Featured Current Opinions of LBU and Trinity

I am a seminarian drop out.

I've realized seminary is not for me. I have attended onlnine both Luther Rice University and Trinity College of the Bible and Theological Seminary.

I would not recommend Trinity; the information in the courses could be expanded upon ad ifinitum for free on the internet in much longer courses. You are also nickel and dimed to death with withdraw fees, student service fees, and the moment you sign on the dotted line for a degree, there's no getting out of the 'contract' that you signed. If you ask for financial mercy, none will be given to you. That is not necessarily a bad thing as an unaccredited institution offering education at a low rate need to continue to exist somehow. But if you are going to go unaccredited, you might as well just take the millions of free courses out there that is available.

I like Luther Rice Seminary, but I couldn't tell sometimes if the 'master's level courses actually had bachelor's level content. I picked up on certain cues from the courses that made it seem so. (Like, you should read this section in your notebook to be ready for next week when that section of the textbook was not the graduate level textbook, etc.)

Ultimately, I don't want to write papers, book summaries, and be expected to read a whole bunch of books in a certain amount of time, especially since I don't like reading theology books fast.

If I go back to seminary, it will have to be in residence which I doubt would ever happen. I can tell there is something to be said about being in residency.

I know I am surprised that I am even saying that, but unless the seminary experience is being embraced in the totality of my being complete with mentors and live professors - I don't see myself not slipping into resenting the amount of work I must do with 2+ jobs and work at church.

I'm happy to wait until the Millennial Kingdom for any future educational degrees.

 

Yep, and unfortunately that's what's wrong with many larger churches; doctors who bore and liberalize their congregations to death. Give me a firebrand who never set foot in seminary.

 

Yep. I know a lot of Doctors who teach error. Calvinism vs non-calvinism being a prime example. One side or the other is in error. Many Doctors teach one or the other. Pre millennial, post millennial, pre trib, mid trib, post trib, no rapture, 2 raptures, 1 rapture, 3 raptures; Doctors teach all those positions. Some are in error.
It seems ok to be in error if you graduate seminary?

 

The Gospel is simple. If one must go to seminary to understand something, I am not sure that subject is highly beneficial to the congregation. It seems to me that the best sermons do not need a seminary degree to preach nor do you need one to understand them.
I don't think the apostles, with the exception of Paul, had much of a clue what was written in the "law or the prophets."

 

I would have to agree with Bailey Smith on that topic. He says evangelism is the primary role of the pastor and equipping the saints to evangelize is a near second. He said the pastor should visit, evangelize, and lead a minimum of 50 people per year, outside the church, to Christ. He said if a pastor is not leading 50 a year outside the Church to Christ, he is a pretty poor pastor.

 

I don't know about on a personal level, but as a church, John MacArthur seems to be doing pretty nicely in Sun Valley.

 

Why is it that when it comes to our physical health, we want a well trained and well educated doctor. But for our spiritual health......... an uneducated firebrand!!! Doesn't seem to compute to me.

 

The firebrand is more effective.salvation is not surgery. God never intended it to be that complicated.

 

Salvation is the conception. One unprepared for meat.

Believers must grow.

The Scriptures teach that evangelism is a gift. Pastoring is a gift. Teaching is a gift.

A church is wise when they seek out men gifted.

Some Pastors might be apt as teachers, but not all teachers are apt pastors. Few evangelists are good pastors or teachers.


Now those are my own opinions.

Rare is the person who is truly gifted in all three.

Unlearned and unskilled is one who claims a certain number of results is validation of the gift.

A doctor may be a surgeon, but there are very few gifted surgeons.

A teacher may certainly teach, but students can easily recall the gifted teachers.

The skill set of the evangelist, the pastor, the teacher are not all the same.

 

The Church was never intended to be seminary. Most of these men with degrees piled high have forgotten how to be pastors. They are boring, detached, seminary professors acting out the role of pastor.