Neither Right nor Left

The Lord tells Joshua in Joshua 1:7 to obey the word and not stray from it to the right or to the left. I have included a copy of a letter I wrote to a friend.

One Sunday afternoon when I was growing up in Saskatchewan my two older brothers and myself decided that we would visit Ranger Lake Bible Camp. My brother Bob had a ’30 Chev roadster so we headed west of town through the bush country on a dirt road. We had only gone a few miles when it started to rain. If you have ever walked a dirt trail in Saskatchewan in the rain you soon learned how slippery gumbo can be. It was so slippery that my brother could not keep the car on the road even when he drove right down the centre so my oldest brother walked on one side holding the fender and I walked on the other side holding the opposite fender while my brother Bob drove. We walked mile after mile keeping the car in the middle of the road and out of the ditches one each side.

In a similar way each mile of theological road we travel has two miles of ditches, one mile on the left and one mile on the right. For most of us we have a terrible time staying out of one of the ditches. On the left there is the danger of slipping off into open theism, reductionism, process theology, the emergent church, etc. The good intentions of people who wish to see their community won for Christ can easily move them from a concern to seeker sensitive to one of the above mentioned heresies. On the right there is the danger of hyper Calvinism, pride, etc. Some times I am so afraid of the left that I am in danger of slipping into the right ditch.

I thank God for those on the left that warn us against falling into the right ditch and I am also grateful for those on the right that keep us from falling into the left ditch. People on the right like John Piper who warns his denomination against open theism and process theology, people like Albert Mohler who have kept his denomination from slipping into liberalism and many others. You many not agree with them but they are doing a great service for the church just as there are those on the left who are also doing a similar service. We may not agree but we must stay out of the ditches.

Two men who exemplify this for me served together at First Baptist Church. Terry Janke was on the right and Brian Dunn was on the left. Both of them served the church well and helped each other to have a balance in their walk. They both trusted the authority of Scripture and used it as their guide. Who was more right (correct)? That was not the real issue, the issue was that they were both right and both had a ministry that kept the church focused on the truth of God’s Word.

I may find myself more often on the right and needing those on the left to remind me that there is a dangerous ditch there. You may find yourself more on the left but remember that there is a dangerous ditch there as well. We may not always agree but we need each other.

Most of us fool ourselves. We think we are staying in the centre and there is no danger but every one of us has a tendency to stray either to the right or to the left. Though God has sent us servants who faithfully warn us it is the Word of God that will protect us. We need to test all teaching by the Word of God.