“The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind.” Mark Noll in The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind

 

When we published our first article explaining our concern of the dumbing down of the Christian mind, we thought our points were so obvious that there wouldn’t be any discussion. I guess we shouldn’t have been so surprised. A combination of, on one side,  “seeker driven churches” and on the other hand, folks like C.J. and others who have “made it” without a lick of education, have shown the increasingly poorly educated masses that education “ain’t all its cracked up to be”.

For the population at large, they seem content that a person is “good” so long as they attract huge followings, write books, and speak at conferences. Oh, and if they get rich and live the good life while doing it, then they are obviously “blessed by God”.

Let’s assess a couple of reader’s comments.

1.  I think you are placing too much emphasis on a seminary education. Spurgeon and Lloyd-Jones were without seminary education. It must be asked: what seminary? I worked with 2 MDivs. One was a Zen Buddhist priestess, the other was ordained by the Episcopal church despite no training in that faith. I doubt that you would want either of these MDivs pastoring your local evangelical church.

What bothers me the most is the argument from absurdity. If one is educated, one would learn about this tactic that is used to obfuscate the real debate.

This blog is read by lots of folks who are well aware of what constitutes orthodox thinking within Christendom. Most are also aware that education alone does not guarantee faithfulness. However, there are great seminaries, Gordon Conwell and Dallas Theological Seminary (to name two) that are not routinely turning out Zen Buddhists. My guess is that a Zen Buddhist would not be granted a Masters of Divinity degree from these schools and would not receive a recommendation if somehow they slipped through the cracks. But to say that seminary education is somehow “not important” because someone leaves the faith is just plain silly!  Just toodle on over to exChristians.net and see how many pastors of “good churches” have left the faith after being preachers for years. Does this mean we shouldn’t go to church since there are those who have left the faith?

2.  Here is a continued discussion by another reader, which leads us into the second point. Education can help prevent error and also promote understanding and truth.

No one is questioning that God raises up a Spurgeon or others from time to time who are not educated .As a norm, however, we should be encouraging our children to seek an education and that educational attainment is a good thing. And if our congregations are educated, the people who lead them should be, too.

It is true that a formal education in any culture can produce errors and perpetuate some of the culture’s ungodly behaviors or thought patters. But the answer is not to skip education to avoid the possibility of picking up a pathogen .It is more likely that if we raise a generation of ministers who are not well educated that we are MORE LIKELY to follow unscriptural and ungodly paths into which these men might unwittingly lead us. An educated person might have read about previous errors the church may have made over the centuries. And he might have a better grasp of the biblical languages and systematic theology that would keep him from theological error.

This reader makes a good point. We must not argue generalities from a small sampling of good outcomes. For every Spurgeon, there is a Benny Hinn, Joel Osteen,  and more. I remember having a discussion with a woman who was trying to sell me some overpriced vitamins. She claimed that she knew a man who took the vitamins and was cured of cancer. She also claimed that she had not had a cold since she took said vitamins. There were a number of stupid statements in her presentation. Here is what I asked her.

How do you know the vitamins cured this man’s cancer? Had he received radiation, chemotherapy, surgery? How many spontaneous remissions have occurred in this type of cancer? How does she know that his cancer wasn’t cured by some other not defined factor such as an incredibly good immune system? How does she know that she hasn’t had a cold? Could she have had a subclinical cold? I haven’t had a cold this winter and I haven’t taken her vitamins so why was she sure that the vitamins prevented the cold? Then I asked her what randomized, double-blind controlled studies have been done with the vitamins to prove that they prevent colds and cure cancer? Her response was, unfortunately the response I have grown tired of hearing? “I don’t need studies, I just know its true.” Then, (ARCE, I hope you are reading this) I said, ”Are you prepared to be sued by telling people this vitamin cures cancer?” Finally, I saw her get rattled, once again proving that if money is involved, it becomes very, very important.

3.  Another reader argues that encouraging education is being disloyal to the teachings of Jesus.

“Since we like quotes in this discussion group, the verse says: (King James Version)

“Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?”

Have we condemn the spirit of the teachings of Jesus, “The Truth”, by instituting “Man Doctrine and Requirements”?

