DISPUTED DOCTRINES -- Chapter Twenty-Two

QUESTION OF BUCHMANISM

The principles of this movement are: Absolute Honesty, Absolute Purity, Absolute Unselfishness, and Absolute Love. Its methods are declared to be "Sharing and Guidance"; and may well be designated sharing and guidance reduced to a system.

The movement originated in the fertile brain of the Rev. Dr. F. Buchman, a Lutheran minister, and was known at first as Buchmanism; but latterly, after it had gained a foothold in one of England's great universities, it has been labeled the "Oxford Group." It has made quite a stir in the eastern section of the United States and in certain parts of Canada. It has received unqualified approval in some of the Reformed Churches, while in others it is a subject of lively controversy. Lutherans are also divided over the movement. Some heartily endorse it; others condemn it; and still others reserve judgment upon it. Consequently, it might be well for us to examine it.

As far as the principles of the movement are concerned, there can be no quarrel among Christians. As far as they go they are the ideals of Christian lives, ideals toward which earnest Christians constantly aspire and strive. But it must not be forgotten that these ideals remain such, and are, in the "absolute" sense, unattainable in this life.

The best Christian in the world, the most exemplary saint, will never deceive himself into believing that he is "absolutely honest," "absolutely pure," "absolutely unselfish," "absolutely loving." Only the Lord Jesus could claim this. All others must confess that in every one of these things, they come far short of the glory of God. Even those of the "changed life" will surely acknowledge that they are sinners in this respect. For any group or society to claim these principles as their peculiar possession appears to be misleading.

Their methods are also questionable. These methods as noted above are sharing and guidance. This sharing is not promiscuous but is a sharing that occurs between one who has been "changed" and one who has not. It is somewhat similar to the Roman Catholic confessional, but differs from it in that the confession is reciprocal.

The Scriptural basis on which it is founded is insufficient, viz., James 5:16, "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." Students of the Bible know that this verse no more teaches the confession of sins in general, one to another, than the fourteenth verse of this same chapter teaches Extreme Unction, of which the Roman Catholic theologians make it the sedes doctrinae.

And in the matter of guidance, while the claim is made that this is the work of the Holy Spirit and that such guidance will not be found contrary to the teaching of the New Testament, yet the supreme test is not the Word of God, but "the concurrence of other guided people." This is a most serious objection and completely over-throws the supreme authority of God's Word, and is a direct contradiction of the Formal Principal of the Reformation. It is consequently dangerous ground on which to stand, and becomes doubly so by the mysticism with which it is accompanied in the silent waiting for "illumination and direct guidance."

A feature of this movement which tends to popularize it, but which is objectionable from the confessional standpoint, is, that it is syncretistic. It reminds one of the profession of certain secret societies, that they will interfere with no man's religion. Confessional differences are ignored, and Lutherans and Baptists and Methodists and Congregationalists and Presbyterians and Anglicans, all unite on the principles laid down. This is a compromise such as one would hardly expect to find in a movement which claims to be guided and directed by the Holy Spirit.

Our Lord Jesus Christ in promising the Holy Spirit to His disciples declared, "He will guide you into all truth." But other truths are passed by as of little or no consequence. Members of the group are free to hold any views they please concerning the doctrines of salvation, the great objective truths set forth in the Scriptures, if only these subjective principles are agreed upon. This lays the movement open to the charge of synergism and subjectivism, and of exalting human works above the Divine. It lays a wrong emphasis upon our own doings, or at least upon the doings of the "changed and guided" rather than upon the grace of God in Christ Jesus. It leaves the impression that the "changed life" of which they speak so much is wrought by the movement rather than by God. This emphasis on human works is, to say the least, dangerous.

Further, the whole tendency of the movement is toward separatism. It reminds one of the Pietistic movement with their conventicles, their little Church within the Church, which bore such fruit. The Pietists had the same end in view as this modern movement; but their subjectivism ran to seed, and in the end the results were disastrous. This also encourages the Pharisaic spirit. Those who count themselves among the "changed" will naturally look down upon those who are not so fortunate in their eyes and will have something of that spirit of the Pharisees who looked down upon the common people with contempt and said, "But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed."

The movement, if continued sufficiently long, is bound to result in a cleavage in the Church and in a lowering of the Church's confessional position, and in a loosening of hold upon the great doctrines of Redemption, and is a standing reflection upon the Church's ordinary method of applying the Means of Grace. It has been aptly characterized as the Salvation Army in full dress. Any movement, the tendency of which is to dislocate that which is and must forever be central in Christianity, is dangerous and should be shunned and avoided.

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