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Richard Watson On MY Truth
by Steve Bussey
Richard Watson is one of the most
powerful influencers of Wesleyan theology that many do not
know much about. In 1823, he published the first "systematic
theology" from a Wesleyan perspective. His work, "Theological
Institutes" is monumental in that it looks at evidences,
doctrines, morals, and institutions of Christianity.
Catherine and William Booth were both
profoundly influenced by Watson's writings - and his work was
included along with the sermons of John Wesley as critical
standards needing to be mastered by Methodists - hence the
Booths would be deeply shaped by his work based on their years
growing up in the Wesleyan Methodist church, serving in the
Methodist New Connexion, and being part of the network of
Holiness Churches out of which the Christian Mission and The
Salvation Army were birthed.
The entire first part - which is a
monumental 263 pages - is devoted to firmly anchoring Wesleyan
theology in Scripture as the "Divine rule of faith and
practice." He philosophically and theologically provides a
robust argument for this distinctive anchoring in what John
Wesley calls "Scriptural Christianity."
Watson wisely can see in the early
19th-century that they were in the midst of a massive shift
from the "divine rule" (Scripture) being the SOURCE OF
AUTHORITY to human experience or "practice" taking this role.
So Watson aimed to reinforce to all true Wesleyans the
classically Christian belief that the "divine rule" is the
metaphorical horse and that "human practice" is the cart. He
was warning us that the cart should never precede the horse -
a practice that is not only illogical, but impractical (and
utterly non-sensical).
Here is what he says:
"It is equally a matter of undoubted
fact, that in all questions of morals which restrain the
vices, passions, and immediate interests of men, conviction is
generally resisted, and the RULE is brought down to the
PRACTICE, rather than the PRACTICE raised to the RULE; so that
the most FLIMSY SOPHISMS are admitted as ARGUMENTS, and
PRINCIPLES the most LAX displace those of RIGID RECTITUDE and
VIRTUE" (Watson, Theological Institutes, Chapter 3, 1823,
p.16)
Why is this relevant for us today?
Watson was speaking to a major shift that began in the 17th
century, grew in prominence in the 18th, and now was coming to
full maturity in the 19th century. The growing sense of
questioning the authority of Scripture gained traction in the
rationalism of the Enlightenment (in movements like deism and
naturalism) and accelerated in German idealism and romanticism
that was now seeping into the broader world where Methodism
was rapidly spreading. He could see the need for a robust
apologetic for Scriptural Christianity that was the foundation
of Wesley's theology.
This trend of what would become known
as "higher criticism," would lead to the dominance of
modernist thinking that displaced the "rule" with the
"practice" of human experience, which became the anchoring
point of this radical shift from Scripture being the rule to
my personal experience. In the world of the 21st century, we
would academically call this "standpoint epistemology" and in
popular culture we see this manifest itself in the phrase "MY
truth."
What does "MY truth" mean? It means
that my local, subjective perspective - bound in time and
space - is the lens through which I perceive the world. If I
sense it, it is real. Therefore, my beliefs, my values, and my
behaviors all stem from ME. Therefore, when I read the Bible,
I read it through my lens and how I choose to interpret it is
true.
In such a world, whatever I believe is
TRUE because I believe it. Whatever I value is RIGHT because
it is what I value. And whatever I do is PERMISSIBLE because
it is what I do.
And in such a world, what is the role
of Scripture? It is reduced to a moral prompt for me to
discover the "best me" I choose to be - based on my own
therapeutic feelings, my own biases, whatever I want to
believe and however I want to behave, I read it with that lens
in mind which filters Scripture into my own tailor-made
"divine thumbs up." That subjective lens becomes THE compass
that serves to validate what I wish for God's will for my life
to be - and thus, what I also deem to be "virtuous" or "holy."
This might sound like it makes sense,
but it is a deeply flawed perspective because:
(a) What might seem virtuous and just
to me might actually be vicious and unjust to another.
(b) In essence, this thinking becomes
idolatrous - because we have placed ourselves as the compass
of truth and justice. Not only is that egocentric, it is a
recipe for anarchy because every person becomes a rule unto
themselves.
(c) Not only does this place self on
the governing throne of our lives, but - by this decision - we
displace God from His rightful place as Governor of our lives.
This is the original and fatal flaw made by Eve and Adam in
the Garden of Eden.
That's called groupthink. It's
confirmation bias. It's rationalizing and justifying what I
want. It's taking my own moral choices and giving them a "god
approves" rubber stamp.
The only problem is that we have
actually made ourselves god in the process... and the real God
doesn't take that lightly.
This seduction might seem to be us just
being an independently thinking individual - but often there
is very little individuality in the process. Most often we are
being swept away by the conforming patterns of our present
time and circumstances - the "zeitgeist" of our time. Scarily
though, this is not even just going along with the social
trends for the sake of fitting in... At the heart of it, the
same serpent from the garden who sowed disbelief that led to
disobedience whispers in our ears today and nudges us, "you do
you," "embrace your truth"... and before you know it, we find
ourselves in the bondage of our own self-delusion that has
left us captive to the prince of this world.
We saw this mindset brewing in the 18th
century with someone like Thomas Jefferson. He was a Deist who
celebrated human rationality and rejected the immanent work of
God by rejecting anything "super-natural" (i.e., beyond the
natural world of science and reason). Jefferson proceeded to
create his own Bible where he removed all evidence of anything
that his naturalistic, rationalistic, and deistic worldview
deemed "non-essential" in Scripture. Seriously - look up the
Jefferson Bible for yourself.
In essence, what Jefferson did in the
18th century, we find ourselves doing in the 21st. Each of us,
like Jefferson, is tempted to (and affirmed by the trends of a
present culture both outside and inside the church) to take
our own personal experience and, with metaphorical scissors,
has proceeded to "cut out" or ignore parts of this "divine
rule" (i.e., guidance that supersedes our own beliefs, morals,
and practices). As a result, we read the Bible through the
lens of "my truth" because Jesus affirms a "you do you"
lifestyle.
Richard Watson's words thus ring deeply
as a warning. We must return the horse of the "divine rule" to
being what drives the cart of our "faith and practice." This
was true of Wesley and Watson. This was true of Catherine and
William Booth and the slew of Salvationists who have
faithfully embraced their covenant as soldiers in the Army of
the Lord.
I pray this principle will once again
become a core value for all believers, the pan-Wesleyan
community, and specifically my beloved Salvation Army. We
continue to state that it is such. I pray that we will fully
embrace this timeless truth in the practice of our everyday
lives.
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