.jpg)
Recently I read a post by the President
of Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, Dr. Albert
Mohler, about recent conversions of a few pastors to open atheism through
the influence of an organization promoted by atheist Richard Dawkins
called the Clergy Project. Dr. Mohler, a man I admire,
uncharacteristically betrayed a bit of snobbery when he twice pointed
out that one of the Clergy Project converts had “no college degree”
and “no education”.
My first response when I read this was,
“Isn’t that the same accusation they (some educated atheists)
make about most Christians?” They say we are a generally uneducated
people. And their snobbish accusation is actually true to some extent. If
by “educated” some atheists and Dr. Mohler mean a college
graduate then that would leave out the majority of Americans since
only 30% of Americans have a Bachelor’s Degree while a little over
10% have a Post-graduate degree. A Barna Research Group study
revealed that 40% of US pastors have no formal theological training.
In the world of the educated the
uneducated are sometimes given little credibility and often
marginalized by the gate-keepers of the educated class. When it comes
to the Christian faith of the uneducated there may even be less
credibility granted.
Christians should always avoid playing
the education card in a debate. Not just because it is an endless
argument that lends nothing to the exposure of truth, but
because it runs counter to some basic principles laid out in the
Scriptures. One principle is: God is intentionally unimpressed by our
education. Re-read 1 Corinthians 1:17-21
Don't get me wrong, unlike the pastor
who said in the preface of his sermon, “I'm like Charles Spurgeon
(the great 19th century Baptist pastor) I ain't got no
education neither!” I don't consider ignorance in ministry to be a
virtue. It is true that Charles Spurgeon had no formal theological
education, but, as one who has read much of what he wrote, he was a
broadly read, amazingly gifted, highly educated man. So while I
wholeheartedly support balanced formal education I must state that it
isn't the door to Christianity and has nothing to do with what it
means to be a Christian. I'll illustrate this by a man who was
arguably the first non-Jewish missionary commissioned by our Lord in the New Testament: the “maniac of Gadara”.
This pitiful madman... this “maniac”
mentioned in Mark 5:1-20 most likely could not read or write, but he
was not uneducated when it came to the power of Jesus Christ. His
testimony about that one experience in his life shook the people who
knew him because they knew who he had been before Jesus walked into
his life.
I'm sure there were people who
questioned his credibility because of his background, but this former
madman knew the extent of what Jesus really did for him that day.
Imagine an atheist trying to tell him there is no God. It would
forever be his experience with Jesus that anchored his soul, not his
future education. In fact he would attribute any future learning to
Jesus putting him in his “right mind” when he saved him.
He asked Jesus if he could go with him
and Jesus told him no, then sent him back to his people to tell his
story of God's merciful power in his life. In this we see the essence
of true vital Christianity and, therefore, Christian ministry: a
saving experience with Jesus. A Pastor who has not had a life
changing experience with Jesus will never be a fit Christian minister
no matter what level of formal education he obtains. The passion that
flows from this personal experience with Jesus becomes the energy for
Christian growth and learning.
I remember when I, nothing much more
than an animal, first experienced Jesus’ power. I didn’t have a
High School diploma at the time I met Him, so the credibility of my
faith is, I'm sure, suspect for many. But, like the “maniac of
gadara” I know who I was and what Jesus did for me. I have spent
40 years since that day studying, educating myself, and being taught
by others, but if all I have learned since that day were put together
it would not come close to what happened on that single day. I am a
beast without Jesus, and even if I had a PHD when I met Him it would
be meaningless compared to the treasure Jesus gave me. Doubt as you
might… this former maniac knows...
There is a marked distinction between a credential and the education it is supposed to indicate. There is also another kind of credential that trumps those three lettered ones. It is that experience of the new birth of which you speak. When a man gets up and declares there is no God despite all his reasoned credentials, without the credential that counts he has no credibility.
ReplyDeletebut I think I just repeated what you said!
thank you for the post