What’s the Problem With Pragmatism? It Just Doesn’t Work.
Pragmatism is the view that we can determine if something is right or wrong, good or bad, true or false, by whether or not that thing produces the results we desire. In other words, if it “works,” it’s true and good; if it doesn’t “work,” it’s false and bad.
In church circles, pragmatism is the idea that God is pleased with whatever methods we use, as long they get the desired result (getting people “saved,” growing your church, etc).
A verse that speaks to the idea of pragmatism is 2 Cor. 5:7, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” Pragmatism is the opposite of this verse; it’s walking by sight instead of faith. It’s trusting your finite mind to accurately perceive your circumstances over and above trusting Scripture.
Today (and for almost 200 years), American Christians have thought that man-made programs which draw people to their church by using sports, games, junk food, and entertainment are good and necessary. However, the Bible gives us no such command to do these things. Things like sports, entertainment, etc, may be fine in and of themselves (in moderation), but they are not how God has told us to evangelize. And yet, in the eyes of many, they “work,” they produce the desired results, and therefore, are good and necessary.
But again, the Bible tells us not to trust our perception of our circumstances unless we are looking with eyes of faith. Eyes of faith will trust in what God has said (the Bible), over and above what appears to “work.”
Sin came into the world because of someone trusting their perception of a situation over and above what God had said. In Genesis 3:6, Eve “saw” that the fruit of the forbidden tree was “good for food,” and good “for making one wise.” That is what her reasoning told her.
God, however, had told her not to eat from that tree, and that to doing so would bring about her destruction (Gen. 3:2-3). It seemed to her that going against what God had said would bring the desired result, but it didn’t work.
Or, did it?
Eve was expecting to have her “eyes opened” by eating the fruit (Gen. 3:5). She got what she wanted! Her eyes were opened (Gen. 3:7).
Eve’s pragmatism worked, but there were consequences.
There is also an account in Jeremiah where the people perceived that their troubles started when they stopped worshiping the queen of heaven. The pragmatism of the Israelites caused them to think that their worshiping of false gods “worked,” and that doing what God had said didn’t work (see Jer. 44:15-23). Their idolatry seemed to give them the results they wanted.
But really, this should not surprise us; the rest of the Bible tells us pragmatism does work – for a time. The Israelites in Jeremiah’s day were prospering even with their unbiblical practices. But only for a time.
We again see this principle in Isaiah 17:10-11. Here we see the people of Israel ignoring God. And yet, their rebellion brings success; their metaphorical “plants” grow just as they wanted. Their plans worked – for a time. But in the long run, their “pleasant plants” turned into a harvest that was a “heap of ruins” (v. 11)
A more famous passage that conveys this same truth is found in Matthew 7:24-27. Two men are described: one who listens to what Jesus (God) has said, and the other who does not. Both men have a plan to build a house, and both of them succeed. Even the man who ignored Jesus’ words was able to build the house he wanted. His plans worked – for a time. In the long run, however, his house came crashing down. But the other man, who built on the rock of God’s word – his house stood firm.
In Galatians 6:7-9 we read about the principle of sowing and reaping. The interesting thing about this principle is that you never reap what you have sown the moment after you sow it. It takes time for the good seed to produce a good harvest; and it takes time for the bad seed to produce a bad harvest.
Why did God order the world this way? Why didn’t He make it so we immediately reap what we sow? I don’t know, but I suspect it may have something to do with the fact that He desires us to have faith, to trust His word even when it seems like some other way would work better.
As you look at the American church, the man-made, pragmatic methods of church practice have been around a long time (as I said, about 200 years). For a time, it sure seemed like those methods were producing good results, but in the long run, pragmatism doesn’t work.
The disaster that is the American church was caused by many things, but one of the major contributors to our demise is pragmatism. It seemed to have worked for a time, but now we are experiencing the crash of the house that pragmatism built.
