HOT DOG THEOLOGY
 
By Clinton White
 
Remember the boy in the comic strips who tied his dog to a little red wagon? Then he attached a hot dog to a string and the string to a stick? He climbed aboard the wagon and dangled the tempting wiener in front of the dog's nose, just beyond reach of his hungry jaws. The animal lunged for the hot dog and pulled the wagon behind him. The boy kept teasing his hound by holding the meat in front of him, and the dog chased the morsel he could never catch, all the while giving the inventive young man a ride down the street.
 
This picture accurately reveals the effect of certain doctrines commonly taught by segments within the evangelical and charismatic community. That is why I use the term "hot dog theology."
 
These are the concepts that hold glittering and glorious promises before your eyes, just barely beyond your reach. They seem so easily obtained. But you reach out and they become as elusive as a mirage. And you find yourself in the position of that poor hound, chasing something you desire but never catching it. Instead of capturing the prize, you find yourself fatigued and frustrated from pulling your burdens behind you.
 
Think about it.
 
Would God do that?
 
Jesus said, "It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom" (Luke 12:32).
 
Does that sound like a God who would hitch you to a heavy load and then tantalize you with spiritual treasure you can never hope to reach?
 
One example (and there are many) of "hot dogism" is the old chestnut "empty yourself of self." According to this utterly unscriptural teaching, God will fill you to overflowing with His glorious blessings if you reach the point where you are "selfless." Hope? Joy? Abundant life...Ah, yes. It's all yours the moment you have gotten rid of self.
 
So you chase that morsel all through your days and years. "One more little, bad trait to conquer, one more besetting sin to slay, and then I will be dead to self and the blessings of God will be mine!"
 
You are feverishly pursuing a mirage. Jesus never said, "Empty yourself of self." He said, "Deny yourself" (Mat. 16:24). If you were empty of self, you would have no self to deny! If there were a spiritual pinnacle you could achieve where you became utterly void of all ego, Jesus would have told you to climb that mountain of achievement. But He didn't. Because he knew you couldn't! Instead He taught us to daily say no to self. He knew self would be there. He knew it would express its demands upon us even after we have been converted many years. So He taught His followers: "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me" (Luke 9:23).
 
"Your cross" is not a means of redeeming your soul. His cross did that (John 3:16). It is not a means of obtaining peace with God. His cross did that (Col. 1:20). Your cross has to do with factors that create a daily consciousness of who you are because of His cross.
 
The "get rid of self" hot dog only serves to strengthen self-consciousness and diminish God-consciousness. It causes inordinate introspection. Your attention becomes rigidly fixed on "self" and its ugly warts. You become firmly convinced, to your heart's sorrow, that all glorious blessings and sweet hours of prayer are in the distant future when you finally purge out the last vestige of self.
 
You become like a thirsty wanderer standing in an ocean of burning sand. You look to the horizon for signs of an oasis. Will you ever reach your goal? You groan, "Yes, when I have finally paid the price, I will stand at the place of living waters."
 
But God says the price has been paid! He says, "Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price" (Isa. 55:1).
 
He asks, "Why do ye spend money (pay the price) for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfieth not?" (Isa. 55:2).
 
"Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear and your soul shall live" (Isa. 55:3).
 
In effect, those verses say, "You struggle to obtain, but what you seek has been given. Come and take it. What you need is in the word, and the word has been spoken."

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