God, our creator, created us in His image and that, apparently, involves giving us reason and intellect. The perspicuity of Scripture argues that even “a simple plowboy” (Tyndale) should be able to understand Scripture. I agree but that understanding is limited. A simple 17 year old girl (me, many years ago) read the Bible and understood aspects of it, but not fully. God instituted the office of teacher so that those who were not trained theologically could learn deep truths of Scripture. And if it were so simple, why are there so many disagreements regarding the drinking of wine, dispensationalism, covenant theology, Calvinism, the sacraments, and on and on. And that is only in the church.

Let’s move outside the church. Spurgeon was not educated. Many physicians of that day were trained in an apprenticeship. Back then, a leg amputation would involve a dirty hacksaw and a shot of hooch.  Antibiotics had not been invented. The spread of infection was not well understood. Pain was poorly controlled, and hemorrhaging was always a possibility.

So, some scientists (some may not have even been Christians) began to study and invented anesthesia, antibiotics, morphine, antiseptics, intravenous therapy, and so on. Perhaps we should have just ignored all of this stuff and let anyone who wanted to practice medicine do so. After all, isn’t four years of medical school and residency requirements just simply “man’s requirements?”

Also, in case anyone wants to argue that I am talking about secular stuff, let me warn you. I believe that ALL TRUTH IS GOD”S TRUTH and the discovery of bacteria is no less or more part of God’s truth as is Christ’s death and resurrection. I see God revealing Himself in all of creation, not just in the Scripture.

4. Finally, we have one of well-educated and erudite readers, ARCE, who made a great comment.

“I have graduate degrees, including a Ph.D. in psychology and a law degree. The demands of in depth study help one to concentrate, to read and reread, extract meanings, write them down, put them away, and later repeat the process, finding greater depths of understanding of what one has read or studied. Such training also helps one to learn how to avoid common fallacies.

One example. During my education, I learned that most languages, including the original languages of the Bible, use the masculine form for plurals, even when females are included. So that two sisters and one brother become three brothers (e.g., in Spanish tres hermanos, even if two are hermanas). It makes one more careful in reading English translations to avoid foolish statements not supported in the original language.

Education also helps one to find links among ideas and concepts.

I have corrected several pastors who make false statements like “the Supreme Court banned prayer in public schools.” The truth? The court banned agents of the state from REQUIRING prayer, and at first, from requiring a STATE WRITTEN prayer. Such false statements make a pastor look foolish and reduce his ability to witness to the world regarding the Truth and the Life.”

How silly it is when we forget that God has instituted the “priesthood of the believer”. God has gifted each of us in His service. For some, it might mean to study law and for others, medicine. Some of us may not be really great at algebra but we know how to fix a car. When we gather together, we are better than alone. God uses our education and understanding to bless this entire world. The pastor alone is not God’s man. He is simply the advisor to the diverse body of believers. It is my great hope that most pastors will not be like J.D. Greear, who calls well-educated people just “dumb sheep with a PhD.” Instead, he should rejoice that such sheep are following the One who created their intellect and are willing to their special gifts to bring honor and glory to our Father.

Finally, we would like to leave you with the thoughts of Lydia.  

It is amazing how public education has ignored the fact that most history is church/state history. And it says a lot about who we are now and why we do the things we do. We bring more tradition into it than we like to admit. Then, we can note that some seminaries actually rewrite church state history or omit quite a bit depending on their slant. (Some claiming that all Anabaptists were of the Munster stripe. Not true at all)

What is even more amazing is that one can pick up more truths from secular history about those periods in time (and the leaders) than from the official writings of the church or those who defend the church .I would have never known what a creep John Knox was except for secular history. The reformed writings made him out to be a big hero when the man was involved in plotting murder and even writing sermons to show why it was ok to do so. Then in his 50’s, he marries a 17 year old. Even his followers had a problem with that.

How silly it is when pastors and leaders only emphasize “part” of the truth that makes it seem like their particular slant is “correct”. What is so sad is that some of the sheep sit and take it as “Gospel” truth. Perhaps we all need to be educated. And by the way, don’t accept everything you hear. Take time and “educate yourself”. And, while you are at it, please read Mark Noll’s excellent book The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind.