I said last time that in America we’ve (wrongly) equated spiritual knowledge with spiritual maturity. We think that the more you know, the more godly you are.
Because we’ve created that culture, we have Christians whose goal is to know more and more, and that’s why they come to church on Sundays. So … if our sermons don’t stuff more Greek and Hebrew and obscure (and probably useless) bible history into their heads, they’re not happy. (And many, many preachers are worshipping these people by giving them exactly what they want.)
So, actually, for these people, “I’m not getting fed” really means, “To feel spiritually mature (and superior) I need to expand my store of virtually useless bible information so I can impress my friends and win Bible Jeopardy and you’re not giving me the facts I need!”
This is SO ridiculous.
I also think it’s a MAJOR reason why so many Christians feel spiritually empty inside. It’s because they’re approaching Christianity like it’s something to be studied, rather than lived – and God becomes someone to know about, rather than to know.
Okay, I have to rant on this more, but I’ll do it a little later (in fact, two more coming today). If you don’t want to hear any more about this, I’ll understand if you stop reading my blog – but you’ll regret it for the rest of your life. So good luck with that.
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Tuesday, January 22, 2008
“Waaaaa. I’m Not Getting Fed” (Part 5(a))
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3 comments:
Am I the only one that gets upset when I hear a Christian start a conversation about the Bible with the following phrase, "I've read this before but . . ."
I know this statement is rooted in the idea that spiritual maturity is equal to Bible knowledge.
I remember reading somewhere that Christians are spending so much time learning (Sunday AM, Sunday PM, midweek PM, Sunday School, small group or whatever combination their church has) that they have no time to apply anything. The last thing they need is to go to another Bible study.
You nailed the whole "superior" thing. Having been down this road myself (and spending several years repenting of it), learning about Jesus without proactive application won't produce a Christ follower. It'll produce a Pharisee. It'll contribute to the already crappy view that a lot of people outside of Christianity have about us--that we're judgmental hypocrites. God forgive me for the time I wasted "lengthening my phylacteries" instead of imitating Jesus...
I'm looking forward to the rest of the posts, and how we can "turn the tide."
Have I ever told you how much I hate Bible Trivia games?
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