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This subject requires far more than a blog entry, but I submit it here for personal reflection.

A corresponding entry on Bible Study can be found: HERE
An entry on "Statements of Faith" was not featured by WGHP. It can be read: HERE

The Workings of the System

In my family we've participated in many of the “normal” activities associated with American Evangelicalism today. We've sent our kids to AWANA and they go to Vacation Bible School and other church-sponsored activities. However, I am careful not to let them get caught up in any “system.”

The “system” is not all bad. It can provide some of the activities mentioned above. But there is much about the “system” that is detrimental to the life of a Christian and to the calling of the church. More precisely, I should say “systems” as there are many variations, some more damaging and stifling than others.

Stuck on the Foundation

Most Evangelical systems provide the foundation. They preach Christ. This is commendable. They feel compelled to bring the gospel of the grace of God to the lost. They believe that they should teach Bible verses to their young. All this is praiseworthy. But I fear that while the “system” may bring babes into the truth, the very design of the system is to keep them babes.

I’ve functioned in and around a number of these systems in my life. They all have one thing in common (to one degree or another); they all hinder one’s ability to follow the biblical command in Paul’s final epistle to the church that the individual must “study to show [himself] approved unto God.” Even the seminary student is placed in a system that requires Him to study within the boundaries of his denomination. And in the end, he takes his place in a seat of authority exalted above the laity; often never reaching beyond what he was taught within the seminary walls. The great apostle's command to study is laid aside.

We Must Make It Our Own

Surely, young believers need to be nurtured in the faith, but even they must drink the milk of the Word and make the truths of God their own. Coming to a saving knowledge of Christ after 25 years in a certain “system” and after years of religious education and years of doing my own teaching in the system, I found myself believing in the deity of Christ, but with no unalterable basis for this. That is, I knew the “argument” and the “proof texts” for the doctrine, but I had never made the doctrine my own through a careful study of the Word. I had to settle the issue for myself.

As Dr. Bullinger wrote: “Each one must look out the reference for himself. He must trace the words through all their occurrences where these are given; he must consider their usages; he must read the contexts; he must make his lists and tables, and do his countings for himself: for so only can he feed upon the Word and the words, and be nourished, and be strengthened himself, and grow thereby: so only will he be able to say with Jeremiah: 'Thy words were found and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart'."

The Danger of Application Teaching

Even local churches that boast of "going through the Bible" have descended into merely application teaching. Almost all texts are used for "daily application" without regard to context or primary interpretation. In the system I've been in for the last five years, it seems as though every message taken from anywhere in the Bible is melted down to a variation of one of four topics. Context and interpretation are ignored and application is substituted for study.

Now, not all application is bad. Of course a study of the Word should impact our lives. But if we do not seek the context and proper interpretation of a passage how then can we properly apply it?

Pre-Conditioned to Seek a System

Having come to a knowledge of salvation through my own personal study of the scripture and through the preaching of grace by faithful men, I somehow believed I needed to then be part of a “system.” Having fought the gospel of grace for years, my conversion was sure because I had spent years trying to disprove what I had now accepted. I set out to settle the issue of eternal life for myself and was thus planted firmly in the truth. This is the pattern (settling doctrines for myself) that was sacrificed as I joined different systems.

One thing that has puzzled me in my 17 years in the Body has been the appalling lack of biblical curiosity among people who have been in the church 20, 30, 40 or even 50 years. I am a firm believer that since God commanded us to “study,” He therefore knows that we don’t know everything. I am not looking for these men to have absolute and infallible knowledge of the Bible, rather I am looking for men who have wrestled with the scriptures, who have asked questions, sought answers on their own and who continue this worthy endeavor. Sadly, I have found precious few who have such desires and I blame the systems.

Indoctrinating the Young into the System

I see young Christians being called “missionaries” before they are even teenagers. I see them forced into roles that the “system” applauds when these young hearts have no idea why they believe what they profess to believe. Their piety serves the “system” and serves their parents’ egos in the “system.” Again, I am generalizing for the sake of space, but my experience is that my characterization is the norm rather than the exception.

This moving of the young quickly through the system seems to have worsened in recent years. The need for approval from the community and the explosion of emotion-based youth programs have led to a dearth of scripturally competent young adults. I’ve worked with college-aged Bible Study leaders who were unable to pass the most basic Bible knowledge test. I have been shocked at the gross level of Bible ignorance among teenagers who have been raised in the Evangelical churches.

The call for Christians to defend the faith is almost unheard of in American youth programs. A defense of the faith, if desired at all, is left to the “professionals” in the “system.” And the professionals essentially consist of seminary graduates who formally learned whatever “system” they were in; studying the works of others for two to four years.

Be a Berean

If our apostle, Paul, was not above being questioned (Acts 17). If the Apostle to the Circumcision, Peter, was able to be accused "to his face for he was in the wrong" (Gal 2), surely we are all open to question. In fact, the Holy Spirit calls the Bereans "noble" for searching Paul's words against the scriptures. In grace, can we not even talk about these issues?

I recently attended a denominational “revival” in which the preacher bragged about his degree and the “thousands” of sermons he has preached in 32 years as a Pastor. He then proceeded to preach a message full of Greek mythology and errant sophisms that any untaught 15-year-old could have given. That night I could not have approached that man questioning his interpretation, but when I preached from that same pulpit months later, contradicting his interpretation, no one bothered to question me. We bow and scrape to the pulpit.

But worse than any of that is the system’s tendency to stifle bible study. The “system” may offer a myriad of Bible Studies, Bible Study Books and Bible Study Guides… but they all have hidden walls and more often than not the questions associated with these Bible Studies are more introspective than interpretive.

On the few occasions when I have approached speakers with simple questions about their teachings, I have been dismissed and then badgered with questions from the adherents asking what seminary I have attended. This is often followed by a recitation of the speaker's "credentials."

God is On Your Side

If seminary graduates from different systems cannot even agree on the doctrine of baptism or on whether Christ is eternal God, why would we ever conclude that such degrees are trump cards, stifling all questions? If the seminaries have no answers, we must find them for ourselves. When we stand before God, there will be no seminary grad to answer for us.

God wants us to study. He knows we are fallible and weak. If we truly seek, we will crawl ever closer to illumination. But if we surrender the call and command to study for ourselves, we will have no reward before God.

Struggling with a verse or a passage is normal, but if our response is to hand God the phone number to the church office, there will be neither illumination nor praise from Him.

A corresponding entry on Bible Study can be found: HERE
An entry on "Statements of Faith" was not featured by WGHP. It can be read: HERE

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