“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth” Paul to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:15,16.
My habit for a long time has been to listen to university courses while I’m driving in the car. I rarely listen to the radio and I have learned so much during those A to B drives. I’m currently on my second hearing of a series called “Jesus and his Jewish influences.” This is a very good series by a learned professor who not only has a Ph.D. in classical archaeology but has been on many archaeological digs in Israel. She never tips her hand on her personal views of Jesus, but she is quick to point out where the bible is wrong. She speaks of the southern kingdom bias of Old Testament writers, juxtaposing inclusive Yahwism in the northern kingdom (God plus other gods) with exclusive Yahwism in the southern kingdom (God plus no other gods), as if both options are equally valid – completely missing the point that exclusive Yahwism WAS the whole point! Many times through the series she cites scholars who routinely dismiss the biblical record (was David even a real person and did he lead a kingdom or a little backwater tribe).
Yet it was scholars who for 41 years steadfastly supported the discovery of Piltdown man – supposedly the evolutionary missing link – until it was found to be a complete hoax. It was scholars who for 50 – 100 years laughed off the biblical record of the Hittite people as a fantasy until archaeology proved the Hittites to be indeed an ancient empire.
It seems to me that there is a fine point between scholarly work and cynicism. Scholarly work seeks the truth while cynicism seeks to dismantle. Professional doubt is an easy pedestal to sit on. Lily Tomlin said: “No matter how cynical you get it is impossible to keep up.”
Which brings me to this thought. Am I approaching the Christian life looking for reasons to believe or reasons to disbelieve? Whatever bias I begin with, I tend to find. Somehow, we must use our brain and not be infants swayed by every religious fad that rears its goofy head, but we must also use our heart and ask, ‘Lord what do you want to say to me?’ Both head and heart is the responsible way to walk the Christian walk. Let’s do our best to present ourselves as one approved…
Pastor Leon Throness
