Are we in the Age of Anti Intellectualism AKA the Age of Spiritual Dumbness? This is not meant to be offensive or judgmental. If you are offended by it I sincerely apologize in advance, but we often become offended by truths sting! This is written out of love care and concern. This is not meant to be smug or believing that I possess a better than thou attitude. 2nd Timothy 2:15 of the KJV says: Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth. But sadly today there are those with-in the churches & messianic community who shun formal Religious education calling it fit for the dung heap. These Christian & Messianic believers have no use for the written works of the Early Church Fathers nor the Creeds nor Councils that were convened. Hosea 4:6 says My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. These anti intellectuals could care less for the teachings of the likes of Irenaeus, an Early Church Father , disciple of Polycarp & Christian Apologist whose written works help form Christian/ Messianic theology. Anti-Intellecual Christians would consider refering to the Early Church Fathers as akin mans knowledge having in place in the Christians life. Irenaeus was disiple of Polycarp who was a disiple of the Apostle John. Before Irenaeus, Christians/Early Messianics differed as to which Gospel they preferred and used. Irenaeus provides the earliest witness to the assertion of all four canonical Gospels. Without Irenaeus our Bible would look very different today. Irenaeus is the first of the Church fathers to consider the mystic number 666, the very number that anti-intellectuals associate with formal Religious education and written work outside of the Bible!!! These Anti-Intellectuals are guilty of the same heresies that Irenaeus preached against! The Early Church Fathers set down the examples to the Church from the Apostles what was and was not Biblical just as rabbis did with the Tanach. They taught that Christian leaders should be formally educated. Those who adhere to the Anti-Intellectual doctine of the Church of today practice a form of Neo-Montanism. Montanism was considered to be heresy by the Early Church because of blasphemous behaviors like speaking in tongues, being slain in the spirit, false prophesy and anti-intellectualism. ~ all behavior found in many movements with-in some of todays Churches. The Early Church Father and Historian Eusebius ( a Church Father who lived 200 years after Christ), wrote about the heresy of Montanus. Montanism taught: The belief that the prophecies of the Montanists superseded and fulfilled the doctrines proclaimed by the Apostles. The encouragement of ecstatic prophesying(in other words being slain in the spirit, preaching and praying in tongues ) contrasting with the more sober and disciplined approach to theology dominant in orthodox Christianity at the time and since! Many with-in the Anti-Intellectual movement are into non-denominational/post-denominationalism. They consider any denomination, other than thier non-demination ( which in itself has become a denomination today) to be heretical. They neglect the fact that a denomination is simply a church organization that exercises some sort of authority over the local churches/ MJ synagogues that comprise it. Anti-Intellectuals believe no need of other church denominations. But this runs contrary to the example we find in Scripture. The Book of Acts and the New Testament Epistles make it clear that the churches communicated with one another on a regular basis. The various churches of the New Testament, though independent, self-governing bodies, were definitely connected in fellowship and cooperative ministry, giving us the example in the various denominations we have today. The Anti-intellectual movement neglects the fact that Paul comended us to be like the Bereans who studied the Scriptures daily. The A.I. movement does not believe that pastors should be formally educated in a seminary or Messianic yeshiva and should rely on the Bible and their own understanding of it. But yet Scripture says other wise. Paul instructed Timothy(2 Tim. 2:2), and likewise for us today, we are to prepare men for leadership roles in the Church. The purpose of seminary/MJ rabbinical training is to prepare the minister/ MJ rabbi for the work of the LORD. Proverbs tells us “Prepare your work outside; get everything ready for yourself in the field, and after that build your house” (Proverbs 24:27). That is what formal education does for the Man of G-d! So as we see from the Bible and the written works of the Church Fathers, Christian writers of the past and some of today. In love I say we as Christian and Messianics should not give in to intellectual dumbness and neither be educated and ignorant of the Truth. In Messiah Yshua, Rev. Samuel E. Firm
Posted on: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 08:28:57 +0000
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