[CS-FSLUG] TD: Gospel of Judas

[doc]

>>> Seminary is not the way to attain knowledge of Jesus.  I've seen too
>>> many people turned away from Jesus because of seminary.  I would much
>>> rather be a "layman" who knows Jesus than a "priest" or "scholar" that
>>> wonders if He is real.  Something to think about before plunging into
>>> seminary: Jesus wants workers, not theologians.

J. Vernon McGee said "Seminary is a terrible thing
to do to a Christian."

I have attended both a masters-level seminary and
a doctorate-level seminary and I can say that there
are elements of both that testified to McGee's
wisdom!

That said, seminary is not the only place to learn
in a disciplined and rigorous environment with some
real accountability and testing of perspectives.

I have a friend who is a pastor who was extraordinarily
well discipled and he is wiser and more competent
than many whom I know with Bible college and seminary
educations.

The problem is that non-Bible college/non-seminary
learning is often inside of unaccountable local
bubbles of private theologies and result in some
really awful teachings.

Even colleges that lack external accountability
get into seriously shabby theology.  In one
case almost all of the teaching staff earned
their degrees from the institution where they
were teaching.  No only is the institution not
properly accredited they are teaching bad stuff
and there is no accountability system to correct
it.

I have seen equally bad stuff inside of denominations
and inside of neo-Biblical theological cliques
where tradition trumps truth and all competing
views are ridiculed and excluded, despite Biblical
evidence that they are legitimate.

>> 	I don't think there is really a distinction there. Theologians, at  
>> least true ones, aren't just reciting dusty old lines of theology,  
>> but constantly seeking to provide new and helpful understandings to  
>> faith. Especially in this day and age where faith is constantly  
>> looked on as irrational, theologians perform (IMO) a useful service  
>> in showing how perfectly rational and comprehensive the Christian  
>> worldview can be.

The truth never changes, the filters through which
we may be led to recognize it does.

Just as God referred to the Suzerein treaty as a way
to make His point in the OT, He would use something
different today because people would be offended
and confused.

There are academic theological theorists and there
are practical theologians, the first are generally
dangerous to truth, the latter can be invaluable.
All must be accountable and teachable.

> After I sent my reply off I realized I didn't word it exactly as I
> meant.  I did not mean to say that all theologians are bad or anything
> of that sort.  My original idea was more along the lines of this:  You
> don't have to go to seminary to know the Bible.  I get tired of hearing
> people say they didn't go to Bible school so they can't answer this or
> that.  

Humans teach nothing, they are merely the tools
of the Lord Who through His Holy Spirit does the
teaching.  God has taught through a mule ... and
still does some times!

Again, in the exceptional case where someone has
been really well discipled they may not need
formal education, but for the majority the Bible
college or seminary may be the only safe place
to process the materials adequately to be trusted
to "rightly divide" the Word.

We will remember that Jesus was "taught" through
humans and sat respectfully in learning contexts.
Paul was a highly educated scholar and that
foundation served him very well.

My experience is that some schools are responsible
and many are not and in some there is a mix of
educators, some responsible and some not.

Caveat emptor (buyer beware).

> I also, like Chris mentioned, do not like the massive selling out of
> Biblical values at a lot of seminaries to get the federal dollars or for
> PC reasons.  These are filth and shouldn't be allowed to claim to be a
> Bible school in my opinion.

This may be true of some of the liberal arts
neo-Christian colleges but not of true Bible
colleges.  There is not yet any meaningful pressure
to sell out anything to access Federal funds.

> Sorry if my poor wording caused any frustration in my previous post.  I
> know that Jesus can you anyone, even those theologians out there.  ;-)

He can but He asks that we prepare ourselves,
he'd prefer to not have to use donkeys.


-- 
Respectfully ... dmc

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Home page: http://bibleseven.com

Biblical Christianity is Jesus
plus nothing = everything!


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