Intellectuelle

I wholeheartedly agree, Laura. It is amazing to me though how many Christians just don't get it that the gospel is what Christianity is about and that it should pervade their whole lives.

I obviously understand how to try to go about doing this within the context of more Reformed congregations, but how do we reach out to our friends and families who are stepped in mega-churchism and feel-goodism? I feel like I'm often the thorn in the flesh of these Christians and it's hard to know how much prodding is appropriate.

Absolutely correct, Laura. But it's also interesting to ask the question of where the education begins. One could posit that it's the pulpit, but then the preacher is always the product of a) his family, b) his seminary, and c) his personal study. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? I think our safest answer is that education really begins with individual study of the Word of God. "We are the makers of manners," and also the makers of cultures. So keep on studying, Laura, and someday you'll have a hand in the product of the education you're obtaining for yourself. And it's the Holy Spirit, ultimately, that educates anyone.

I completely understand the frustrations you express, Laura. I, too, grew up Baptist. My experiences with typical Sunday School teaching were very similar to what you describe. As a young adult, I had all I could stand and left the Baptist church to wander for years in and out of churches, trying various denominations. It was my time in the wilderness, and God travelled with me, teaching me all during that time--but finally He was ready to bring me back into a bond with and love for a body believers. And to my great surprise, the Path led me back to my roots, to a very small Southern Baptist church.

Even though it is small, it still suffers a few of the problems of a mega church. It definitely is not a place of deep theological teaching and understanding. As in any family, there have been many problems, misunderstandings, challenges, aggravations and frustrations in my little church 'family'. I teach a small group of teenage girls and where I have to start from to reach them and explain Truth... there are days when 'milk' seems too advanced.

But there are other days when amazing things happen, little glimmers of light that give me hope. There is great love here and great opportunities to love and serve and teach. And that's the key: not just teaching Truth, with Love as the aim, but Loving, with the revelation of Truth as the result...

Ashley, I've thought/stressed about that for quite a while, and basically, I've concluded that it's more of something taking place outside of us than we think. Of course changing someone's mind about something on such a large scale requires effort and patience, but I believe we underestimate God's role in changing someone's heart (and I'm not talking about unbelievers being converted) and overestimate our own conscious attempts at influence. I am a firsthand witness to this: getting to know Kilby, as someone raised in a strong family in the Reformed tradition, was absolutely decisive for me, and strangely enough, I don't think she had any idea just how much she had to do with how I've matured with respect to living like I believe the doctrines of grace. Furthermore, to date we have not even met; our acquaintance and friendship was developed wholly via e-mails, AIM conversations and (perhaps to validate it for the traditional sort who understand the concept of a pen-pal, but not of the blog - ;)) real letters. So my point? You live according to what you know is true (just don't take me out of context here, hehe), you pray for them, and while conversations are taking place and acts of love are being noticed, God is working on the minds of those people. And if they're like me, they're brought to a point where they start to seek God passionately themselves, without so much hand-holding, and things really take off. Uh...twenty minutes later...that's a summary of what I think about that. :)

Kilby, right on. And just like in evangelism, I worry far too much about how God will do his part through me. Hello...

Debra, bless you for struggling with those girls patiently anyway. And for struggling with the Church on the whole.

Yep. I was going to write something along these lines but now I see in your comment that you've already said it. Just like the Reformed know that our salvation is all of God, so is our ability to reason, our ability to read at all, our ability to understand Scripture. All is from God.

Which is why you are correct in turning your back on the question of blame and instead delightedly embracing the opportunity sweetly, winsomely to broker the best news ever to the found as well as to the lost.

It is a mystery to me why some Reformed, who of all people should know better, become prideful about their theology. We have nothing that is not from the Lord.

That is why I liked so much your quote from Bernarnd of Clairvaux and the path I see you taking. You are doing something that maybe is not rare but is not common enough among the Reformed community-- combining hunger for the Lord, His Word, and the Church's theology with a passion for His people. Erudition and humility rarely go together but the Lord has blessed you with both.

Laura, wow you tapped into a frustration I share. Postmodernism and relativism seem to play a role here, too. When I seek understanding of Scripture from others in my Baptist church, I get a lot of "well, everyone looks at it in his own way, but here's what I think . . . ," or "that depends on what version of the Bible you have." It's as if having theological understanding sufficient to answer a real question is un-Baptist.

