There's a common joke that's told in evangelical circles. Unfortunately I'm guilty of telling it more times than I care to count. It's always in the context of learning truth vs. knowing truth. Maybe it's less of a joke and more of a jab. It goes like this:
Whenever you refer to someone/something in "seminary" (an institution of higher education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry) you replace said word with "cemetery". ex. I learned the definition of "Odium theologicum" in cemetery. The response is always followed by canned laughter.
The real joke is in the fact that everyone involved knows that seminary kills real Christians, instead of teaching them. Hence the replacement of seminary for cemetery.
GET IT! WOCKA WOCKA!!!
I'm reading a book by Bart D. Ehrman. In this book he describes how he was attending a conservative seminary (Moody Bible Institute) and after graduating he furthered his studies at a more liberal seminary (Wheaton College & Princeton Theological Seminary). He then describes how he and his conservative friends had to start a peer group to "keep their faith".
It immediately reminded me of the old joke I was so guilty of telling.
I had to start asking myself, does knowledge of the truth and a better understanding of the facts of biblical history really cause you to become "dead" by conservative standards? Well, In Bart's case it eventually did. He recently became an agnostic after struggling with the philosophical problems of evil and suffering.
I'm on a quest. A quest that I have appropriately labeled "Hell Bent". In this quest I am looking for the truth. The more I look the better off I am and the more ALIVE I feel. This quest is doing anything but killing my faith.
In the end I am confident that I will not find my faith 6 feet under. I am quickly burying my old rotten ideas of how things should be according to popular/evangelical belief. It feels so good to let the old ways fall off my bones. I also believe that (for me) those decrepit ideas should remain in the ground.
So, you're prolly asking yourself, is Chris for or against Seminary? I will answer with this quote.
"And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
I love your description of "fall off my bones" and I'm stealing it for a song...Praying to the Holy Spirit to wrap himself around my mind and bring it into unity with Christ...It's a continual process, as we are told to examine ourselves. I believe the scriptures and that God's Spirit will lead me into all the understanding that I need...Tell me what the Father says...Stay with my, Holy! (Stole that from the pastor in "Furious Love," who says that's His first name.) I believe in staying connected with Holy, that He will tell me when I'm veering off in the wrong direction and correct me, warn me of danger, etc...
ReplyDeleteJust like money - it, in itself, is not evil, but the LOVE of money is evil. Searching to gain understanding is not evil, unless you come into relationship with a false teaching that is not of God. ANYTHING that sets itself up against Him is sin. If you cannot overlap and line up the ideas or doctrine you are "investigating," then drop it from the forefront of your mind. It can be used as a tool for understanding another culture or belief system, but in now way should you meditate on it. The ONLY thing we should ABIDE in is The Word of God and walking in the Spirit. Jesus said, "abide in me and I will abide in you."
I was once given a visual when asking the Lord to show me what "abide" really meant - I saw a piece of meat being marinated. As the meat soaked, it took on the full flavor into its very core. Do not stay for prolonged periods marinating in something that is not of God - you could end up in danger of taking on its flavor and fragrance - one, which is not pleasant, indeed.