I have seen this meme going around Facebook. Some of the sources credit it to David E. Taylor: “Religion is a guy in church thinking about fishing. Relationship is a guy out fishing thinking about God.”
I think this has a genuine point it is trying to make. What I assume is intended is to highlight the posture of the heart. Yes, you can be bodily in a church service, while the heart is not there. And when you have a relationship with God, it goes with you everywhere you go, at all times, even fishing. Truth.
I probably could just stop there, but on the other hand I see possible deficiencies leading to misunderstanding.
The first two are somewhat minor. The meme stereotypes the word “religion” as negative, while in fact it can be meant either positive, neutral, or negative. And the meme can leave the impression that church is just a building where we go. The church is the people, the congregation. I don’t stop here, because I think the way some people will take this meme is to try to justify going fishing in place of going to church. I have heard many justify it in almost this way!
What one is thinking at these two different times (church vs. fishing) reveals something of the heart. However, the meme contains a logical fallacy (false dilemma) that limits the choices to two. It misses other options (one can fishing and not be thinking about God). It especially misses this much better option – to be at present when the time comes to assemble with our fellow believers AND to be thinking about God! What a blessing!
We don’t want to just go through the motions. We want to truly connect with God. We can do that while gathered at church. We should do that while gathered at church. While first and foremost is our relationship with God, we also have an obligation to our relationship with believers, and to obey the command of God to assemble.
Where the heart is is important (cf. Matthew 6:21). Our connection to and relationship with God certainly is not confined to one location. It is a lifetime of moments, thoughts, and places. Nevertheless, if we do not feel close to God when we gather in church, the solution is not to go fishing, but to examine our hearts. And if we do not feel close to God when we are fishing – or at work or at home – that is cause to examine our hearts as well.
Deuteronomy 6:5 and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
Hebrews 10:25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
1 comment:
Memes are probably a bad way to learn and apply Bible doctrine. I recently heard someone promote the logical fallacy of a false dichotomy / poorly formed disjunctive syllogism ("either / or" when there are more options than only those two – what you called a false dilemma). It was something like this: "The church would better be a hospital for sinners than a graveyard for saints." As if those are the only two options! But this kind of stuff gets a lot of traction in our minds, for some reason.
Re: the meme you shared, I think some people talk about the heart as if what goes on there does not show up in life. If the fisherman is thinking about God before he goes fishing, he won't go fishing when he should do something else, for example when in the will of God it's time to consider the other believers in his assembly and provoke them to love and good works with the attendant action of not forsaking the assembling together (Heb. 10:24-25). A person's being (what he is) matches what he thinks (Prov. 23:7).
E. T. Chapman
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