Monthly Archives: June 2008

Biblical Languages

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Is it worth studying Hebrew and Greek? Can understanding the original languages of the Bible really help a pastor or teacher? Don’t we have sufficient English translations?

Here are 10 reasons why I think those in ministry should study the Biblical languages. Keep in mind, I take my Hebrew final tomorrow so you’d think I’d be biased against the languages at this point, but it really has been rewarding.

10. Culture is wrapped up in the language and to better understand the culture of the Bible, you need to know the languages.

9. A related point: Hebrew was the language of the Jewish people and the languages help us to study the forms, and covenants, and culture of the Jewish people of the Bible.

8. Another related point: Greek has made a huge impact on our current languages. Our alphabet comes from the Greek and many of our words do also. No one can underestimate the influence of Greek culture on the spread of the Gospel.

7. By way of a bonus, you will be able to get by in Israel if you ever decide to travel there, you can also pick up a book by Plato or any of the other Greek philosophers and read it in the original language. Understanding Hebrew and Greek unlocks the door for an understanding of millennia of thought, philosophy, and culture.

6. We do have some very good quality English translations, but having an understanding of the nuances of the language can help make reading the Bible like reading it in High Def.

5. No translation is perfect, not even mine. However, as you grapple with the text, you begin to immerse yourself in the language of the Bible. Wrestling with the text breeds love for the One who gave it to us. My professor taught us that using the original languages forces you to slow down and really look at what’s going on in the text. Often, we get to a familiar passage and skim over it because we already know what it says…but I don’t know too many people who have the verse memorized in Greek.

4. Because Martin Luther said it’s important: “In the Christian Church all teaching must be judged. For this a knowledge of the language is needed above all else. The preacher(s) or teacher(s) can expound the Bible from beginning to end as [they] please, accurately or inaccurately, if there is no one there to judge whether [they are] doing it right or wrong. But in order to judge, one must have a knowledge of the languages; it cannot be done in any other way. Therefore, although faith and the gospel may indeed be proclaimed by simple preachers without a knowledge of the languages, such preaching is flat and tame; people finally become weary and bored with it, and it falls to the ground. But where the preacher is versed in the languages, there is a freshness and vigor in preaching, Scripture is treated in its entirety, and faith finds itself constantly renewed by a continual variety of words and illustrations.”

3. Some commentaries are off limits to someone who doesn’t know Greek or Hebrew. Learning the languages opens the door for some really incredible tools that are out there.

2. Pastoral ministry is richer when we have disciplined ourselves to know the languages. Those we minister to understand the discipline and professionalism of our study and a bond of trust is established.

1. I don’t know that I will discover anything earthshakingly new, but there is value in being certain of what you are preaching. Martin Luther said, “If the languages had not made me positive as to the true meaning of the word, I might have still remained a chained monk, engaged in quietly preaching Romish errors in the obscurity of a cloister; the pope, the sophists, and their anti-Christian empire would have remained unshaken.”

Got another reason to study the Biblical languages? Let me know.

Engaging the Culture for Christ (Part 2)

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Often when people desire to engage the culture we go to two extremes: There are the lazy Christians who rarely do anything to engage culture and they just hope their lives are interesting enough to invite questions from unbelievers. Then there are those who turn people off to Christianity by damning people to hell without even knowing them (I’ve been confronted on the streets of Boston by a person who yelled at me and said I was going to hell…and I’m a Christian!).

I’m advocating for the kind of person who does neither of these two things. I try to live like Jesus lived among unbelievers by spending time with them in their homes and inviting them over to my home and loving them regardless of their beliefs or behaviors. I don’t get in their face every single time we get together (or they would stop listening to me), but I have made sure that every single one of my friends knows what I am praying for them that they will come to know Jesus because He is the only way to the Father. Some have come to know Jesus as a result, others are still friends and they often bring up spiritual conversations. Other times I feel that I can raise an issue or confront a behavior because I have that close relationship with them. On the other hand, there are times I know to keep my mouth shut. In other words, I know them and I care for them. They know my message is sincere. While a person holding a sign or yelling through a megaphone could be sincere, the person on the other side will never know it. I want to engage culture with my sincerity because I know that’s the harder road and the more rewarding. With a tract or a sign, I can be sincere, I can be insincere and no one would ever know. So, I never question a street preachers motives, just his methods. Sometimes it is effective, but it’s hard to measure how effective, non-effective, or counter-effective it can be since no one knows the hearts of the people who hear other than God. You always know where you stand when you are sharing Christ with someone you care about.

