Who has noticed that believing God's Word The Bible as written in Its simplicity and man's training of intellectualism are in conflict with each other? What did Apostle Paul call that working?
I recall being invited to a certain Protestant Church (which I won't say which denomination), and the pastor had a doctorate from Vanderbilt University. He said he was going to preach on Timothy in the New Testament. So I got my Bible out and opened to 1 Timothy, waiting for what part he was going to cover. The whole sermon he never quoted one single verse from God's Word.
Instead, he went on supposition that Apostle Paul had legally adopted Timothy, which is not written (yet some scholars believe). And then he used that as a Socialist platform telling Americans they need to adopt children from other nations.
The only part of his message that was Biblical at all was the point that we are to help the poor, the fatherless, the widow. But nowhere does God's Word infer that means literally adopting children specifically from OTHER nations, especially when there's plenty of needy children in our own nation.
Some go to that Church because of that pastor's education, having a Ph.D. from Vanderbilt and all. That was one of the reasons I was invited to hear him preach, which I told the person inviting me it doesn't necessarily mean God called them to preach. That person was wrapped up in a spirit of intellectualism, showing more respect for man's education than following the simplicity that is God's Word. It was the pastor's doctorate that apealled more to that person.
This doesn't mean all highly educated pastors are like that one though. I recall covering a deep subject from the OT to a friend who had a hard time believing it. But his Church had a separate pastor duty who was a Hebrew scholar. His pastor covered it how I did, and my friend came back to me and told me, which he then believed it. But why then? Most likely out of more respect for a title and university education his pastor had? Most likely, which again tends to show more respect for intellectualism from university education than the simplicity in God's Word as written. The difference with his pastor and that one I went to hear? The latter one obviously knew about the simplicity of God's Word, and didn't allow his education to get in Its way. He used his education in favor of God's Word, and not the other way around.
I recall being invited to a certain Protestant Church (which I won't say which denomination), and the pastor had a doctorate from Vanderbilt University. He said he was going to preach on Timothy in the New Testament. So I got my Bible out and opened to 1 Timothy, waiting for what part he was going to cover. The whole sermon he never quoted one single verse from God's Word.
Instead, he went on supposition that Apostle Paul had legally adopted Timothy, which is not written (yet some scholars believe). And then he used that as a Socialist platform telling Americans they need to adopt children from other nations.
The only part of his message that was Biblical at all was the point that we are to help the poor, the fatherless, the widow. But nowhere does God's Word infer that means literally adopting children specifically from OTHER nations, especially when there's plenty of needy children in our own nation.
Some go to that Church because of that pastor's education, having a Ph.D. from Vanderbilt and all. That was one of the reasons I was invited to hear him preach, which I told the person inviting me it doesn't necessarily mean God called them to preach. That person was wrapped up in a spirit of intellectualism, showing more respect for man's education than following the simplicity that is God's Word. It was the pastor's doctorate that apealled more to that person.
This doesn't mean all highly educated pastors are like that one though. I recall covering a deep subject from the OT to a friend who had a hard time believing it. But his Church had a separate pastor duty who was a Hebrew scholar. His pastor covered it how I did, and my friend came back to me and told me, which he then believed it. But why then? Most likely out of more respect for a title and university education his pastor had? Most likely, which again tends to show more respect for intellectualism from university education than the simplicity in God's Word as written. The difference with his pastor and that one I went to hear? The latter one obviously knew about the simplicity of God's Word, and didn't allow his education to get in Its way. He used his education in favor of God's Word, and not the other way around.