No this is not another post about tithing. This post is semi-inspired by Alan Knox’s post Acting Upon Your Beliefs. It is also inspired by a recent conversation I have had with my wife and some thoughts/conversations I have had with others over the past few years.
The main reason I joined the SBC was because of their position on the Bible. After being saved, I realized that it was very important to take the Bible seriously. The SBC’s public position on the Bible is that it is inerrant (i.e. without error). They also believe the Bible is authoritative and sufficient. These are all good things, and as I said, they were the main reasons why I joined the SBC.
Soon after I came to Southeastern where I earned my B.A. in Biblical Studies. SEBTS is a great school – one can get a really good education if they applied themselves. This is neither an attack on the SBC nor an attack on SEBTS. But I want to discuss something that I have noticed during my time at SEBTS. The position they take on the inerrancy of Scripture is less important than most people realize. That is not to say that they do not emphasize its importance… they do, they will probably continue to do so for a long time.
Let me try to explain. There are two things at work causing the problem. First, the seminary’s job is to teach students. Like any school, teaching almost always comes in the form of teaching the “interpretation” not teaching how to think for yourself. Second, their are a lot of seminarians who are in a rush. They believe that they cannot start “ministering” until they have a degree under their belt. This causes them to try to go as fast and as hard as possible.
When you combine these two ingredients you produce something that tends to go against the inerrancy position of the Bible. The seminary believes it is teaching orthodox interpretation. The seminarians digest this as orthodox and move on to their ministry positions. In a way, the seminary is just “big church” – except the students are the congregants who “just want to know what to believe/teach.” The students move on to their ministry positions. Just as the homework in seminary prevents the students from taking the time to question their beliefs, the ministry position work does the same. So we have a bunch of people, who are teaching the Church the same orthodox positions, not ever really taking the time to question these beliefs and practices. The people learning accept it as orthodox because the person with the best education in these matters is teaching it. If the people do question it, they usually do not get any good answers, because the only approachable authorities they know of can usually muster up a hundred reasons why the orthodox position is orthodox.
I see a trend in the SBC that is moving towards where Catholicism is. We may say, and we may think we believe that the Bible is important. But our actions are speaking louder than our words.
When the Christians began to fight over slavery, the south reacted by trying to find evidence for their life-style. Instead, they should have asked themselves, “what does God teach about slavery?” I see this same problem today. When someone mentions something about Alcohol, Tongues, Church, Covenants, etc. I see people looking for a reason to support their position – not looking for wisdom, revealed by God. If we are truly a people who believe the Bible is without error, than we need to start acting like it. We do not need to be reactionaries, we need to seek wisdom and understanding from God.
What do you think?
Lew,
This is a very important post. I can tell from our conversations and from reading your blog that much of what you’ve said culminates here. I hope that people (SBC or not) think seriously about what you say without dismissing it. All of us, from time to time, live as if Scripture and God are not important. We do what we do because its what we do. I agree that there are many aspects of “ministry” that seems to be cruise-controlled instead of Scripture- or Spirit-controlled. Thank you for pointing this out!
-Alan
Lew,
This is a great post. Although I have not been to seminary, the Bible classes I took at my church seemed to focus on regurgitation and turned us into auto-pilot believers (or on cruise control as Alan said) who had been taught that there was one “right” answer to everything, that current Biblical interpretations and traditions were always right, and that anyone who disagreed was in need of correcting to the “right” position.
Whoa – that was a long sentence. I hope it makes sense.
I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t know nearly what I thought I did and agree with you in that we need to seek wisdom and understanding from God. My relationship with Jesus has deepened and my love and appreciation for His Body has grown now that I am not using the Bible to prove my positions but rather to seek God.
The coffee hasn’t set in yet. I hope that all makes sense.
One factor in following the teaching of the Bible is the anointing of the Spirit.
Owe no man anything but love. in Romans. Should this be taught from the pulpuit? Probably not, but I have been led to not borrow money throughout my life. Looking to God for my supply and not the bank.
Sell all your possions and give to the poor and follow Jesus. I don’t think this should be taught as a blanket requirement either. But I think God leads some to do that.
We can’t follow the teachings of the Bible apart from the impowering ability of God.
If people aren’t following the core issues of the Bible it is a sure bet that they lack the anointing of the Spirit.
To get back to the Bible people need our help, prayer and encouragement. Rom. 15:1
Lew,
Thank you for a top post!!
Oh that there were more discerning Aussies who are recognizing this creeping magisterial-ism, a system of government which is offensively SELF-assured and given to exercising usually unwarranted authority.
It seems that history must repeat itself and that we need some men/women of courage and conviction , who submit to only one Pastor and hear His Holy Spirit in the Scriptures, and who will risk the wrath of the status quo to be faithful.
Hey everyone! Thanks for the great comments. I have been away in Virginia visiting my grandfather so I did not have too much time to reply.
Alan
Thanks for the encouraging words. I too hope that the Christian body thinks seriously about this topic.
Mary
I would not really consider myself a church “leader.” But because of my seminary career I am sometimes seen as a “leader” so I get kind of see the “inside” scoop of what the leaders think about the people.
A lot of the time they teach the “regurgitation” stuff to you because they think you are not informed enough to handle the “meat.” I have actually been discouraged from teaching meaty things because they were afraid it would go over everyones heads.
Thanks for commenting.
Scott
I am not sure that you have commented on my blog before. Welcome and thanks for stopping by!
I *think* I agree with most of what you’ve said. People definitely need to rely on the Spirit to help interpret and understand scripture. I am not sure that the lack of understanding means the lack of the spirit (or salvation). I think a lot of people are confused and do not know how to lean on Him for understanding. Instead they lean on the man-authority for understanding and unfortunately get something skewed or misunderstood.
We should definitely be assisting people to rely on Him more than us. I think we also agree that those things you have pointed out can be very dangerous if taught in a dogmatic/legalistic way – but they should not be ignored either.
Thanks again for commenting!
Aussie John
Thank you for your kind words. I too pray that there would be more people to see the problems they face. That is part of the reason why I blog. I was once one of those people and I want to encourage others to think before they get too deep into it.
Thanks everyone for the great comments! I really appreciate the feedback!
God’s Glory,
Lew
Lew, I am an A-Div grad of SEBTS. Thank you for this profound post. I left the ministry in disgrace in 2000. When I left SEBTS in 1996, I thought I was fully prepared for ministry, but what I really received was more an indoctrination than an education. I was theologically prepared, but perhaps not as spiritually prepared as I had believed. I am glad I found your blog and I can assure you that I will be a frequent visitor. By the way, I still believe that the Bible is inerrant, not because the SBC or SEBTS taught me that, but because the Lord Jesus in His grace has shown me the truth of this since my fall. Thanks Lew!
Pressing On,
Thanks for commenting and sharing a little of your story. Also, thank you for the encouragement, your participation is always welcome here.
I think we tend to lose focus, or never had focus, when it comes to seminary. Very often I hear people justify seminary by saying that Jesus’ disciples were in “seminary” and when Paul went off on his own after being saved was like “seminary.” But Seminary is completely different than what they did. They spent time, one-on-one with Jesus, leaning on him, seeking him, and learning from him.
Obviously this is not the typical classroom environment at SEBTS.
Thanks again for visiting and commenting.
God’s Glory,
Lew