I once heard Dave Hasz say something along the lines of, “I’m not Calvinist, I’m not Arminian, I just believe the Bible.” As if neither of those camps believe, study and follow the Word of God as they interpret it.
Unfortunately, a lot of Christians like to simplify their faith by saying “God said it, I believe it, that settles it.” They might be referring to any number of issues: pre-trib, post-trib, amillenial, predestination, once saved always saved, etc. Taking that kind of tack sure doesn’t leave room for disagreement or healthy debate on many topics. There is so much within Scripture that is unclear and that many passionate, Jesus loving peole can disagree on. It would be quite haughty to suggest that well meaning brothers and sisters are not following Scripture just because their interpretation is different than yours. Unfortunately, within the Honor Academy, there is sometimes a climate of we are the only ones following the whole Scripture. And there is definitely a “Teen Mania” way of doing things.
Unfortunately, Bible interpretation is not that cut and dry. The Bible is complex. We come to it with our own cultural baggage, our own biases, and our own preconceived ideas.
I think this t-shirt sums it up nicely while allowing us to give room to our brother and sisters on non-essential topics.
The Internet Monk, a favorite of mine, has this to say:
Sometimes, the Bible doesn’t give you enough evidence, one way or the other, to settle a question beyond the possibility of a continuing discussion and debate. If this is true, and if the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit does not remove this ambiguity, then there are points beyond which dicsussion and debate ought to proceed only with considerable and generous amounts of respectful humility.
The whole post is worth a read. Evangelicalism in general, and the Honor Academy in particular, I believe could use a little more humility in their discussions and teachings. There are so many teachings at the Honor Academy that are stated with a “this is the final word” type of authority. Many (most?) of these teachings are not issues of centrality to the Gospel, but secondary or tertiary issues. Or in several cases, totally extra-Biblical teachings, like the emphasis on “The Aura of a Statemen” or “Godly Relationships.” These really should be seasoned with much more grace and humility than they currently are.
12 comments:
MDSF said…
I run into this a lot in Fundamentalist circles; my best guess at the moment is that the history/thinking goes like this:
Where Lutheranism and Calvinism sit on a late medieval/early modern philosophical foundation, American Fundamentalism (and its child, American Evangelical Christianity) sits on a later philosophical foundation, namely the Empiricists. These are early Enlightenment guys, and they focus more on experience (in the sense of “observation”) rather than innate knowledge, tradition, authority, etc. and have something of a democratic-to-egalitarian view of the world. Where people before them would have gone to some authority to interpret a text, after them people asked what the text “meant,” in the sense of “what is the plain meaning of the words on the page?” or “what is a common-sense reading of the text?”
There are good things and bad things about this point of view; in a Christian context it follows through on the Reformation idea of the priesthood of the believer. In a scientific context it shifts the question from who did the experiment to the question of what would happen if the experiment were done again. In a legal and political context it leads to concepts like “a nation of laws and not of men.”
The problem in Christian circles though is that different people read the Bible differently, and lately produces mindsets like you’ll find among Cessationists, who will openly say that today the Holy Spirit interprets Scripture (correctly) in the mind of the believer, and nothing else. Their detractors refer to them as the “Father, Son and Holy Bible” people.
Various groups and sects patch up this hole by finding a way to make some believers more priestly than others, their opinions more orthodox, etc. So that in some sense they’ll say “I’m the Holy Spirit for you” or “if you were reading the Bible correctly you’d agree with me.”
Looks like you’ve run into more of that here: you’re free to read the Bible for yourself, but you have to interpret it the way the leader says, because unity/obedience/whatever is more important than anything else, up to and including the working of the Holy Spirit.
December 28, 2009 12:28 PM
Anonymous said…
Good comments MDSF.
I love the shirt you linked to, RA.
I think for many evangelicals the idea that their interpretation of the Bible might be impacted by the culture they grew up in/live in and their own personal life experiences has either just never occurred to them or been dismissed out of hand as erroneous. Similarly they only look at the culture that the Bible was written in when it helps to buff up a viewpoint they already hold.
December 28, 2009 4:42 PM
Lyssa Kaye said…
I was wondering where I should send my story.
I think that i’m ready to share it…
December 28, 2009 5:00 PM
Recovering Alumni said…
Hi Lyssa,
You can email it to me at recoveringalumni at recoveringalumni dot blog.
December 28, 2009 9:24 PM
MDSF said…
Anonymous —
Fundamentalists don’t have a monopoly on this kind of thinking; I cringe every time I hear a Christian talking about “the objective truth of the Gospel.”
Unfortunately the best connection we have to the Gospel is through the text of Scripture, but our connections to the cultures in which it was written are all mediated.
December 29, 2009 4:08 PM
MDSF said…
RA —
Do you have a copy of “The Aura of a Statesman” anywhere? I’d love to hear that.
December 29, 2009 4:52 PM
Recovering Alumni said…
Last I checked, it was on itunes. Search for the Honor Academy podcasts and you should find it.
December 29, 2009 4:53 PM
Ben said…
I sent my pastor the link for the statesman speech shortly after i found this blog. it was so ridiculous to him he couldn’t even finish it.
December 30, 2009 2:09 PM
Recovering Alumni said…
Ben, sounds like you have a good pastor. 🙂
December 30, 2009 3:17 PM
Anonymous said…
RA, Brant’s actually a friend of mine. Imagine my surprise when I clicked your link to his blog. Very cool.
March 12, 2010 2:31 AM
Recovering Alumni said…
Anon – very cool. Tell him to start blogging again!!
March 12, 2010 9:43 AM
Anonymous said…
He still does, albeit a bit more “tamely”, on http://www.morningswithbrant.com. Though I bet he’d LOVE to hear from someone who wants to read his stuff in its full glory, even on that site, so you should drop him an email. He’ll answer you: brant@wayfm.com
March 12, 2010 10:27 AM