The Art of Imitation, The Sin of Plagiarism

May 11, 2009

By Joel Riley 

When I meet people, and if per se, they wanted to know about me as first impressions tend to go, I will tell them about who I am in the shallowest and easiest to understand representation. Note that I am not giving my whole self to them, but rather a representation or symbol in place of myself. Perhaps I will tell them my favorite music and movies, and that I like a good old fashioned theology discussion, as well as the fact that I am from Berkley, MI and I graduated with a political science degree from the University of Michigan. Of course, the self I portray is not anything close to who I truly am, inside and out, but it's a start. There is absolutely no way I will let them into my personal life: My years in rebellion, my past relationships, or how I cried during The Fox and the Hound, etc.  That stuff takes time and trust. Only after some time, maybe I can begin to tell that person about myself in more depth (or perhaps he'll learn more about me over time just through observation). 
 
In this respect, God is not too different from us. He will tell us the simplest truths about Himself and His personality at first meet (likes, dislikes). He will also tell us He loves us, although we really won't understand how profound that love is, perhaps for the rest of our lives. Eventually, He tells us more and more about Himself. The more we show interest in who He is, the more He will reveal of Himself. 

There is an important attribute to this process of developing a deep relationship with God-- and that is patience. This means patience through trial and experience. Patience through understanding that we do not know God on our own time, nor all at once, but rather on God's timing and demands. This idea especially holds true for ministers. The best ministers are not considered anointed because of talent, intelligence, dedication to study, or ability, but rather solely because of divine appointment. But such a divine appointment did not come as a wrapped gift on Christmas Day in which the lucky recipient suddenly had the power to preach gut-wrenching messages at his convenience. Rather the gift was probably developed and gradually birthed only after years of labor, experience, trial, and desperation in prayer.  

However, I worry, that in a society that demands things instantaneously and has no such understanding of “waiting,” some of our generation may be trying too hard to get the instantaneous results of the older generations without patiently going through the process that is required for those results. Psalms 106:13-16 talks about one of the sins of the Jews wandering through the wilderness: “they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his counsel. In the desert they gave in to their craving; in the wasteland they put God to the test. So he gave them what they asked for, but sent a wasting disease upon them.”  

Notice that the Jews who did not wait on God's timing did indeed get what they asked for, but it did not come packaged as they would have liked it (disease came with their requests). Just because we may be receiving blessings and we see that God is moving, this does not mean that our leadership is acceptable and righteous in the eyes of God. Stephen Pinker best illustrates this concept in his book, The Blank Slate, when he talks of an observation made by a psychologist Laura Petitto about a chimpanzee (named Nim Chimpsky) she was trying to teach sign language to:  

At first glance Nim seemed to “imitate” her washing the dishes, but with an important difference. A dish was not necessarily any cleaner after Nim rubbed it with a sponge than before, and if he was given a spotless dish, Nim would “wash” it just as if it were dirty. Nim didn't get the concept of “washing,” namely using liquid to make something clean. He just mimicked her rubbing motion while enjoying the sensation of warm water over his fingers. Many laboratory experiments have shown something similar. Though chimpanzees and other primates have a reputation as imitators (“Monkey see, monkey do”) their ability to imitate in the way people do -replicating another person's intent rather than going through the motions is rudimentary, because their intuitive psychology is rudimentary.¹  

I am worried that some ministers and many of the youth of my generation, in our impatience, try to imitate the methods of ministry of older generations in church in order to get the same response that the older generations were able to achieve. We see a response that we like and we imitate the cause to get the response, but attempt to do so by taking the shortest route possible in performance to get the desired response. We pray only on days we are chosen to minister; we quote certain verses; we preach a certain style and sing certain songs to invoke a certain response. We do not go through the process that we are told is necessary: praying and study at home. We do not fervently pray on our own simply because we cannot follow the preacher home to see him go through the entire anointing process. We see spirit led service, and we imitate the appearance of that service without going through the sweat by our brow and prayer on our knees. When we see a preacher preach and we see the response that the sermon receives, we get a fleshly longing to imitate. We do not understand that the sermon had long been decided well before church service had begun in closet prayer. Monkey See, Monkey Do.  

To go even further, it's like some of us are striving to be the shadow of the truth, and not the truth itself. One of my favorite authors, G.K. Chesterton, describes a shadow as being “a thing which reproduces shape but not texture. These things were something like the real thing.”² I fear some of us are Apostolic shadows. People could look at some of us and our shape and know right away we are Apostolic in shape. But if they were to hang out with us and talk with us, they would quickly realize we are simply a shadowy reflection of something that once was, but never will be. We do not have the weight and foundation that the Apostolic truth really consists of. We don't have the patience and commitment to develop the actual texture of our beautiful truth. So we settle for shortcuts. In Colossians 2:23, Paul warns against people following “appearances of wisdom” that are wrought in self-abasement, and are indeed aided by instruction of “do this” and “don't do that.” These statements of wisdom seem good, but simply are a substitute of the true thing. Good is not good enough. Good looks like the great stuff, but it is still worthless.  

So how do we decipher the shadow from the real thing? Colossians 1:10 has Paul requesting the Colossians to “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” Needless to say the measure for righteousness is fruit borne out of every good work, as well as a continual increase of the knowledge of God. Notice that if this verse is taken to its logical conclusion, it implies there are indeed good works which do not bear fruit. The fruit that is produced out of these good works is the measure (not the works themselves).   

Further, Paul reminds the church for Colossians to get their eyes off the wisdom from man, and instead to simply “Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2, NASB). If you find yourself wondering if you are following a shadow or the real thing, or going through the motions or performing the genuine acts, first, look for fruit, and secondly, look up. 

ninetyandnine.com 

Ó 2009, Joel Riley 

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Joel Riley attends Bro. Marvin Walker's church in Troy, MI. The above article is from a book that he wrote last summer that shamefully sits on his computer. He is currently wondering if writing articles online is a good way to announce that he is single. He is also spending dozens of minutes a month trying to improve his poorly operating olfactory system. 

 
End Notes

1. Pinker, Steven. The Blank Slate : The Modern Denial of Human Nature. New York: Penguin (Non-Classics), 2003. 63+

2.  Chesterton,G.K. The Everlasting Man. San Francisco: Ignatius, 1993, p. 114.