A Ramble about Asceticism

Several weeks ago, we visited and were welcomed by a Pentecostal church in Missouri for a few days. Given the number of churches I have been exposed to over the course of my journey, you'd think that it would be nothing new. I was expecting something similar to charismatic churches that I had visited or attended in California where I grew up. Instead it was something still new again altogether. To me, it was a paradox of charismatic practice and conservativism in dress and relationships.

When we talked with the pastor about other things, I remember he told us about other Pentecostal churches in the area, and even within his own association that went even further in their conservative dress and relationships. He called them “holiness” churches, and now that I think about it, I remember hearing something about it when I was in Bible School in Wisconsin. Being from California, I think it must be a southern States thing, because Californians, and folks from the west coast in general, just aren't as uptight about these kinds of things as people in the South seem to be.

The holiness churches forbid their women from cutting their hair, forbid them from wearing pants instead of skirts, maintain a clear separation between the sexes in terms of who ministers or prays for whom, and has a whole host of rules that both men and women must follow. What really kind of caught my attention is that they believe that if you don't follow these rules of conduct, you can't be saved.

I can think of a hundred and one things wrong with that statement, not the least of which is that salvation is a continuous relationship with God through Jesus Christ. But the thing I want to address here is that it is a complete and total misunderstanding of asceticism (among other things) and its appropriate place.

Asceticism is, put simply, the rules and hardships you place yourself under in order to assist with your practice of discipleship. In particular, it is meant to help maintain and cultivate the total renunciation which is part and parcel of being a disciple of Jesus Christ:

“If someone comes to me and doesn't hate his own father and mother and woman and children and brothers and sisters still even also his own psyche, he is not capable of being my disciple. The one who doesn't carry his own cross and come behind me isn't capable of being my disciple. … So then every person of you who doesn't renounce all the things of his own existence is not capable of being my disciple.” (Luke 14:26-27, 33; translation mine)

For example, it is easier to deal with the renunciation of one's possessions if you keep no possessions. Thus the reason for Jesus saying that it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a sewing needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. It is easier to deal with the renunciation of having more affection for spouse or children than for Christ if you have no spouse or children. Thus Paul's recommendation to the Corinthians that those who were unmarried should remain so. It is easier to renounce the pleasures of the body if you continuously afflict the body with punishments such as only getting four hours of sleep a night, continuous regular fasting, and so on. Thus the roots of classical monastic practices. Even the black clerical clothes which priests wear was meant to be a kind of asceticism because it was meant to remind the priest that he was to die to himself daily. Asceticism is meant to be a useful tool for these ends. But it is only a tool, and it is certainly not a requirement.

Even the Fathers of the Philokalia, as much as they encourage and explain the use and practice of asceticism make it clear that it is not a necessity for salvation, and asceticism practiced for its own sake is worthless. They also explain that it can itself be a snare or a trap because it can and often does lead to dangerous self-esteem and pride, when the practice of discipleship is to renounce one's self. This is the reason for the self-deprecating meditations which seem so extreme and self-judgmental. They wanted to ground themselves as far into humility as they could by reminding themselves of their own deaths, their own sinfulness, and the impending judgment by Christ at the resurrection. They didn't want to take a chance on allowing pride to take root and flourish. It was that dangerous to their own practice of discipleship. Asceticism was a tool to subjugate the body and mind, but for these Fathers, prayer and contemplation of Christ was far more valuable and necessary in drawing closer to Him and engaging in the process of salvation.

While asceticism may assist in this total renunciation which Jesus taught, it is not required. And it may not even be indicative that the person has in fact renounced all things to follow Christ. This kind of a renunciation is in the heart. It's when all of the things of your own existence no longer have any effect on you. It's when you are neither attached to or averse to anything; possessions, people, ideas, your own reputation, or your own psyche regardless of what you are surrounded by. Many monastics of various religions have written that one can be a monk in one's heart even though surrounded by riches, and one can be a worldling in one's heart even when fasting and wearing a monk's habit. While asceticism may make it somewhat easier, it is certainly not the defining characteristic.

The truth is that such churches which teach that some kind of outward bodily discipline is necessary for salvation totally misunderstand the teaching of Christ and the entire purpose for outward bodily discipline.