Now, I must qualify and say that there are times where the word that needs to be spoken to a friend will probably end the relationship, but because that relationship of trust has been built, and the word spoken is out of love, there is always the hope that they will realize the error of their ways and that the Spirit will draw them to Himself. This “relational evangelism” simply means that you are loving people just as we are commanded to do. That kind of love becomes evident to the one receiving the love and the seed falls on fertile soil.

So, I advocate for a complete overhaul of the way we engage culture. We can’t sit passively by and let people die without knowing Jesus. We also cannot alienate people by focusing on one or two issues and neglecting the thousands of other injustices in the world that demand the attention of Christians (as if abortion and homosexuality were the only sins that a person might commit). Let’s start preaching the gospel boldly in the context of love.

Engaging the Culture for Christ

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I just read an interesting post here by Larry Temple. He has an interesting question and I commented on it and I also want to take some time on my blog to address the issue.

Who is really engaging culture for Christ?


Is it the guy who stands on the street corner and shouts the Truth from the top of his lungs? You can’t get more bold than that right? 
It certainly isn’t the person who never mentions Truth to his friend but hopes that one day his friend will ask him what he believes. As if his life is so remarkable that the name of Jesus just seeps out of his pores and into other people’s lives.
It can’t be the one who simply does good deeds but never mentions the name of Jesus when he does them. Those good deeds are lost forever. They never made an impact for the Kingdom of God.
Is it the pastor who preaches boldly from the pulpit but never sets foot in a pool hall, or on a basketball court, or in the marketplace and actually gets in the lives of those who Jesus says are lost?
Is it the church member who goes faithfully to church each Sunday but never tells his neighbor where he is going every Sunday morning, much less invite them to go with him?
So how does one follow Christ and make Him known to the culture around them?
Larry does a good job in his post of highlighting some of the Biblical characters that it would be wise to learn from. Men like Ezekiel, Jeremiah, John, Paul, and someone else… oh yeah, Jesus! It seems like the Old Testament men were like the street preacher of today. Add John to that mix and you’ve got some pretty fiery men of God. However, Paul and certainly Jesus were much more relational. I would suggest that these are the sorts of men that we should really look to as we desire to engage culture. Paul is a great figure because he was reaching out to a pagan culture, much like we are today. All the others, even Jesus, were for the most part reaching the Jew. Their message was a message of repentance. Paul’s message, and our message today needs to be a message of love. 
To put “Repent” on a sign means nothing to our culture today. They can’t understand where we are coming from. Sometimes we need to start with what they already know (see Paul in action here) and then share stories of God’s love or examples from the life of Jesus to help them see Truth. It has to be on a personal level. The Truth is much more effective when it is on a personal level. The receiver of your message needs to know more about you than just the message, especially if the message is “Turn or Burn”. That will never be enough to convince someone that the Way of Jesus is intriguing or even worth mentioning. The person with the “Repent” sign is only displaying their message and not their motive (which I hope is love). They are only displaying what they are against (abortion, homosexuality, George W. Bush, etc.) rather than what they are for (peace, love, Jesus, etc.)
Instead, we need to be as bold as the street preacher, but with some understanding of our cultural context. Paul operated differently with his Jewish audience than with his Gentile audience. We live in an age today that is even different from Paul’s. Jesus is the only one that transcends cultures and eras and gives us a Way of life that we can follow. He ate with the tax collector’s and sinners. He walked with the lepers. He cared. He loved. His motive was love and that came out in His message in a way that didn’t confuse people. He was refreshingly consistent. Sure, He was an enigma, He was spectacular, but His harshest words were for the Pharisees who should’ve known better, not for the sinners who didn’t. In a study of Mark, I once counted up all the verses that found Jesus in the marketplace, in prayer, etc. I found that overwhelmingly, Jesus was in the marketplace with sinners. Secondly, He was discipling His leaders. Thirdly, He was in other people’s homes (sometimes sinners, sometimes not). Finally, He was in the temple. I try to keep a balance on where I spend my time, and every once in a while I look back at that study from Mark and see how I’m doing comparatively and try and make adjustments if I’m too far out of whack. 
That’s how we engage culture. We pattern our lives after Jesus. We speak when He tells us to speak. We walk where He tells us to walk. We listen to Him always. We honor Him with our lives. We don’t shy away from a tough discussion for fear we might get laughed at. Engaging the culture is spiritual work that demands a lot of prayer and walking with the Spirit. It isn’t something I do by casually heading out the door with my 45 pound Bible tucked under my arm and a megaphone over my shoulder. No one will ever know that I care for them and that Jesus cares for them if I hand them a Gospel tract and walk away. Engaging the culture is exactly that: intentionality and interaction and friendship with those who don’t know the Truth. Jesus was full of grace and truth. Let’s always try and keep it in that order as we engage the culture for Christ.

