There is a great TV advertisement I saw recently by the Bank of Scotland. In the advert there are a group people sitting in a restaurant discussing business over lunch.  A man at the table starts to choke. Another man at the table observes the man choking and starts discussing the Heimlich maneuver while the first man continues to choke and turn blue. The second man even does a pretend demonstration of how the maneuver ought to be done. The rest of the diners look worried. Finally, another man from another table gets up and grasps the first man and does the maneuver. The piece of meat pops out of the first fellows’ mouth, flies across the table and lands in the lap of a horrified female diner. The second man comments "That's just what I was saying!" In closing, you hear a voice saying, “Less talk” as the words “Make it happen!” appear on the screen.

Less talk, more action.  That is my motto for life.  I am tired of a pretend Christianity in a pretend world.  I want to see the real thing in the real world. The problem is that what I see is a lot of talk about doing it, but not much performance. Why is this?

The Evident Disconnect between Christian Faith & Action.

The insight I am having about life and faith and work is that there is a huge disconnect between sincerely held beliefs and actions.  This disconnect results in a high level of inauthentic living.   For example, a Christian person will say they believe in marriage and yet they will practice infidelity.  The Barna Research group recently released a national survey that shows that “Born Again” Christians are just as likely to divorce as are non-Christians. (http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdate&BarnaUpdateID=170)  

So what is going on here?

Actions are Embodied Beliefs

Every action proceeds from a form of belief.  Thoughts precede action.  Beliefs precede thoughts.  Therefore, people’s actions are actually embodied beliefs. Thus the problem is not so much that Christians are hypocrites (even though they often are) but that there is a non Christian belief that is operating under the surface of their Christian veneer that drives their decision making. This is what gives rise to inauthentic Christian living.

In Insight, Bernard Lonergan asks the question “What practical good can come from the writing of a book about insight?” (1992, 7) His answer gives me insight into what is going on and offers hope for a way out of it for sincere Christians who want to live authentic Christian lives. “Insight is the source not only of theoretical knowledge but also of its practical applications, and indeed of all intelligent activity. Insight into insight, then, will reveal what activity is intelligent, and insight into oversights will reveal what activity is unintelligent. But to be practical is to do the intelligent thing, and to be unpractical is to keep blundering about. It follows that insight into both insight and oversight is the very key to practicality.” (1992, 8) Thus for us to really put what we believe into practice, we need to understand what is going on in our thinking that disconnects us from doing what we believe is the right thing and then act intelligently on what we believe by doing the right thing!

Lacking in Insight

The problem I think we have is that we are lacking insight into the disconnect between espoused belief and belief in practice. In fact, most people live an unexamined life in which implicit assumptions about the world dominate their thinking and actions and for the most part they are unaware of it. For example, I think it is the implicit assumption of the right to absolute personal autonomy that drives the divorce rate both for Christians and non Christians alike.

If we understood our need for interdependence.  If we took seriously our relational commitments. If we saw ourselves as both an individual and an integral member of a group: be it a marriage, a family, a church or a community. If we really believed and followed Jesus. Perhaps then we would act differently when it comes to our espoused belief concerning the importance of marriage.

Marriage is not an easy thing to do.  It takes work and sacrifice. It especially requires that we set our personal autonomy on the shelf as we attempt to bond with the person we love and bring something new into the world through that bonding. Marriage requires that on occasion we act against personal autonomy. If we do this we are demonstrating that our belief in the importance of marriage trumps our belief in personal autonomy.

Insight and Oversight compared

In Lonergan’s book he refers to these implicit assumptions that drive our thinking and our actions as “oversight.” He describes oversight as a “flight from understanding.” Here is his comparison of the results of insight and oversight.

“Thus, insight into insight brings to light the cumulative process of progress. For concrete situations give rise to insights which issue into policies and courses of action. Action transforms the existing situation to give rise to further insights, better policies, more effective courses action. It follows that if insight occurs, it keeps recurring; and at each recurrence knowledge develops, action increases its scope, and situations improve.

Similarly, insight into oversight reveals the cumulative process of decline. For the flight from understanding blocks the insights that concrete situations demand. There follows unintelligent policies and inept courses of action. the situation deteriorates to demand still further insights, and as they are blocked, policies become more unintelligent and action more inept. What is worse, the deteriorating situation seems to provide the uncritical, biased mind with factual evidence in which the bias is claimed to be verified. So in ever increasing measure intelligence comes to be regarded as irrelevant to practical living.  Human activity settles down to a decadent routine, and initiative becomes the privilege of violence.” (1992, 8)”

Applying Lonergan’s thinking to the question of authentic living especially as it relates to marriage, we realize that the divorce rate, especially among Christians, is a symptom of a greater problem. The problem is that we are inauthentic because, according to Lonergan, we are unintelligent about why we are inauthentic. 

Personal Autonomy as the Cultural Ideal

The problem is that our culture especially in the West has given the right to personal autonomy absolute priority. Note this quote from a recent US Court decision concerning the right to an abortion.

“These matters, involving the most intimate and personal choices a person may make in a lifetime, choices central to personal dignity and autonomy, are central to the liberty protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life. Beliefs about these matters could not define the attributes of personhood were they formed under compulsion of the State.” CITATION: LAWRENCE V. TEXAS (02-102) . “LAWRENCE V. TEXAS.” http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/search/display.html?terms=griswold%20&url=/supct/html/02-102.ZO.html  (Accessed on: 6 December 2004).

By embracing this cultural ideal uncritically, we allow it to dictate to us the terms of how we ought to do or not do marriage. The result is divorce.

The Greater Problem – Cultural Domination

Lonergan anticipates the way in which the dominant cultural influence controls our thinking when he asks the question, “How indeed is a mind to become conscious of its own bias when that bias springs from a communal flight from understanding and is supported by the whole texture of a civilization?” (1992, 8-9).

Thus the greater problem is not so much that we are unintelligent as Christians, or that we live an unexamined life, or that there is a disconnect between what we believe and what we practice, the greater problem is that we are completely and unconsciously domesticated to the dominant thinking of our culture. We profess that we believe in and follow Jesus Christ, but our actions belie our words.  In fact, we believe in and follow our culture much more than we do Jesus. Thus, the divorce rate among Christians is a symptom of a much deeper problem which is that underneath our Christian profession lies a set of cultural beliefs that in their essence are unchristian.

It is the purpose of this blog to delve into the question of authentic Christian living, to discover the source of inauthentic living and thus to challenge myself and my readers to an authenitc life as a Christian. As the writer of Hebrews states, “Let us throw off  everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. (Hebrews 12:1 NIV).

It is my firm belief that unless we learn to think critically about why we do the things we do, unless we are intelligent about putting into practice our espoused beliefs, unless we pursue authenticity, we will find ourselves losing “the race marked out for us.”

Lonergan’s method of insight can provide us a means to “throw off that which hinders.” He concludes his remarks on insight and oversight by saying, “At least we can make a beginning by asking what precisely it is to understand, what are the dynamics of the flow of consciousness that favors insight, what are the interferences that favor oversight, what, finally, do the answers to such questions imply for the guidance of human thought and action.” (1992, 9)

The Test of True Authenticity

In many ways I admit I live an inauthentic life, however, it is my desire that that would change. But the question is how?  Lonergan’s method of insight is helpful; however, the place where I am going to really discover how is called Golgotha. It is the place where a very authentic human being did not just talk about it, but did it. It is the place of the cross and every true believer in Jesus must pass that way if they are to live a truly authentic life in this world. “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13 RSV) This is the test of true authenticity.