“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” (Colossians 2:8)
“It is what it is.” Or, maybe it isn’t what it is. The metaphysics of Ancient Greek philosophy taught that there was a higher reality “more real” than what was seen by men’s eyes. Peace depended upon our being in tune with this Reality, even if it meant giving little or no credence to “sense knowledge.”
So much of the “faith” teaching, in vogue for the last century and a half, is tinged with this ancient philosophy. The flip-side of “name it and claim it” is “deny and rebuke it.” We are indeed called to deny ourselves as well as deny ungodliness and worldly lusts; but we are not called to deny the existence of emotions, pain, sickness, or the “sense realm.” There is a big difference between a biblical approach to life in this present world and a metaphysical approach along the lines of Christian Science.
God does not want us to robotically apply principles whereby we control and keep away from us evil forces; He wants us to come to Him with all we feel and are going through so He might clothe us with His wisdom and strength. No, it is not a matter of resigning ourselves to “the way things are;” neither is it denying the way things are, it is relating with our God on an intimate level “through it all.”
Don’t let any religion replace relationship. Know a Person, not a principle.