Creitz Version of the Bible (CVB)

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Okay, so I’m not too keen on Bibles that have someone else’s name on them. Usually, that means they have more notes from the “author” than there is divinely inspired text from the “Author”. I would prefer people to hone their own skills on interpreting the Scripture and not just read a footnote. I have often conducted Bible studies where we read a passage and I ask a question that should be apparent from the context and someone says, “Well, I have a footnote that says…”
On the other hand, I recently ran across the beta version of a site called YouVersion. This is a site that has the text of the Bible in an easy to use reader. The user is able to read through the Bible in a year in any of the 13 versions (plus 3 Spanish versions) by subscribing to the rss feed, search the Bible for a particular verse by keyword or by passage, journal in a private journal or comment on a verse in a public commentary. They can also star a favorite verse or even put a tag on it to sort the verses later. This could be great for Scripture memorization. Selected text can be hyper-linked so that you can send a verse in an email or put it on a website. 
All in all, I’m excited about this site. It needs to work out a few kinks, but I want to encourage people to start using it. I have been using it for my personal devotion for a few days because the journal feature sits right beside the Bible Reader so I can journal my thoughts or my prayers and reflections, or I can write up a comment and post it for the benefit of the other users. You will also be able to “follow” other users if you enjoy their content and their insights. A home Bible study group or Sunday School class could use this to post throughout the week and then discuss their reflections the next week. You can even upload videos that are relevant to a specific passage. A pastor could link his sermon audio or video to the text of his sermon. 
As I mentioned, there are a few problems with this site and I also have a few ideas:
1) Scrolling through and selecting text is not as easy as it should be. The scroll bar needs to be simplified. 
2) I want to be able to create separate journal entries with unique titles in a given day but the journal entries are only sorted by day. 
3) Once you’ve tagged or starred an item there is no way to untag it or unstar it. 
4) As of yet, there are a lot of features that are not available in the beta version. 
5) I would like to see a user be able to follow everyone commenting on a particular passage or a particular book. That way, if you are preaching through a book, you can subscribe to the rss feed and rather than follow a particular user, you would be following a particular passage or book. 
6) I would also like to see the Bible reading plan customizable so that you can create your own reading plan for a month or a year. 
7) It would also be nice to see how many people are reading through the Bible on this site and be able to track their progress anonymously. This would provide accountability and an ability to set goals. It would be cool to have a personal or a public meter that would display and over time that meter would grow much like a download bar on iTunes. 
8) Finally, it would be awesome if this reader were also available in the original languages, but there may not be enough demand for this since there are some great Bible software programs for this which you can find here, here, and here. On the other hand, some more modern languages besides English and Spanish would be nice too.
This site has a lot of potential and I hope people will use it. It is provided for free by LifeChurch.tv and even has applications for your mobile device (such as the new 3G iPhone). If you have other ideas, please comment on this post AND go to YouVersion’s feedback form. I love that the point of this site is not to create a new study Bible, but it allows people to read God’s Word and if they’d like, they can access other people’s stories, experiences, and reflections on a particular passage. 

