Please Don't Freak Out

I've been reading Peter Enns' fantastic book "The Evolution of Adam". And even though I agree with a lot of his (unorthodox) conclusions about how to approach Scripture, I believe the true worth of this book is his discussion of how other early Christians like Paul and late B.C. Jews read and interpreted their Scripture. (Hint: it wasn't nearly as black & white as we try to impress upon them today; there was a lot of twisting and fitting Scripture to fit arguments and culture).

Couple that with my reading of Matthew Paul Turner's "Our Great Big American God", which is also excellent. This book covers how the ideas & doctrines about who God is and how he acts changed from the first Puritans to step on North America's shore until today.

Both these books need to be read because we all need to realize that interpreting Scripture (and even what is proper orthopraxy) has changed quite a bit. It's often been recycled and it's often ping-ponged. There have been many, many different interpretations of both Scripture and proper orthopraxy since the first century, and all by supposed brilliant theologians. No one can agree.

I think these days we've become more about control up front so as not to pollute the flock. Trying to weed out the tares before they infect the wheat. So we've seen churches require you believe in certain things to become members. I understand the heart of this, I do, but it is pretty short-sighted.

I'm realizing how much of our accepted "orthodoxy" on the Protestant side of things is often just a reaction (subconsciously or strictly emotionally, at times) from a belief another denomination or Catholic/Orthodox church holds. Or our interpretation of Scripture is often affected by our own cultural bias, and our recent history (how we were raised in a certain denomination; I might end up writing a post on how our psychological development also plays a part in this, in what we're drawn to or avoid). As Peter Enns shows in his book, Paul very much does this when he quotes the Old Testament. Often, he uses the quotation in a very different manner than its original context!

It is essential to realize this. Yes, pursue truth. Yes, pursue proper interpretation. But let's dialogue about it. If someone expresses an alternate view of eschatology that you're not familiar with (even if you're the pastor and supposed to be the smartest!) or a view of how to read Genesis 1-3 you're not familiar with, here's what you do: DON'T FREAK OUT!!!

Don't freak out and say, "What? That's heresy!!!" Realize that many of your traditional beliefs were once heresy to the majority. Let's have a dialogue. Let's respect one another and realize that one of the most important things is that the other person is clearly diving into Scripture and pursuing God. I'm pretty sure you can put Jonathan Edwards and Philip Yancey in a room and they'll disagree about nearly everything. Yet, they are both highly influential, well-respected, brilliant theologians.

I recently listened to a sermon given by Bruxy Cavey at Woodland Hills Church (subbing in while the great Greg Boyd was on vacation). He was talking about the Pharisee that asked Jesus "What is the greatest commandment?" Cavey stated that even though the Pharisee asked only for the greatest one, Jesus could not limit Himself to one, but had to include "Love your neighbor as yourself" because it's so much a part of loving God.

So that's what is most important to keep in mind during doctrine discussions. The issue isn't that we disagree, it's that we don't respect one another. And really, we often don't trust God. If we did both, doctrine wouldn't become divisive, but could become something that encourages the church. In every other place in life, disagreement leads to education, deeper thinking, more robust views, and a deeper appreciation of the subject matter. Why can't we have the same respect for Scripture?