Dead Right

"Dead" ... we all know what that means, right? It means "lacking life". Or does it? Similar but different, we might say after a long, hard day of work, "Man am I dead?!" No one thinks we're devoid of life. We're just tired. It is possible for silence to be dead, as in "dead silence". That would suggest absolute silence. A "dead shot" would be someone with excellent accuracy. And if you hit a nail "dead center", there is no variation from center. So what is "dead wrong"? That generally means "totally, absolutely, completely dead center of 'wrong'."

Funny thing. You don't often hear the term "dead right". Is it possible to be dead right? Well, if you mean "completely, totally, absolutely, completely in the center of being right", I suppose so. But how about if you mean "lacking life"?

Calvinists carry around two interesting "accusations". First, they are considered by many to be "the most logical" when it comes to their theology. Mind you, those who say that generally don't mean "right" or even that it's good. But one of the marks of Calvinist theology that it is a rational system. The other accusation seems to play off the first. Calvinists are often cold in their theology. And that is the clue as to why the accusation of "most logical" is intended as an assault rather than a compliment. Admittedly you won't likely walk into a Calvinist church and find them swaying to the praise band music or lifting their hands in worship. It's not impossible, but it's not likely.

Now, to be fair, it's not accurate to say that Calvinism and religious emotion are contrary to each other. Jonathan Edwards, one of the best known Calvinists, wrote A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections. His claim was that, while emotional responses to God don't prove genuine faith, it is not actually feasible to have genuine faith without an emotional response. And if you take a moment to think about it, you'd see that Paul said the same thing: "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control ..." (Gal 5:22-23). These things all carry an emotional component, and they are the fruit of the Spirit. Or consider a current Calvinist, John Piper. Dr. Piper is known as "the Christian hedonist". He believes that "God is most glorified when we are most satisfied with Him." And no one can accuse Dr. Piper of lacking emotion.

All this to say that while being right may be a good thing, it is possible to be dead right. It is possible to be right and be dead. The problem, of course, is that if you are accurate in the area of faith and practice and dead, you end up dead wrong.

Why? There are a lot of folks that argue that orthopraxy is more important than orthodoxy. (Orthopraxy is "right practice" and orthodoxy is "right doctrine".) Many seminaries today teach up-and-coming pastors to leave off the doctrine because doctrine isn't nearly as important as practice. "Teach the right practice," the thinking goes, "and your doctrine should be fairly accurate." The truth is, however, that orthodoxy produces orthopraxy. The truth is that if you get ahold, for instance, of the genuine Sovereignty of God, it cannot fail to have an impact on your life, your thinking, your living, your emotions. Truth shapes choices. Truth produces emotions. So if you're dead right, you're missing something somewhere, because "So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it" (Isa 55:11).

There are times that I find myself "dead right". I am right (to the best of my knowledge), but sometimes I just don't care. I am able, at times, to argue for truth without being concerned about the listeners, the feelings of others, how people will respond to your comments, and not operating out of genuine love for others. When I recognize it in me, it grieves me. It is possible to be dead right, but if the true mark of a believer is love, it's not a good thing to be both dead and right. Truth ought to change you, move you, alter not just your thinking, but your feelings. "Dead wrong" is clearly a bad thing, but "dead right" is not necessarily a good thing.