Is propositional revelation essential to Evangelical spiritual formation?

On a pluralistic planet of numerous world religions, Christian denominations, and cults, does spiritual passion need to be directed by true information? It is often hazardous to speak, not only of religion and politics, but also of spirituality and discernment. In a Peanuts cartoon, after Woodstock lectured Snoopy for three frames, Snoopy exclaimed, "I don't care if you are a friend, you have no right to criticize my lifestyle!" In spite of such possible reactions, conflicting accounts of God's nature and spiritual formation require evaluation.

During the first fifty years of my teaching ministry, some of the most influential varieties of spiritual formation have denied the necessity of any guidance by divinely originated assertions about the object of one's ultimate spiritual affection. Following a brief assessment of these, your consideration is invited to the thesis that, in addition to God's supreme revelation in the person of Jesus Christ, some propositional revelation is necessary, although not sufficient, as a guide for authentic evangelical spiritual experience. First, some definitions of significant terms involved.

First, what is meant by spirituality? Spirituality is devotion, desire or longing for a loving relationship with the ultimate reality with which, or with whom, we have to do. The pre-eminent love of some is for themselves, their pride, their pleasure, or their net worth. Humanists value more highly a transcendent object beyond themselves, such as temporal causes for the good of humanity. The ultimate devotion of many in the East and the West is for harmony with the inner energy of the cosmos. As good as these ultimate concerns may be, they are not transcendent enough.

Augustine found that we were made for devotion to an even higher reality. "Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless, until they find their rest in Thee."1 Do what we will, a temporal happiness that can be lost will not permanently satisfy. The ultimate longing (Sehnsucht) of every person, C. S. Lewis emphasized, is not satisfied by any natural happiness. Fairy tales and philosophies of inevitable progress and evolution imagine a future heaven on earth. But what satisfies this longing is a relationship with a personal, living, moral, and gracious God distinct from creation, but active in it. The Oxford Professor adds, "I read in a periodical the other day that the fundamental thing is how we think of God. By God Himself, it is not! How God thinks of us is not only more important, but infinitely more important."2 So the question becomes, "Do we not need an informational revelation not only to fulfill our ultimate spiritual longing but also to know how God thinks about us?"

Second, what is a proposition? A proposition is a person's assertion that may be true or false. "In philosophy, but not in business or sexual activity, a proposition is whatever can be asserted, denied, contended, maintained, supposed, implied, or presupposed. In other words, it is that which is expressed by a typical indicative sentence."3 The content of any sentence that is either true or false can be transposed into a standard form indicative or declarative sentence conveying a logical proposition. Such a standard form sentence has a subject (S), some form of the verb "to be" (is, was or will be) and a predicate nominative (P), "S is P." In addition to simple propositions, there are compound (two in one), disjunctive (alternative), and hypothetical (conditional) propositions.

Propositions, the building blocks of logically meaningful human thought and communication, are distinct from the sentences conveying them.4 "It is raining" expresses a proposition that is either true or false of the area to which it refers. The same proposition can be expressed in entirely different words in different languages: in Spanish, Esta lloviendo, in French, II pleut, and in German, Es regnet. Translators have expressed a biblical proposition, like "God is holy," in hundreds of different languages.

Does Holy Scripture have many sentences conveying propositions? The Bible features countless indicative sentences expressing explicit or implied propositions about what was, is or will be that can be affirmed or denied. Biblical language conveys propositions like "God is spirit" (John 4:24), "he who called you is holy" (1 Pet 1:15), and "God is love" (1 John 4:8). Do not these indicative sentences assert truth about God's metaphysical existence and moral character? Others inform about God's universal purposes and promises, mighty acts, and personal relationships. Biblical texts convey propositions about where humans came from, why we are here, and where we are going. Biblical history is full of propositions about individual and communal responses to the messages of prophets, Christ, and apostles. They are informative about people's thoughts, intentions, feelings, words, acts, events, and dynamic relationships. At times people assented to their truth; at other times people questioned or denied their truth.