Recently, I have run into several people, online and in real life, who equate working with people in need as simply another way to brag about their piety. As if Christ never called us to love people through service - and what we really should be spending our time doing is studying the scriptures and limiting our service to others to saving them from Hell.
This idea strikes me as strange and, conversely, as arrogant.
I agree that knowledge of scripture and doctrine is important for growth and orthodoxy, but isn't it easy to let that knowledge wither on the vine if it is never applied? It reminds me of a professor I had in graduate school - he would spend hours talking about all kinds of counseling theories and all the important people he had published with - all while making obvious that he looked down on the very counselors he was teaching because they were actually going to lower themselves to work with people! It was only later that I found out that he was actually afraid of people.
It seems to me that Christianity is a relationship with Christ, which demands relationships with others - if we are not willing to be vulnerable and get our hands dirty - we are burying our talents and wasting time. Nothing to brag about - it just is.
Finally, doesn't exalting yourself over others by name calling, sarcasm, indignation, and generalized contempt - all components of leveling your opponent in an argument, sound more like arrogance and bragging?
Comments?
This idea strikes me as strange and, conversely, as arrogant.
I agree that knowledge of scripture and doctrine is important for growth and orthodoxy, but isn't it easy to let that knowledge wither on the vine if it is never applied? It reminds me of a professor I had in graduate school - he would spend hours talking about all kinds of counseling theories and all the important people he had published with - all while making obvious that he looked down on the very counselors he was teaching because they were actually going to lower themselves to work with people! It was only later that I found out that he was actually afraid of people.
It seems to me that Christianity is a relationship with Christ, which demands relationships with others - if we are not willing to be vulnerable and get our hands dirty - we are burying our talents and wasting time. Nothing to brag about - it just is.
Finally, doesn't exalting yourself over others by name calling, sarcasm, indignation, and generalized contempt - all components of leveling your opponent in an argument, sound more like arrogance and bragging?
Comments?