How Much Would You Pay for Happiness?

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This morning I was in my car listening to an NPR story on the radio. The story was about high fuel costs from the perspective of “full-time” motor coach drivers. These are families that live out of their motor coaches and get anywhere from 7 to 9 miles per gallon, spending about $.50 per mile. One couple mentioned that they spend $600 on diesel every time they fill up. I didn’t catch names but the man mentioned that it’s the price you pay to have fun. When asked about why it was worth it, he began describing how when they go to motor coach rallies he can meet someone and within 15 minutes, they can be in someone else’s coach having drinks. “You can’t find that in a normal neighborhood,” he said. “There is a camaraderie that we have with other “full-timers” that you can’t reproduce anywhere else.”
So, if you want to live in a neighborhood that is hospitable, and neighborly, buy a $250,000 motor-home, spend $600 to fill it up with gas and drive to one of these motorhome rallies and spend a week or two there inviting people over for drinks or to play a game. Or, invite your neighbor over to your house or apartment. I’ve been in Boston for four years now and people come from so many different cultures that people barely know how to act around each other. Everyone lives in complete seclusion because, though their culture might be open and friendly, they might encounter someone who is from a culture that is cold and abrupt. However, that shouldn’t keep people from reaching out to other people. 
The Church should be especially instrumental in showing hospitality and building relationships that last. It’s a mandate, not to be salesmen of the Gospel, but to be relational because of the Gospel. It’s one of the ways in which we have been made in the image of God. We are called to love and serve God and people and it is important that we show love even when the culture around us doesn’t know if it should even make eye contact with another human being as they walk down the street. We need to lift our heads and spend time praying for community in our “communities”. You don’t even need a huge budget to build relationships. It doesn’t cost anything to make a friend. It takes a smile, a conversation, and maybe a tray of brownies. Okay, so it might cost something, but $3 for brownies is nothing compared to $600 for gas. 

Christ, Culture, Creation, and the Church

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Several times, in various posts, I’ve mentioned that in this blog I will be pondering Christ, culture, creation, and the Church. Up to this point, I haven’t really talked about what that means. You might think it’s just a fancy alliteration and now that I’ve alliterated a title, you are going to stop reading my blog, but hang on. These four issues are extremely important. I write about Christ because I revere Him, Culture because there are so many ways that Christ can redeem culture, Creation because there are so many ways that Christ can restore creation, and finally, the Church because they are the people who are commissioned to bring reconciliation to Culture and Creation.
These issues will be the primary topics of conversation on this blog and I hope you will let your opinions be known. Following is a brief summary of each topic and why I chose to highlight that issue here. In future posts I will spend more time thinking through and writing about these issues (and others).

Christ

As a follower of Jesus, I love to talk about Him. These posts will probably have a lot to do with what He is teaching me from His Word and through experiences. Christ is the most notable historical figure of any world religion. He’s probably the most misunderstood figure as well. His universal appeal is something worth talking about whether you are a die-hard fundamentalist Christian or if you are the staunchest atheist. Even if you don’t think of Him rightfully as the Son of God, His teachings and lifestyle are enough food for thought for a lifetime. Hopefully, as you ponder His claims you will begin to understand why He is either a lunatic (delusions of grandeur, “Messiah Complex”, etc.), a liar (knew that He wasn’t the Son of God but made all of His followers believe it anyway), or He is Lord (He really is who He says He is, which actually fits His character and explains the explosion of the church (his followers) in the first few centuries. Many atheists wouldn’t even consider Jesus to be a liar or a lunatic. What else does that leave you?

