The Joy of Glory

Discovering endless joy in the boundless glory of God…

Tag: seminary

July 2, 2013

Letter#9: Being Critical Without Becoming Cynical

Dear Jonathan,

So another semester has begun! Are you getting used to the rhythm of seminary life yet? I’m glad that you are already enjoying your new set of classes and Profs.

In your last letter, I was particularly interested in what you had to say concerning the field of “text criticism” that you are beginning to explore. It is fascinating to study the process through which we have received the text of Scripture, but there are a few things you said that bothered me…some things that sounded slightly cynical.

cynicalI want you to know that it is possible to be critical without becoming cynical.

Seminary is a wonderful time to ask questions, engage your mind, and think deeply…in fact I hope seminary is not the only place for this, but the church as well. Yet, seminary does afford you a focused time for serious thought.

However, do not believe the lie that you have to check your faith at the door in order to engage with critical scholarship. Let’s take the field of “text criticism” as an example.

You told me that seeing the multi-layered process through which the text has been transmitted to us took some of the awe and wonder out of it all. Suddenly, the Bible did not seem like this beautiful book handed to us by God, but a very normal historical source that has been formed through a human editing process.

That is only one way of looking at the facts! Could we not also say that this long, tedious process of textual transmission puts God’s providence on display in a most remarkable way? Could we not say this affirms the truth that our God loves to communicate with us through very physical means!

Our God does not bifurcate the spiritual and physical, but is apparently bent on communicating spiritual realities through very physical things!

Is this not affirmed by baptism, communion, preaching, Bible reading, prayer, music…even the incarnation itself! God himself put on flesh and communicated with us through the gritty means of language and action.

Lev_septuagintThe fact that Scripture has been passed down from one generation to the next in a very nitty, gritty process affirms who our God is and how he works! Many other religions have holy books that have been seemingly dropped from the sky, but our God is the one who created all things and loves to work through those things.

Jonathan, think critically! Engage your studies in a manner that forces you to dig, evaluate, wrestle, and draw conclusions…but fight cynicism. The road of critical scholarship does not necessarily lead to the dead end of cynicism. No! If you end up in that cul-de-sac it is because you drove yourself there!

Many great, critical thinkers are some of the most faith-filled theologians! The harder they press into the study of the Word, the more they are filled with faith in the God of the Word!

Always remember, you do not stand over Scripture to master it! Through the Word, God is mastering you! Engage the Bible critically for the sake of seeing more of God, not more of man…and may the Spirit reveal to you the wonders of how he works spiritual wonders through very physical means.

You can be critical without becoming cynical!

Grace and Peace,

J

*To know/understand the premise behind these letters please click here.

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June 25, 2013

Letter #8: You’re a Patient, Not a Physician

Dear Jonathan,

Thank you for not being too upset by my last letter. I do hope it didn’t sound like I was being “holier than thou” or “attacking” you. Honestly, if I was attacking anyone it was myself.

I so badly want to help you avoid many of the pitfalls I dove head-first into while in seminary…especially the endless void of pride. There is actually one simple truth that really helped me combat pride during my seminarian years…

skeptical-doctorYou’re a patient…not a physician.

Over time, I noticed that I could tell when pride was beginning to swell within my heart because I would put myself in the position of a physician. I would look at the world of Christendom, diagnosing all the ills I saw and proudly proclaiming my miracle prescriptions that I just knew would bring healing!

How pompous I could be?!?! I looked down my nose at local churches and at pastors in the trenches of ministry…and from the safe, lofty heights of academia I would point out their infected theology and diseased practices. All the while, I was so blind that I could not see I was only being part of the problem…not the solution.

I was acting like a physician…yet I was truly a patient.

In other words, I was not seeing myself as part of the body of Christ! I was separate somehow. The body was sick, but not me…I was God’s gift to “fix” the body! Ha!

We are not physicians, Jesus is! He is the great physician! We are part of the body in need of his healing.

The only way I was able to see this was to actually be a part of the body. The Lord convicted me of safely distancing myself from the local church, and I knew I had to plunge in and become a part of it.

Jonathan, I would highly encourage you to be an active member of a local congregation.

Serve within the body…teach within the body if you can! Teaching should humble you and drive you to your knees as you see your own feebleness/inability and your need for Christ’s sufficiency! Teaching should help you see yourself as a patient in need of Jesus’ miraculous healing work!

It becomes very difficult to criticize the church when you see that you are a part of its brokenness.

I’m not saying there is no room for critiquing the church (perhaps I’ll write about that later), but I am saying that the posture from which you critique it transforms when you are a member of the body instead of trying to be a master over and against it.

Don’t be an arrogant seminarian who thinks he is the “Doctor” the church needs. There are enough of those. Swallow that bitter pill of pride and remember you are a part of the church that needs healing…you are broken too.

You’re a patient…not a physician.

Grace and Peace,

J

*To know/understand the premise behind these letters please click here.

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June 18, 2013

Letter #7: Pride is a Problem

Dear Jonathan,

So I’m going to dispense with introductory small talk and jump right into something that has been on my heart since I received your last letter. Please don’t think of me as being judgmental, but I have to be honest with you.

Hello-My-Sin-Is-PridePride is a problem…a massively destructive problem!

I encourage you to go back and read your letter again to see if you can catch what I’m talking about. You really seem to be enjoying your theological studies, but you must be very careful as you gain more and more knowledge concerning the things of God. There is a knowledge that puffs up, but the good news is that it doesn’t have to be this way.

In fact, the more we come to know the Lord, the more our hearts should be humbled before him. I think of Paul who eventually grew to think of himself as the chief of sinners (that’s right…he “grew” into this). True knowledge of the Lord humbles us! That is “growth!” If our knowledge builds pride…then we either do not truly understand or believe the things we are learning.

While I was in seminary I felt as though I was on a roller coaster of pride and humility. One moment I caught myself lording my newfound knowledge over my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ (in class and in the church), and the next moment I was in tears before the Lord who was more awesome than I had ever imagined.

I found that the classroom could either puff me up or humble me. It could provide me with intellectual ammunition or internal adoration. Jonathan, what you learn in the classroom should lead you to one place…worship.

If seminary doesn’t drive you to your knees then you are merely gaining more knowledge about God, not actually coming to know more of God.

Oh…one last thing…don’t try to blame seminary for this problem of pride. I used that excuse for the longest time. Seminary is not a producer of pride…our hearts are the pride factory. If you find yourself struggling with pride…the problem is not outside you, but within and that is where the battle must be fought and won.

This battle is fought, not with more knowledge about God, but with knowing more of God. By the power of the Holy Spirit…fight! Fight this battle! It is a battle for your soul! You face many dangers in seminary, but nothing is more soul destroying and ministry neutralizing than pride!

Pride is a problem…a massively destructive problem!

Fight to know God and be humbled before him.

Grace and Peace,

J

*To know/understand the premise behind these letters please click here. 

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