Aletheia--Mania
By F. L. Lemley
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Aletheia-mania! What is it? Perhaps the word has not been coined before. Certainly you will not find it in the dictionary. It is formed by joining the Greek word for "truth" with "mania" for the purpose of conveying the idea of an insane and exaggerated desire for truth which distorts values and perverts judgment. Jesus indicated in Matthew 23:23 that the Pharisees were overlooking "the weightier matters of the law." If the law has weightier matters there are matters of less weight and importance. It is a mistake to treat all matters as if they are of equal weight. Those afflicted with the spiritual disease we have designated "aletheia-mania" make no distinction in truths. They treat all truths (of their arbitary choosing) as equally important and equally related to our salvation.
Symptoms of this spiritual malady vary in intensity and subject-matter from place to place but there are certain manifestations commonly observable. The dear afflicted ones make no distinction whatever between the word of God which is the seed of the kingdom (Luke 8:11) and the word of God which is the milk and meat (I Cor. 3:1-3). A casual observation is all that is necessary to note that the seed produces life and the milk and meat sustain life after it is brought forth--two different functions entirely. The afflicted ones see all of God's word as seed when using the seed analogy, and all of it as milk and meat when using the food anal-
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These find themselves in the peculiar position of feeding the seed to the children to sustain life, and, on the other hand, trying to beget new life with milk and meat. They are like a doctor who cannot distinguish between childbirth and indigestion and administers the same treatment for both. No matter how we separate our analogies there are some truths vital to birth and others that have nothing to do with birth, but do have a part in the after and progressive edification of the one who is born, that is, in his growth. If a truth has nothing to do with one's birth, it has nothing to do with the one who is born being my brother after he is born, consequently cannot consistently be made a test of fellowship or a basis of brotherhood.
The victim of " aletheia-mania" cannot distinguish between God's revelation and his own inferences, deductions and interpretations of the revelation. His interpretation becomes as binding as the revelation. He speaks with an authoritarian air, requiring all to submit to his interpretation which he humbly insists is the truth and not an interpretation. "The truth needs no interpretation," he says. In all humility and for the love of the truth he is led to become as Diotrephes who cast brethren (including apostles) out of the church. Indeed such afflicted ones have no qualms about castigating the apostles if the apostolic utterances or actions contradict their understanding of truth.
The apostle Paul has been accused of inconsistency and the whole Jerusalem church charged with spiritual adultery by one such brother because he could not harmonize Paul's actions in Acts 21 with his own conception of truth. A casual reader must observe that the Jerusalem brethren were all zealous for the law. (This means they kept the sabbath, practiced circumcision, and offered animal sacrifices). Paul seemed to feel quite at home with them to the extent that he fell in with their practice and prepared to offered animal sacrifices too. This was fully 25 years after Pentecost and after 25 years of Holy Spirit guidance and apostolic oversight. (If the reader has difficulty harmonizing Paul's actions with his teachings elsewhere, the writer will gladly help him solve the riddle of Paul's consistency).
The symptoms of "aletheia-mania" are many and another is the misuse of the word "fellowship" to mean endorsement in toto. If one should honor one of his "erstwhile brethren" by asking him to dismiss the assembly, such action is interpreted as endorsement of all his errors, especially if his errors involve the premillennial question, instrumental music, church co-operation or the so-called "unity movement." If one's name is found in the association of the banned it is immediately assumed that he has "gone off with that crowd" and is no longer a brother.
It is not at all uncommon for the afflicted to hold informal hearings in which the soundness of a brother is determined and if one "wrong" answer is given the inquisitors are ready with warnings to the brotherhood papers and letters of warning to the ends of the earth, lest the purity of the church be blemished. Pressures are then brought to bear upon acquaintances to shun, ignore) and otherwise treat the marked ones as though they are no longer brethren. In their zeal for truth they create the very thing they seek and long to destroy-- faction!
To these mistaken and misguided brethren, the issues that trouble the brotherhood become as important as baptism into Christ. "The truth" on cups, classes, instrumental music, church-cooperation, college-in-the-budget, etc., become as important as the deity of Jesus. One good brother who opposed classes said that a man had as well commit fornication as attend a Bible class. To these brethren, unity does not depend upon one Father and acceptance of one Savior, Jesus Christ, but upon one interpretation--with each insisting that his interpretation is "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
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The cure for " aletheia-mania" is very simple. First, one must descend from his legalistic throne which he has assumed in all honesty, sincerity, humility and love for the truth, and learn that it any are saved it will be by God's grace in spite of the defects and errors of the intellect. It God can save me in spite of my defects, he can do the same for my brother with his different detects. Unless I can be sure that I have all the truth that can be had I must allow my brother the same privilege I take for myself and learn to tolerate him in spite of his errors on the issues, for who knows if I am right all the way?
Truths that have nothing to do with our spiritual birth should have nothing to do with brotherhood or fellowship after one is born. A babe in Christ is just as saved as the old soldier of the cross who has labored, grown, and developed all of these years, but there is a vast difference in the understanding of the babe and that of the old man. There is a great area of difference in knowledge and development. How much does one have to grow in order to be accepted of God?
All truth is desirable but all truth is not essential to our salvation. One's salvation does not depend upon his own powers of perception and his ability to digest strong meat. Many truths belong to the after and progressive edification of the body and while they are desirable to make one spiritually healthy, wealthy and wise, they are not absolute essentials until one's conscience accepts them and responds to them. Such convictions are vital to the individual but not binding upon others.
Many weak, sickly and deformed children are no less children, saved by grace, the same as the healthy and robust ones. It would be highly desirable to have all of them healthy and robust but it is not in the nature of things for this condition to exist. One who has not received Christ into his heart is lost just as one who has not an obedient heart, but many obedient hearts are mistaken ones. Our problem is to tolerate one another while we learn, discuss and reason together.
Editor's Note. F. L. Lemley labors with the Wheatridge Heights Church of Christ in Denver, Colorado, and may be addressed at 5925 West 32nd Avenue, Denver, Colorado 80212.