Culture

It seems that more and more people are succumbing to the idea that there is no such thing as sin. Right and Wrong is relative. Truth is not absolute. The further our culture sinks into this amoral mindset, the further it will remove itself from sanity, common sense, and ethical behavior. This blog will attempt to keep the pulse of the surrounding culture, highlighting the good as well as the bad, to show how God is at work and how Satan is attempting to undermine God’s Will. I am not a “gay basher” and neither do I picket abortion clinics. There will be no attempts here to slander or spew hate. My desire to write about our culture is because of my love for God and people. I understand that we are in a mess because of human decisions to reject God. I also have come to realize that God has made a way possible for us to be reconciled to Him through Jesus Christ.

Creation

It seems that Christians have always had a love / hate relationship with science. I’m no scientist but as a follower of the Creator, He has given us some insights into how He made His world and the role we are to play. Rather than let “creationism” be a laughingstock to the scientific community, I want to write about God’s creation and how we are to be stewards of it. No one should be more responsible when it comes to environmental issues and caring for God’s creation than a Christ follower. I’m not an extreme activist, but I do believe there is a standard by which we should all live. Regardless of how God created the world, we are to exercise godly stewardship and responsible living.

Church

Finally, the Church has been my specific area of study for quite some time. I spent the last four years in Boston experimenting with and studying how to start a church. I will be reflecting on those experiences as well as reflecting on my current seminary studies at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. The Church should be the family of God. Sometimes it is dysfunctional, other times it is full of people who are nurturing and loving. Sometimes it’s relevant, at other times it can be dry and outdated. This blog will be about discovering God’s plan for the Church (big C AND little c) and finding ways to join what God is doing around the world.

House Rules

I find it interesting as I read other blogs by other Christians and also the comments on those blogs, that so many people forsake normal human attributes like respect, tolerance, and hospitality when they enter the virtual world. You may disagree with some of my posts and I encourage you to voice those disagreements, but please do so as if you are looking me in the eye, person to person. I commit to treating my readers with respect and love just like if it were really you sitting down in my living room having a nice chat. Let’s begin a discussion together about Christ, Culture, Creation, and the Church.

What Should be done about the Gloucester Teen Pregnancy Pact?

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On June 20th, a CNN Video shows an interview with guest host Michael Graham interviewing Angus McQuilken of Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts and Sue Todd, the President and CEO of the daycare that allows High School students at Gloucester High to continue their education even while pregnant and after delivery. The topic of discussion was about the pact that several girls made at Gloucester High to get pregnant and become moms together. Some of them even gave a 24 year old homeless man a bottle of liquor just to get them pregnant. None of the girls are over the age of 16. Both of Michael Graham’s guests are advocating for more sex education and confidential access to contraceptives. They both agreed that abstinence is a colossal failure. When asked if shame should play a role in all of this, Sue answered that accountability is important but shame is not. Angus also mentioned that dialogue with parents is important. However, Michael Graham challenged that notion by saying that it seemed like the school system was trying to leave the parents out by making contraceptives available without parental consent.
Certainly the school can improve their sex education program, but to believe that abstinence doesn’t work is ludicrous. What Gloucester needs is an entire community that is ready to provide hope to these students. They also need to be giving their teens a reality check about what teenage pregnancy will do to their future. It’s amazing that the “experts” seem to think that they should make teen pregnancy just as acceptable and even allow strollers in the halls of the school. Their attempts to normalize teen pregnancy has backfired. There is no shame on the part of these girls. They have no sense of right and wrong in this matter. One story even said that they were going to the clinic frequently and were more upset to find out they weren’t pregnant and when they finally got pregnant they were giving each other high fives.
We should all know that parents are the key. Angus mentioned that the abstinence program is what the current administration has been advocating for eight years and it is a “colossal failure”. So blame the government that 17 girls in Gloucester are pregnant? I found it interesting that Angus spewed out statistics about Lowell being the 9th highest teen pregnancy rate in Massachusetts and they use abstinence-only education. He also mentioned that the third highest teen pregnancy rate was in Lawrence which also practices abstinence-only education. Why did he choose those two for his statistics? What about the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 10th highest? Wouldn’t his argument have been stronger if he had said the first and second highest teen pregnancy rates are in towns that practice abstinence-only education? Could it be that every other town in the top ten doesn’t teach abstinence-only? In fact, the top ten towns for teen pregnancy show that the rate increase is more due to less affluent households than it has to do with what kind of education they are receiving at school. Both Lawrence and Lowell are relatively low-income towns, much like Gloucester. This is a problem of people who have no hope and want to take control of their own destiny.
Teaching these girls that there is a hope for a better future, as well as making them aware of how teen pregnancy can adversely affect that future is important. Abstinence works if there is support from moms and dads as well as school administration. In this case, it seems that the administration wants to work against parents by letting these teens think that sexual activity is normal and acceptable before marriage, and telling them that even being a single mom is okay. There needs to be more parental involvement and less school involvement. Schools shouldn’t be dictating how parents should raise their children. The answer won’t come in the form of a government policy or in a school curriculum. The answer to this increasing trend in teen pregnancy is for parents, coaches, mentors and pastors to share hope with these troubled teens before they get involved sexually.