Idea: What if we removed all the teaching literature from Sunday School, and provided only Bibles?

Thanks for all the wonderful reminders that it is the Holy Spirit, after all, who will guide and teach a seeker.

I really enjoyed reading this entry yesterday, but I couldn't comment on it since I was holding my sleepy son with my right arm.

I'm not feeling so passionate towards seminary lately, but I am passionate about theological eduation. One of the books that I feel changed my life is "Towards an Old Testament Theology" by Walter Kaiser. It is an academic books with Hebrew sprinkled throughout, and thus it will never make it onto the Christian bestsellers lists. It was assigned reading for a class called "Old Testament Theology." Far from being dry, it showed me that the Old Testament does have an overarching theme and the stories and poetry and prophecy within are not randomly placed moralistic pieces. I highly recommended it, even for those who do not know Hebrew.

When I applied for seminary, I intended to become an Old Testament professor. Now I'm not so sure, but I still believe that there is a particular dearth of good teaching on the Old Testament. And without understanding the OT, it is hard to make sense of Romans or Hebrews or Revelation--just to name a few.

I do like your attitude. There is no reason to blame other people for what is past, but there is reason to take the responsibility to change the situation in the future.

Okay, I'll quit rambling now. . .

I've enjoyed everyone's comments; it is hard in many ways to live out the gospel in front of family and friends who are across a wide ocean. And I know that all we have is from God and that it is God who does the changing of hearts. It is a good reminder to know my prodding does nothing except through the grace of Christ alone.

About Christian education, I couldn't agree more. When we left for Scotland, our pastor gave Bryce the book, Finding Christ in the Old Testament; it has been invaluable. Teaching the catechism in families and churches (even outside the Reformed tradition) would be one huge leap in the right direction as well. It would tie in very nicely with a classical education too. :)

Laura, I absolutely love this post - its something I've been thinking about writing for awhile. Last night at my church, we made some decisions about our education program that will hopefully benefit the entire congregation in the longterm by providing the adults with a more robust theological training. My pastor and I don't need to evaluate the situation any more, its time to be part of the solution.

Perhaps it is too late for this comment as the day is nearly gone but...the Word of God is living, real active and powerful... so it must be the basis and ground of any study I, for one, am tired of apologizing for having convictions, and having the ability to actually read a passage and say what it means. Not this is "what it means to me" but this is what it says and now I have to apply it to my life. The bible is a rich, full, deep, endless story of God's love and work.
You are right that it has become 'sappified' by all the supposed helps given the church. I do think we can assign some blame-for the laziness of people who never want meat, only milk. We are somehow deluded into thinking that God owes us an easy way...but that is the American way, not the biblical way.

Hehe...yes, Pete does have an explosive laugh. :)

That being said, this post is dead on. One of the hugest revelations I received upon becoming Reformed is that yes, all the Scripture is about Jesus, not the requirements for us to live up to. It still saddens me how much people buy into the latter idea because it feels so much easier, so much more natural. But that's the point--God calls us out of the natural into the *supernatural*.

But we can't really assign blame to any one factor--this is complex, like most other things in the Church. The best solution really is to love the Word ourselves and take up that fight now.

Of course all Scripture is about Jesus, culminates in Jesus and His death and resurrection, and begins and ends with Him. Baptists don't know that? I don't get it--maybe because I wuz one (and still am at heart). I'm just not understanding what you're getting now that you didn't get in your SBC background. Are you saying that what you heard was too moralistic, not emphasizing the grace of God in bringing about our salvation? Or something else?

Sherry, I didn't mean to make any blanket statement about Baptists. The best preaching I've ever heard comes from a Reformed Baptist church in Florida. :D But yes, I am saying that I got a Sunday School education from two Baptist churches that did very little to propel me toward a comprehensive, Christological understanding of the Scriptures. It was moralistic by default, because Christ was an afterthought, and when the gospel was preached it was watered down so that, supposedly, a child could understand it. The problem is, I think we *way* underestimate what a child can and cannot understand, though I know that sounds presumptuous for an 18-year-old not-yet-mother to say. Haha. But that's for another day, and hopefully another person with a bit more authority to argue for such a thing.