It is interesting to observe how believers (Christians), as individuals or as groups, take their position for or against certain doctrines and practices without any personal understanding of the things they profess. This phenomenon is a manifestation of the evil of religious parroting which has become quite rampart in the Church today.
By parroting, I refer to the mindless mouthing of words and/or performance of actions by copying the opinion of others without personal comprehension and conviction. The parrot is an uncritical repeater of words by rote.
Today, we witness many Christians talk boldly on issues eternal security, abortion rights, homosexual marriages, home-schooling, premeliniarism, etc, often taking very strong positions in forceful support or opposition. But the question is, how many of us have arrived at our position after careful expounding of divine precepts and submission to the dealings of the Lord on the issues? Is our so-called conviction a product of scriptural revelation or the result of mere repetition of the opinions of our favorite leaders in Church and/or society? Are we walking before God as He leads us or our "Christian" life is just a replication of the lifestyles of the leaders?
Many times, the lives of believers are dictated not directly by the demands of God through His word and by His Spirit but rather by the long-standing traditions of the denomination affiliated with. But are these traditions all scriptural?
One of my favorite quotations is from the Westminster Confession:
"Nothing contrary to Scripture can be true;
Nothing in addition to the Scripture can be binding;
Each believer is responsible to God to search the Scriptures to see if what is being said by Church leaders is true"
This is a godly admonition in line with the behaviour of the Berean believers as recorded in Acts 17:10-12
"The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, EXAMINING THE SCRIPTURES DAILY TO SEE IF THESE THINGS WERE SO." (Emphasis added)
I am persuaded that if more brethren were to learn from this behaviour, the scourge of spiritual parroting would be stemmed. However, it seems most church attendees are merely interested in joining the crowd in assemblies while of the few who receive the word with eagerness, the grace is often not found to search the Scriptures for validation and perfection.
Our beliefs and lifestyles should not depend on the charisma of leaders or the couple of verses cited to support a position during preaching. Rather, it must be result of a close relationship with God whereby, at His presence, He helps us see the truth of His word as we diligently study, comparing Scripture with Scripture with prayerful meditation. As the Lord teaches us, He also leads us through germane empirical dealings which help to verify and permanently etch the truth in our hearts and lives. It is only at this stage that a teaching or a practice becomes really "personal" and we truly escape being mere parrots. I believe this is the sense in which Paul said he would not venture to teach on any issue where he was yet to reach such a stage (Romans 15:18)
Scope of Religious Parroting
There is no area of Christian life that is immune to religious parroting.
- Doctrines
- Personal lifestyle in dressing, eating, keeping friends, recreation, education (such as home-schooling, teaching on evolution, etc), sex and sexual orientation,
- Family relationship (gender roles, submission, etc
- Devotional life in praying, fasting, study of the Scripture, use of objects like oil, handkerchiefs, etc., position on the cessation or persistence of the charismata, applicability of tithing under New Covenant, etc.
- Corporate church life in handling such things as Holy Communion ans Water Baptism, view about observance of Christmas, Lent, etc
Dangers of Religious Parroting
The following are some of the evil consequences of religious parroting on the believer:
1. It is a common saying that, "He who does not stand for something will fall for anything." Being easily swept by every wave of doctrine is a clear evidence of religious parroting.
2. Vulnerability to demonic ministration is real since such believers possess little or no personal revelation of the things they proclaim or affirm. So, any fresh suggestion by the enemy is received uncritically to join, amend or dislodge the previous ones being parroted. It is not surprising that most founders of cults were never grounded in the fundamental doctrines of Christ.
3. Because of lack of personal conviction, the parrot cannot live a genuine practical Christian life. It is a correct dictum that no one will voluntarily suffer or die for what he does not believe in. They are not driven by an inner deposit of set of rules as handed down by his/her leaders.
4. The experience of the seven sons of Sceva (Acts 19:11-16) shows there is a real practical danger to life and property to all who choose to follow a life of religious parroting in affirming the things they do not understand.
How about Spiritual Imitation?
The doctrine of spiritual imitation is clearly set out in the Scriptures. (John 5:5:19; 1Corinthians 11:1; Ephesians 5:1). We as believers are specifically enjoined to imitate our leaders as they imitate Christ. So, in what ways is spiritual imitation different from religious parroting?
I will address this through an analogy.
Let us imagine a home with a four year old boy and a parrot. Let us also imagine the boy being reprimanded for stealing cookies by being instructed to recite the words, "I will be a good boy and not steal the cookies again." The parrot also heard the words and became proficient in repeating those exact words. Now, what is the difference between the reciting done by the boy and the repetition made by the parrot? The short answer is UNDERSTANDING.
The boy understands . He has a notion of what a good boy is. He understands the meaning of stealing as something bad. He has moral values by which to relate and derive meaning from the words uttered. The parrot has none of these. It merely churns out a meaningless string of words as a computer printer prints out characters on a sheet of paper without any personal value to it. As the words are of no intellectual or moral value to the parrot, so also, the Christian who blindly copies other Christians without personal apprehension of the truth has no spiritual benefit from the words he is adept at multiplying.
Not about Originality but of Confirmation
Correction of religious parroting is not an advocacy for originality. Indeed, there can be no originality with the true believer. All his/her life must be from God who alone is original ad His truth does not change. Unlike the parrot, the boy will benefit immensely from the same words even though they were NOT original to him. He imitated this from the tutor who wrote or dictated the script. The benefit would come because he would apply his sense and moral value to the words and become a better kid. (Of course, if he were to totally block his mind and harden his heart against the message of the words then he would be just like the parrot - or worse.)
Moving from religious parroting to spiritual imitation requires the exercise of faith in the areas of assurance of salvation; diligently the Scriptures for light concerning the issues; securing of an inner witness of the truth discerned with a clear conscience and total submission to God's dealings with respect to the issues.
God bless you.
