Understanding the Fortress Mentality
By Larry J.
Walker
A few years ago, during the doctrinal crisis we were engaged
in at the time, I found myself battling an emotional reaction that I had never experienced
before. In the midst of a heavy bombardment of theological material, I felt a wave of fear
sweep over me. My thoughts went something like this: "What if we are wrong?".
Maybe we are just a bunch of wet-behind-the ears, smart alecks who don’t know what
we’re talking about. Maybe the mainstream churches are right after all."
This was a possibility that I could not bear to face up to.
For the first time I can recall, I was literally afraid to look at the doctrinal
challenges with an open mind. I had retreated to safety within the walls of our
long-standing beliefs, imprisoned by my own fears.
Thankfully, I was eventually able to work my way out of this
self-imposed exile. Somehow (I would like to think because of God’s help) I was able to
muster up the courage to confront the teachings head on. I remember thinking, "If we
are wrong, we need to admit it and change." Mr. Armstrong often said words to the
effect, "If you can show me where I am wrong, I will change." Fear offers no
sanctuary; but as Jesus said, "The truth will make you free."
Shortly afterward, I wrote the study papers on Colossians
2:16-17 and Galatians that took to task the theological arguments and validated our basic
teachings. What a relief to dig deeper into the Scriptures and emerge with our basic
doctrines intact!
I have never forgotten the lessons I learned from that
experience. Never again do I intend to retreat in the face of doctrinal challenge. In
retrospect it seems appropriate to relate to the golden words of Psalm 119:165:
"Great peace have those who love Your law, And nothing causes them to stumble."
This whole matter came back to mind in a recent conversation
with a fellow minister in which he used the term "fortress mentality." This
"word picture" immediately connected with me. As an avid reader of western
history, I am familiar with the importance of forts in the American West during the latter
part of the nineteenth century. Soldiers and settlers could "hole up" within the
safe walls of the fort during an attack by hostile Indians. Women and children huddled
together with heads down, while the men fought off the Indians from the relative safety of
the walls.
Fort and fortress seem to be pretty much synonymous terms.
Both are derived from the Latin word fortis ("strong"). The common
denominator is the strength they offer to those behind their walls.
The Bible often refers to God as a "fortress" (II
Samuel 22:2; Psalm 18:2, 31:2-3, 71:3, 91:2) because he affords us safe refuge from all
our enemies.
However, this concept can also be used in a negative sense.
My experience that I related above could be described as a "fortress mentality,"
because I was retreating in fear behind walls of denial. My "fortress mentality"
was not allowing me to face up to the doctrinal challenge.
My minister friend’s exact quote was, "Some people
still have a fortress mentality." He said this in the context of the United Church of
God.
In the doctrinal arena, we face a potential "no-win
situation." We can maintain the status quo without any changes, despite errors and
inaccuracies. Or we can courageously move forward and risk emotional blowups and even more
serious reactions to the specter of doctrinal change. The former approach is obviously not
what we want to do. But the latter is a path fraught with danger. Working with doctrine is
very much like walking through a minefield—one false step can cause a devastating
explosion. A single word or phrase with negative connotations from the past is often all
it takes.
Sometimes ministers retreat into the safety behind the walls
of time-honored teachings when faced with the possibility that a particular teaching or
way of explaining a passage may be in error. In other words they can be guilty of a
"fortress mentality."
Unless we all become aware of this danger, the road to
doctrinal accuracy will continue to be difficult, and positive results will be slow in
forthcoming. We can’t allay fears by exclaiming that we are not going to "do away
with" the Sabbath, the Ten Commandments, or other basic doctrines we all hold dear.
That line (or should we remove the "n") has been used before. The well has been
poisoned on that one! Of course one main difference between now and then is the fact that
many salaried elders walked away from our paychecks in order to avoid compromising or
giving up these and other fundamental doctrines. But even that fact may not be powerful
enough to tear down the walls fortified by fear and suspicion.
Although the term "fortress" does not occur in the
New Testament, Paul used a similar expression in II Corinthians 10:4-5 in the context of
the knowledge of God: "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in
God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts
itself against the knowledge of God."
Paul speaks of "pulling down of strongholds."
Vine, Zodhiates and Kittel all use "fortress" to define the word translated
"stronghold." Zodhiates says, "A stronghold, fortification, fortress….
Used metaphorically of any strong points or arguments in which one trusts" (The
Complete Word Study New Testament by Spiros Zodhiates, page 1082, #3794).
The Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on
Semantic Domains by Johannes P. Louw and Eugene A. Nida explain, "it is used
figuratively of the strength of false arguments." They recommend the following
translation of the expression: "powerful weapons with which to destroy false
arguments in the same way that people would destroy fortresses" (page 84, #7.21).
Thayers’ Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament observes
that Paul speaks "of the arguments and reasonings by which a disputant endeavors to
fortify his opinion and defend it against his opponent" (page 471, #3794).
So this passage contains a wealth of information about the
"fortress mentality."
Historically, Paul’s admonition refers to the arguments of
opponents from outside the congregation. How can we apply Paul’s instructions today?
After successfully "tearing down strongholds" of false doctrine, we must now
avoid a "fortress mentality" from within. Tragically, this mentality creates an
adversarial atmosphere that is counterproductive to consensus and seeking the truth. In
the words of comic strip character Pogo, "We has met the enemy and he is us."
We must use a spiritual approach in our battle to maintain
doctrinal integrity. We all know that humility and open-mindedness are essential qualities
to understanding the will of God. The Bereans were commended for searching the Scriptures
with open, receptive minds, eager to learn new truth (Acts 17:11).
We must remember that our goal is to seek the knowledge of
God. In order to do that, we must be open and receptive to the possibility of doctrinal
errors and inaccurate explanations. Like Mr. Armstrong, we must be willing to change when
we are shown to be wrong. In order to do that, we must first be willing to be shown. We
must be able to listen and weigh new or conflicting information and prove it from the
Bible.
It behooves all of us to do all we can to resurrect the
eagerness to learn that we had when God first began revealing His plan to us. If we feel
fear or anger welling up inside when doctrinal topics are discussed, we must recognize our
emotion for what it is. We must ask God to help us put it aside so we can approach the
subject dispassionately. Arguments that are contrary to the word of God must be torn down,
along with any high walls that are built up against it. We need to determine to emerge
from the fortified walls of incorrect arguments and courageously approach the doctrinal
topics with "readiness of mind."
If we tear down these strongholds, we can avoid the fortress
mentality and reap the benefits of spiritual consensus as we continue to improve our
understanding of the Word of God.