Havensdad:
I hope your "personal ministry experience" wasn't as a pastor or else you didn't do much of a job with that superior theological training.
Degree- worth the paper?
Discussion in 'General Baptist Discussions' started by Luke2427, Dec 4, 2010.
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Funny...I learned Italian drinking espresso...learned Dari over chai and almonds, raisins, & dried peas...and what little Arabic I learned, was done while we were installing radio antennas. Don't recall ever sitting at their feet....
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That is what I said.
But as I think has been proven- what is actually said doesn't matter much here, does it?
If the layman learns Greek and receives some awesome training outside a seminary then he in the exception. But if he does not learn Greek, receive some awesome training etc... there is no way he can have as much bible knowledge as a seminary grad, can he? -
Carey taught himself Latin as well as other languages. He taught himself Latin by the time he was six, and other languages as he was repairing shoes.
Spurgeon taught himself, and yes, from other books.
However, that being said, we can all teach ourselves from other books.
And when we tell you that you turn around contradicting yourself and say that the book was written by some seminarian. Carey and Spurgeon learned without Seminary. They learned from books, like many of us do. Being self-taught means taking a book and learning from it. The book is not to be equated with the seminary teacher as you have been claiming. You contradict yourself. If your statement were true, then you would be saying that Carey and Spurgeon went to seminary because they studied from books that came from a seminary. Your position is ridiculous and you have contradicted yourself numerous times on this thread. -
Even though the questions are good I would like to suggest that they approach the issue from the wrong angle, not on purpose but by default.
Starting with the end in mind means that the intent of educating oneself as a preacher and teacher of the word is to equip yourself so that you can better equip God's people to reach maturity in the faith and to train them for works of service as Ephesians 4:11-16 tells us.
The reason I cite this scripture and slightly expound its meaning is because I believe that it provides a backdrop for the pursuit of theological study, whether formally or informally.
One of the things that saddens me most is the present day trend of accumulating knowledge that is disproportionate in volume to its God-intended consequent practical skill and obedience. The true exhilaration of the the Christian life is in the doing and the living not in the knowing and the studying.
A good friend of mine who has numerous doctorates and and has been the dean of the faculty of theology at universities once said: When I was young I used to be concerned about all the things i did not know about the Bible. But now in my seventies, I am concerned about all the things I do know but never seem to put into practice!
That sums it up for me. The reason we have a church of knowers and not doers is because often we as ministers and teachers emulate that philosophy. God designed the church in such a way that a pastor who has never been to Bible school sitting with his congregation of 10 under a tree in Africa can become more of what He wants than 100 pastors in the first world with a congregation of 10000, if he is simply willing to trust God's word enough to obey it.
Truth's potency is not measured in how much of it you understand or have amassed through study but in how much of it you believe enough to live out! -
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Take me for example. For the first five years of my Christian life, I heard "Get out and serve,get out and serve," and never did it. But then someone introduced me to Biblical and Systematic theology. As I studied, I saw an emphasis on evangelism and service. Someone also introduced me to Ray Comfort's "Hell's Best Kept Secret." The more I studied, the more I wanted to serve, to evangelize, etc. That is how it is supposed to work...God's Word brings the change, not exterior behavior modification. -
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Thinkingstuff Active Member
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They do it through teachers...
Eph 4:11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,
Eph 4:12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
And these teachers utilize the Word of God...
1Th 2:13 And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.
God does not just "poof" it into us. He uses means; and those means are teachers and preachers, teaching and preaching the Word. -
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