Hugging Trees? or Simply Being Responsible?

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Over the past few years I have become much more of an environmental activist than I ever would have thought possible. Some of this is by necessity, some of it is by moral conviction, some of it is because it is so dang practical. I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself a treehugger, but I would say that if there is an opportunity to “reduce, reuse, or recycle”, I’m all for it. 
Of course, we’ve been recycling for years and my wife and I usually have more to recycle than we have trash (though with cat poop the scales probably tip more towards trash than recycleable waste…but don’t post a comment telling me all the ways you can use cat poop). I knew I was moving more towards “environmental activist” when the other day I almost threw a plastic bottle in the trash but ended up holding onto it for a couple of hours until I could throw it in a recycling bin. I remember thinking, “I would just as soon throw a piece of trash on the ground than throw this plastic bottle in the trash”.
So, am I a treehugger? An environmental activist? or am I simply a responsible citizen. I’d like to think that all the changes I’ve made over the years have come from simply becoming more responsible. I mentioned that some of my “activism” is out of necessity. My wife and I are moving partly because we don’t want to be commuting all over Greater Boston just to get to work or school. That reduces fuel usage and carbon emissions, etc. I’ve been using my bike since April and haven’t had to spend as much money on bus or T-fare. You can’t get more environmentally friendly than a bike. So, all of that saves money, and with gas currently at about $4.15 a gallon, that’s actually quite a bit of money. 
I also mentioned that part of this change in behavior is out of moral conviction. Who better to advocate for our world than a Christian, one who has been entrusted with the world as a steward of God’s creation. We have a mandate to protect the environment. I’m not going to spend weeks sitting on a tree branch so that bulldozers don’t “kill” another tree like the kids in Berkeley California are doing right now, but I can be responsible with the resources I’ve been given. 
Thirdly, I mentioned that actively protecting the environment is practical. Why let the refrigerator door stand open while you wash the lettuce? Why let the water run while you brush your teeth? You know, the things your mom used to tell you not to do. According to the One World, Two Wheels Campaign, 25% of all trips are within 1 mile of the home. 40% of all trips are 2 miles from home. The U.S. could save 462 million gallons of gas a year if we increased cycling from 1% to 1.5%. That’s $1.8 billion dollars according to current gas prices. It just makes sense that we can do more to reduce, reuse, and recycle in our world today.
I’m no treehugger. I may not even be a die-hard activist. However, my hope is that we can raise the bar on what being a responsible citizen means and for those of us who are Christians, I hope we can raise the bar on what it means to be a good steward of the resources God has given us. It doesn’t just mean “tithe”. It means taking responsibility for God’s creation and making the world a cleaner, safer, and more beautiful place to live.

Why Seminary?

