Everyone agrees that theological fiction exists. It often goes by the designation false doctrine or bad hermeneutics. In the field of Bible studies it’s known as eisegesis, that is, reading into the Bible what is not there. Its presence and dominance is so pervasive that it permeates all of its victims with the self-assured confidence maintaining, “I am right and he is wrong” about what the Bible teaches.
The churches suffer from various theological fictions, all of which quench God’s Spirit and stifle growth in the people of God. Because we live eternal life in the realm of the Spirit, these fictions go largely undetected. The spiritual world is essentially undetected by the natural eyes. Manifestations of the spiritual world, whether true or false, are detected by natural vision while we live our lives among mortal humanity. These manifestations are fundamentally beliefs or convictions, interpretations of the Bible lived out through our natural bodies. They all gain standing, strength, and force through their shared beliefs in focused groups. The best example of this is seen in the long standing of the many denominations of the churches.
Theological fiction is a lot like science fiction. To arrive at its conclusions, a lot of time-warping, space-bending, and audience shape-shifting must be maintained. While people live in it, it seems real. Most often, people live their entire lives in this other “reality”, sometimes changing one kind of theological fiction for another.
The human death knell to theological fiction is genuine humility before God. Genuine humility manifests itself in a life-long teachable spirit, best defined by honesty and the ongoing pursuit of God.
Another way to describe true humility is that is possesses, as leading attributes, the constant attitude that “God is the Teacher and I am His student” with the never-ending hunger to seek God, a hunger that is never sated.
To God be the Glory! Amen!