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Preachin's Blog A little blog from an upstart theologian that will do its best to exemplify Christ while sharing a thing or two along the way. |
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![]() Friday, September 10, 2004 We need pastor-theologians...not ear candyI was immensely distressed yesterday. I received a phone call from a dear brother whom I have known for six plus years now. We were roommates at Liberty University and I consider him one of my closest and best friends. We both are pursuing the equipping phase of our particular callings, though at different seminaries, and are constantly in touch. Today he called me up and during the course of our conversation he told me that he no longer felt the leading by God to take biblical language classes (i.e. Greek and Hebrew) as a part of his Masters of Divinity degree since his particular seminary offers a degree track that will allow him to graduate without these languages. One of his reasons was that most "successful pastors" he knows don't use the original languages at all. Then he asked me what I thought... Now after I had counted to ten, I replied to his query. I began with the intention of taking a touchy subject matter and exhaustively replying to him and answering his question beyond the limits of what he expected. Then I decided to simply tell him I was disappointed in him. He asked me why I was disappointed in him. I replied, that as a part of every pastor's calling is a the calling to be equipped to serve faithfully and fully for their local, or even national congregation. A part of every pastor's calling is to be equipped to be the best at shepherding the flock. A great pox of pseudo-biblical preaching has descended upon us based on the sacred cow of passè biblical authority. When our preachers go lax our congregants are spoon-fed soft mush instead of growing strong on the rich, lean theological insights readily available in our texts. Our churches have begun to settle for a yuppie cool, theological vacant, and intellectually lax pastorate who can drip sweet ear candy into their ears and let them leave the pews and padded-chairs without engaging their brains. The once thunderous chorus of theologically rich, biblically founded insights on life and Christianity have been replaced by the wimpy strains of pop-cultureesque, theologically shallow quips of hypermodernism. We have gone from trumpeting the stanzas of premier pulpit exegesis to muttering the tunes of pompous topical sermon tripe. | |
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