Thought of the Day 04.08.10

One of the hardest things in the world to do is first see and then admit the uncomfortable implications of a pattern of reasoning when it threatens our cherished belief in our own rightness.

For instance, science should be humble for the simple reason that the history of science is the history of dogmatic error after dogmatic error being reversed by evidence. Nevertheless, scientists today all too often refuse to accept the obvious implication that at least some ideas held dogmatically today will be absurd errors tomorrow.

But another example comes from theology. When Christians look at Jews who reject Jesus, we are baffled. We wonder how people could know the Bible so well and still get it so completely wrong. Yet, look at this another way.

We observe that millions of Scripture-studying Jews think they’ve got it right yet miss the whole point. If so, is it also possible that millions of Christians who study the Bible seriously have it equally wrong? Logic compels us to believe that it is not only possible, but tragically likely.
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3 comments:

Stan said...

Without trying to disagree, what about the Holy Spirit factor? The Jews who studied the Scriptures and got it wrong never had the promise "He will teach you all things".

I'm a bit concerned about the argument that says that, just as the vast majority of Jews had it all wrong, it is just as likely that the vast majority of genuine believers under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit have it all wrong. While I wholeheartedly concur with the serious call to humility, with this premise, on what basis would any of us even begin to think we might possibly be right?

April 8, 2010 at 7:06 AM
Andrew Tallman said...

When I used the term "Christians," I was intending to cover everyone who would use the label for himself. So the people this thought is intended to provoke are people who call themselves Christians and study the Bible seriously, believing they know what it says. (In the back of my head, I'm thinking about the religious leaders of Jesus's day who diligently memorized the Bible but totally failed to see The Word standing right in front of them, a problem that I don't think ended in the 1st Century.)

Had I been meaning that term to only include "genuine believers under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit," of course your concern would have been appropriate.

Although you seem to be disagreeing with me here, I would actually think you would be thrilled to agree with this thought's warning for precisely the reason that these two groups are not the same.

Also, the inability to properly understand the Scriptures without the guidance of the Holy Spirit is precisely the reason that so many people (Jews, Christians, cultists) might "know" the Scriptures and yet be horribly wrong about them.

The whole point of this thought was to call those who are just plain certain they have the Bible right to a humility born of the awareness that they already believe it's possible to "know and miss" with the Bible in regard to other groups. They just need to take the same observation and be aware that it may be just as true for themselves. I believe you and I agree about this.

Without this warning, we are left to believe that simply studying the Bible on our own guarantees we'll get it right, a dangerous idea which leaves us defenseless against the obvious observation that diverse groups do this and yet come to diverse incompatible conclusions about what it says, even on fundamental questions.

April 8, 2010 at 9:43 AM
Stan said...

Andrew: "Although you seem to be disagreeing with me here ..."

No, not disagreeing. Raising a question. Which is why I started with "Without trying to disagree ..." and ended with "I wholeheartedly concur with the serious call to humility".

April 8, 2010 at 10:24 AM

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