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This is my second time to be a seminarian. The first time I had a hard time staying dedicated to my studies. I eventually left due to God’s call on my life to move to Boston. However, while I was there the first time I didn’t make the most of it. There were several reasons for this:
Why Not Seminary?
1. I thought it was cool that people recognized the disciples as being “untrained and uneducated men” but realized they had “been with Jesus”.
2. Seminary seemed out of touch. The professors were about 10 years behind the times (they are usually very old and don’t even know how to use the one working overhead projector in the classroom much less a PowerPoint presentation). By the time you separate yourself from culture for 3 or 4 years, you’ve slipped behind the times about 10 to 15 years.
3. Three quarters of what I was learning I felt was irrelevant to my desire to minister to the Church and engage the culture with the Gospel.
4. The other quarter of relevant material seemed to be presented in such a boring manner that I couldn’t imagine anyone ever wanting to hear the Good News from one of these professors.
5. Most seminaries have to charge a lot of money and the students options are very limited in how they obtain their degree. Most graduates end up getting a job in ministry right out of seminary with a huge debt that very few churches will ever be able to provide enough for them to pay off. Most mission boards won’t allow someone to go onto the field if they have debt so the graduate is forced to work in the marketplace for a number of years just to pay off their debt.
6. I felt like I lived in a Christian bubble. I was volunteering at my church, working at a Christian school and going to seminary. Not much opportunity to interact with the world around me.
7. I always held up my heroes who had not attended seminary as examples of why you don’t need seminary. People like Billy Graham, and Charles Spurgeon topped my list.
Well, things have changed in my life. I now attend a seminary that I respect greatly. Many of the above issues have been resolved (at least for me) but most importantly, my attitude has changed. I recognize the value of this education and have a desire to finish with excellence. Some of the above issues still remain as challenges for seminaries. I hope one day to be a part of the solution. Following are some reasons for anyone wanting to go into full-time ministry to go to seminary (I like that I have some ministry experience under my belt…it makes the discussions that much richer, but I wouldn’t put seminary off for very long).
Why Seminary?
1. You wouldn’t ask a surgeon to operate on someone who hasn’t been to medical school. You wouldn’t want a lawyer on your case who never went to law school. As a side note, if I found out my surgeon graduated at the bottom of his class, I would look elsewhere. I don’t think John Piper’s “Brothers, We Are Not Professionals” was a call to forsake formal training. We need to be equipped by others and not just by our own best intentions (which are usually undisciplined and sporadic).
2. What about all those spiritual giants who did go to seminary. Not to mention those who changed the world from the platform of higher education. People like Martin Luther, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien did a lot from the setting of the University or Seminary to bring revolution and change to the Church.
3. What about all that ministry training the apostles received directly from Jesus for a period of about 3 years? Sure, it was the Holy Spirit who eventually mobilized them and qualified them to do the work, but Jesus’ hands on training laid the foundation for His apostles.
4. Seminary teaches more than knowledge, they also teach humility. One of my professors said, “As the Island of Knowledge grows so do the Shores of Ignorance.” Meaning that the more you know, the more you know how little you know. It’s humbling to comprehend the breadth and width, height and depth of God’s love (Eph 3:18) and multi-faceted wisdom (Eph 3:10) and to have it thrown in your face again and again in such a concentrated way.
5. Seminary has its weaknesses, but its strengths make up for the lack. You may not have the same hands on experience and 1:12 ratio that the disciples had but they encourage every student to get practical experience with local churches during their seminary years. Their strengths are teaching languages, Biblical Theology, and Church History. It’s unrealistic to think that a full-time pastor will read the number of assigned books that a seminarian is asked to read or spend the same amount of time listening to lectures as the seminarian in 30 years, much less in 3. In other words, the training is concentrated and intense for 3 short years, but you will have already learned what might take you a lifetime to learn “on-the-job”. Not that the education ends when you are done with seminary, rather it gives you a foundation to build on that an uneducated pastor will not have.
6. This next reason might be a bit controversial but since “perception is reality” I want to offer it here for your consideration: In a place like Boston, reaching the educated elite with no degree is a sure way to get people to go elsewhere. You may have all the tools necessary to “equip the saints” but they won’t believe that and their feet will lead them away before you get a chance to prove that God is working through you. (I realize this is an overgeneralization and many people aren’t concerned with “a piece of paper”, still, it’s worth considering)
Any other reasons to go to seminary? Other reasons why not to go to seminary? Questions, comments, and push-back all welcome here.