos removed last month - by law, we were required to post signs all over the facility warning people about the danger of asbestos.  And it made me start to think about how churches spread spiritual asbestos.

According to an OSHA website "the inhalation of asbestos fibers by workers can cause serious diseases of the lungs and other organs that may not appear until years after the exposure has occurred. For instance, asbestos can cause a buildup of scar-like tissue in the lungs and result in loss of lung function that often progresses to disability and death. Asbestos fibers associated with these health risks are too small to be seen with the naked eye." (you can read more HERE - if you want to scare yourself silly)

So - asbestos is an unnoticed killer...  That is what made me wonder what types of things seem harmless in churches, but are actually very deadly.

1. Legalism

There are thousands of churches that practice a "rules-righteousness" approach to Christianity and they have no idea what a deadly killer that is.  They set their rules on movies, cards, dress codes, alcohol, translations, and hundreds of other things... and it creates a prideful arrogance that is deadly. I wouldn't want a new Christian to attend a legalistic church.  They kill souls - both by creating false pride in Christians and by making new believers feel that such a standard is actually a goal to be attained.

2. Confusion of preferences versus conviction

This is a common spiritual asbestos found in all types of churches, and it is a deadly killer for new Christians, and it stagnates the growth of all Christians. If we can't tell the difference between personal preference and biblical conviction - we will create Pharisaical judges who only want to be around people who are just like "us."  And that is not only boring - it is deadly.

3. Country club for saints rather than a hospital for sinners

A silent killer of churches happens when a church acts like they are a country club for saints rather than a hospital for sinners.  When we start thinking that church is all about "give me what I want" or "give me what makes me comfortable" - we've lost our mission and we have airborne asbestos and need to mask up and protect ourselves! What if we ACTUALLY BELIEVED that the purpose of the church was to win people to Christ and grow them in biblical faith?  We talk a good game of evangelism, but most church-going people would never want the church to actually PRACTICE evangelism in effective ways.  That wouldn't make them comfortable.

4. Lack of emphasis on the cross

When a church deals more with sin management than cross dependence - it is spreading spiritual asbestos. When we don't emphasize the cross - we will emphasize "earning God's favor." When we don't emphasize the cross - we will convince ourselves we aren't great sinners.  If we are small sinners - we have a small Savior.  If we see how great of sinners we are - we can rejoice in our great Savior.

Let's avoid all forms of spiritual asbestos. It really is deadly!

Comments

[Daniel Bornt]

"Very well said!"

[Matthew Burgett]

Wow...absolutely amazing, and completely true. I have been to a legalistic church recently to see a friend and it fit with 2 or 3 of the above statements. I want to be a part of a cross-centered church for sure. And I am!

[Alexi Matousek]

David, really enjoyed this post. Especially as someone who has struggled with many of your forms of spiritual asbestos.
From experience in the medical field, I think the analogy goes even further: Asbestos certainly is a silent killer, and can manifest itself years after exposure. When it does, it sometimes causes a rare, but deadly cancer of the pleura (the lining sac of the lungs) called mesothelioma. Meso is extremely deadly (we take care of a lot of it here in Boston), and requires one of the biggest surgeries to have a chance of survival. This surgery is called an Extra-Pleural Pneumonectomy or EPP. Basically, one whole half of the chest is emptied out: the entire lung, all of the pluera, the pericardium and half of the diaphragm. The large space left over is then filled with heated chemotherapuetic drugs to allow a small chance of survival. It is such a big surgery and the patients are so sick, some debate the utility at all.
Just like with asbestos, all types of spiritual asbestos may linger with seemingly no effects for years, but can kill quickly when the time is right. I can't help but wonder if that's why Jesus was so hard on 'religious' people when he was here. I am so thankful that He underwent the EPP for me!

[Elisa DJ]

Very interesting and very true.