Calling the Carnal

In John 2:1-12 we see Jesus first miracle. He turned water into wine. Specifically, he was at a party and they ran out of booze. Jesus took the water in the tubs for purification, a Jewish religious custom, at turned it into wine; literally from holy water to party water. Alcohol at a party is one of the most carnal things I can think of, much more if you took something churchy - say water for a religious custom- and used it to get that alcohol. Yet, that is what God did.

My father was an alcoholic; in fact, he spend months drunk without ever sobering up. He worked on a farm and literally kept himself drunk for unbelievable amounts of time.  He first attended church because of a Thanksgiving day feast being held. Basically, he showed up for free food, as most people who don't have money due to addiction will do. From this starting point, he eventually came to be the man I know, respect, and love. He is now a deacon in the same church that once fed him and his family free of charge.

Carnal things, like turning water into wine or feeding drunkards, may not seem to be the way that we like or would think would draw people, but it is a method Jesus used. He fed crowds, he gave out booze, he was even accused of being a winebibber and a glutton. There is no reason to condemn a method of evangelism that Jesus Himself used; in fact, the method Jesus started His ministry with.

However, the problem with Paul Washer's statement isn't just in ignoring Scripture. It is in assuming that some people are Carnal and some are Spiritual. Everyone one is Carnal. Everyone. God is who makes people Spiritual people. It is only His regenerative work that creates Spiritual people in His image.

The flaw is that Paul Washer believes God made some people Spiritual and some Carnal from birth. He believes if God made you Spiritual, you will be spiritual; and if He made you Carnal, you will be carnal. All Reformed preachers believe this, and that means they believe if a person is Carnal, there is nothing they can do to come to God. This is again not a Scriptural concept. The Apostle Paul (not Washer) clearly states that the Corinthian Church is Carnal, yet he also states that they are Saints. We are to deny our carnality and grow into Spiritually minded Christians, but none, not one, starts out that way.

Basically, this view advocates shoving spiritual "steak" down the throat of every Christian. If they can't handle it, Washer tells us they must not even be Christians. That is the opposite of the truth. Just because a person is a 'newborn' Christian and needs spiritual "milk" doesn't disqualify them from being part of the church or being saved.

There was a group in Jesus time that believed very similar things: the Pharisees. They believed that you had to have complex theories, advanced knowledge, and an exact statement of belief to be saved. Jesus condemned this outright. Ironically, they are the only people Jesus condemned to their faces. Jesus had much less of a problem with Carnal people then he did with people who condemned the Carnal people.

We need to remember that we are not Spiritual in ourselves. God gives us what we have. We have NO RIGHT to condemn people who are at a different place then we are. We can instead do what Jesus actually did: Love them. That's what Jesus did for the Carnal. He loved them. He drank with them. He even provided them with booze.