Let’s say you have a small toolbox with the normal essentials, a hammer, screwdrivers, maybe even ratchet sets, a saw, etc, but you knew nothing about architecture or building codes. Could you build a house? What if you had these minimal amount of tools but absolutely no know-how (and I speak from experience here) of how to fix plumbing, carpentry or electrical issues? Would you just try and figure it out on the go? Suppose you were given a tool set made in 1730 or 1880 and that’s all you had. Would you set about building a house or fixing your refrigerator? Of course not. In the same manner just because there are all sorts of “tools” available for Bible study does not mean anyone and their sister can interpret Scripture. Some may say, “But we have the Holy Spirit to guide us.” If that were the case then one would have to explain why the Holy Spirit seems to say different things to different people and why the Holy Spirit contradicts itself over and over again by the very same people who claim inspiration from this same Holy Spirit. Over the years I have grown weary of ‘home-grown’ interpretations where people simply parrot their pastor, or online personality, or an uneducated TV evangelist and buttress their arguments with things like “the original Greek says” when they could not distinguish an epsilon from a mu. Christianity is a garbage dump, especially virtual Christianity. Everybody and their brother prattles their opinion about God, and everybody and their sister actually think that their uninformed opinion counts as much for truth as anyone else’s. I see this as much in progressive circles as I do in fundamentalist squares. It is a crying shame. There is a place for learning together. There is nothing wrong with sharing what one thinks. But the dogmatism, the pseudo-authority, the self-recognition of so many who come online and bluster could drive a Puritan to drink. I am not saying that people cannot pick up their Bibles and find in it a source of comfort, consolation or discovery. And I am not against people sharing their personal insights. Many a time I have left these conversations with new awarenesses and insights that have eventually become a more scholarly article. I am saying that people cannot and should not parade their half-assed knowledge as though it was PhD, Holy Spirit inspired TRUTH. If you cannot read a foreign language fluently stop pretending you can use your Strong’s and Thayer’s to serve up “the real meaning.” If you haven’t read widely and deeply in a subject please don’t pontificate about it. It is one thing to say “I once heard this about Calvin” and quite another to parrot some neo-Calvinist preacher about Calvin as though there was nothing more to be said. Scripture says “Study to show yourself approved.” I agree. But study is not reading books from the Christian book store written for six graders. Study means hard work, it means asking tough questions, it means blood, sweat and tears. Just ask anyone who has actually done it. If you’ve been to college you know exactly how difficult studying a subject can be. Does our Bible study deserve any less? Or will we just be content with our own personal revelations (which in the long run if they cannot be verified, they can be falsified) or will we continue using resources and methods which have proven useless or less than useless? We do have choices my friends. We can come at this whole business of Christian faith intelligently or we can flounder in the emotional swamp of our parroted faith experiences. The future of Christianity depends upon making a wise choice.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Jul 2014 14:19:43 +0000
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