The Problem of Over-Hedging

As Christians (and religious people in general), it is a common practice to "plant a hedge" around doctrinal claims.  For example, the first article of Apostle's Creed states, "I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth."  All Christians affirm this statement, but some have added to it in an attempt to protect it, affirming a statement that reads something like, "I believe in the God the Father omnipotent, who in six days, six thousand years ago created heaven and the earth."  This is the act of planting a hedge.

And hedge planting is not, in and of itself, a bad thing.  In Matthew, Jesus plants hedges with regard to murder, adultery, promise keeping, revenge, and hospitality for the other.  These hedges are designed to promote Godliness and encourage faithfulness in the thousand small choices that have the potential to lead to acts of sin or acts of righteousness.

Hedge planting can also be helpful in self-definition, polity, and doctrinal clarity.  However, hedge planting has also been a tool of slavery, segregation, and sectarianism.  All of us plant hedges, some of them help our faith to bear fruit by protecting us from weeds while others hurt us by blocking our view of the sun.  And on the level of personal faith, we should be consistently evaluating how our hedges are promoting life.

But the real danger of hedge planting is what it can do in the corporate life of the church.  When a large enough group of people come together and agree on a set of hedges, these hedges, which were initially developed for the promotion of Godliness, can become themselves central to the faith.  Watching the debate between Bill Nye and Ken Hamm, it became clear that Ken Hamm's hedge of a certain brand of Biblical inerrancy, was a central tenet in his personal creed, and he is not alone.  Many Christians have adopted this hedge as a central tenet of the faith, and in so doing have excluded all others (both Christian and non-Christian) from dialogue on any number of issues relating to faith and godliness.

In the past two years I have seen orthodox, devout Christian men and women abused by other Christians because they wouldn't elevate one hedge or another.  I have seen those who claim to be followers of the Jesus whose central character is one of self-giving, humility, and grace be selfish, proud, and abusive in the name of "doctrinal integrity."  And this is exactly the argument Paul makes in 1 Corinthians 12 where he compares loveless religion to a clanging gong or a crashing symbol.

Well-planted hedges can be incredible tools for the production of spiritual fruit, but we must be self-aware enough to recognize the difference between the hedge and the fruit tree.