It’s all Just a Game

"It's all just a game."

That's what a United Pentecostal Church minister told me, fifteen years ago, immediately

after turning in his license with the UPC, and walking away from Oneness Pentecostalism for

good.

At the time I thought he must just be bitter over something, and that maybe he was

looking to justify a desire to "go Charismatic (a term used to marginalize people who no longer

follow UPC standards of dress)." After all, why would someone just up and walk away, after

being raised in this his whole life, pastoring for decades, and raising his kids in this way? It just

didn't seem right, and I was sure he was just bitter and/or backslidden.

Over time, I watched him sever all ties with his religious heritage, and lose most every

friend and association he previously held dear. It bothered me. After all, if a seasoned minister

was susceptible to this sort of radical change, could I fall prey to the pull of gradualism, as well?

As a twenty-something, I listened as my contemporaries spoke of him with contempt.

“Compromiser”

“Backslider."

"Charismatic."

"Liberal."

To my knowledge, not one of them had ever spoken with him about his decision, what

led him to leave, and why he considered this way a game. Still, I listened to them, and assumed

their assessment must be right.

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Years passed, and I didn't see or hear from the fallen minister at all. You know how it

works. Over time, he was forgotten. Written off. It was as if he had fallen off the face of the

earth. Not even worthy of discussion unless someone was preaching a "Trophies of Hell"

message.

And as fifteen years have flown by, I've watched the guys who viciously

maligned this man eventually follow the same road he traveled. The reasons they walked away

were varied, but all who left spoke with one voice. "It's just a game!" And now I have been

around long enough to understand what they meant.

When a man is serious about his relationship with God, and is passionate about knowing

Truth, he searches everything out, questioning everything he's been taught with the goal of

defending, strengthening and teaching that which he has been given.

Along the way, in Oneness Pentecostalism, he is apt to find numerous inconsistencies and

hypocrisies. This is the case in most every religion, and I understand well that we are not alone in

duplicity.

However, at a certain age, men start to realize that there is probably less life ahead of

them than behind them. The scale of life starts to tip, and eternity comes into full view. At this

point, Truth becomes paramount, and ministries are reconfigured to reveal "necessary things"

with no regard for fluff.

When this sort of rebirth occurs, one can find oneself on the outside looking in, a pariah

to those with whom he found comfort and sanctuary in times past. At this point, he is confronted

with a harsh reality. He is forced to prove what he values most - friendships, or Truth.

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If he is honest with himself and God, and relinquishes doctrines of men, he will lose

everything familiar. If he squelches inner truth, he will survive in his religious denomination, and

maintain acceptance within his social circle - at the expense of a good conscience.

And all the while he struggles inwardly, he is confronted with published doctrines that

many trumpet, but few live by. He is faced with the glaring inconsistencies of decades-old

standards that are loosely maintained through peer pressure and legalistic control. He begins to

realize that his life is more about presentation than relationship, conformity than Truth and

acceptance than Christ-following.

At this point, he realizes that this way can become a game, the goal of which is to restrain

oneself, swallowing all of the inconsistencies and denying much of what you have discovered in

the Word that turns previously held beliefs on their head. All to maintain peace with, and respect

amongst, peers.

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