Early this past semester, I had decided that I was going to get a head start on seminary. I was going to actually study my faith. What happened to that?
Amanda and I went to see "The Happening" with our campus minister, his wife, and a married couple who are alumnus of our campus ministry. Ok movie, but not Shyamalans best, btw. Afterward, we went out and ate and talked and goofed off.
Well, when you get theology nerds together, it's hard to avoid a theology conversation. And three of them were graduates from Emanuel School of Religion. Way out of my legue, but I understand more than I used to.
Any way, my campus minister told me about a teacher that he had. He donated his books to ESR's library when they were getting started. It was like 5,000 volumes. And that's not all that he had.
He had a book shelf in every room and in his hallway. Full. He had a fire proof room with every wall linned with bookshelves and rows of bookshelves in the middle; a literal actual library in his house.
His belief was that if you're serious about studying, then you put your money into it. Tithing goes to the church, and another tithe goes into stocking your personal library.
Another of his teachers graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary with a degree in The Bible. Literally. He has a Doctorate in Old Testament, and a Doctorate in New Testament from Princeton. Wrote his discertation in one week on a manual typewriter.
I've got four or five books. And I haven't read one of them all the way through. I've all but finished my Metzger book, but I managed to let myself get side tracked. And when I read the stuff from Metzger's book, I manage to forget it as soon as I close it because I'm not doing anything with it. It's just in my head for a time.
I will probably never be the guy that writes his discertation in one week. There are certain genetic limitations on intelligence, and while my family's got brains, we ain't got alien technoledgy implanted in our skulls. I'll probably never be the guy who has a personal library that rivals Princeton's. But, I can be the guy that I had planned on being, that I had claimed that God is calling me to be. Not a genius, but serious.
I sit around and get bored. I get bored. How? If I'm doing what I say I am, how do I get bored? I play the same video games over and over again (because I can't afford new ones). I check my email about 30 times a day; not because I'm expecting something important, but because I enjoy talking to people on Ray Comfort's weblog about theolog. Many may think that this is an honorable endevor for one who is doing the things I say I'm trying to do, but is it really? What comes out of it? No one's comming to Christ on the internet. Especially if their image of Christianity comes from his blog. Ray's a bit conservative for my taste, and my dislike of his style doesn't mean anything of great value, but there are some REAL NUT JOBS there.
My campus minster once showed me his class notes from one of his M.Div. classes. The test is entirely concepts and ideas. EVERYTHING was fill in the blank, no word banks and short answer. No multiple choice. No true/false. My school is not likely to prepare me for that level of study. We can barely call our collection of books a real library, for cryin' out loud.
So what am I doing?
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2 comments:
Hey Robb,
I hope I'm not being rude by asking this, but I'm very curious as to what the posts that Ray deleted said. Not because I think you've actually said anything wrong, mind you. Ray is just....Ray.
You're not being rude at all, but I think there's some sort of miscommunication here.
He hasn't deledted or blocked any of my posts.
When I say he's a bit conservative, I mean that he is conservative theologically for my taste. I have no problem with him choosing what does and doesn't go on his site. It's the same thing I do.
^_^
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