Adam and Eve chose to believe that the truth of heaven was different than the truth of earth. In doing so, they became the world’s first pietists. Pietists divide reality into two realms: sacred and secular. They see life divided into compartments, some spiritual and others not. This kind of thinking causes them to confront a fractured reality. The visible world and rationality become less valid and important. “Content, truth, and logic take second place to experience, fervor, sincerity, and rule-keeping” (Schaeffer 201). For the pietist, the exploration of truth isn’t as important as feeling and looking spiritual.

In Eden, our first parents experienced wholeness as they walked and talked with God in paradise. Their humanity, in all its weakness and vulnerability, flowed in perfect harmony with heaven and earth. They lacked nothing. “And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31a). All this changed after their fateful choice to split heaven and earth by embracing the lie that God was hiding something. Their mistrust of God left them with a broken reality and the impossible task of creating their own wholeness. Even though God had never told them that they were naked (lacking or inadequate), they now felt ashamed and incomplete.

Their first order of business was to hide their real selves. Truth no longer mattered. They must look and feel adequate, and now through their twisted view of reality they no longer seemed that way either physically or morally. Their imperfections of body and soul terrified them. And so began the war against truth as they covered their bodies (fig leaves: looking spiritual) and covered their souls (blame-shifting: feeling spiritual). Pietism was born.

As they say, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Pietism informs many people’s attitudes. Looking and feeling spiritual (or righteous, holy, good, etc.) takes precedence over truth. This manifests itself in all kinds of ways.

God’s redemptive plan involves a reuniting of heaven and earth where wholeness is restored. This is what the Bible calls salvation. In community, we try to live honestly and truthfully with one another, embracing the values of the Kingdom (Matt. 5-7), in order to “prefigure and embody the reconciliation and healing of the world” (Hays 32). While we wait for the Kingdom to fully come, we can reject the temptation of false spirituality and really care for one another as brothers and sisters in God’s family.

Reference and Bibliography

All scriputres quotes from The New American Standard Version. Lockman Foundation.
Schaeffer, Franky. Sham Pearls for Real Swine. Brentwood: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers Inc., 1990.
Hays, Richard B. The Moral Vision of the New Testament. New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 1996.