----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, April 02, 2004 3:08
PM
Subject: [TruthTalk] Education - Is it
evil?
Judy wrote:
... when I hear someone speak on that level
with
understanding that can only come from God -
I
listen. But when someone tries to impress with
big
words and complicated semantics. Oh well!
To each his
own.
jt: Let me say right up front that I have never said
that education
was evil, the question is
from Lance. However, ignorance is a form
of knowledge, so whether a
person's education is good or evil depends
on it's content. If
it is looked to in place of God it is an idol.
I think what you said here identifies the root problem that exists
when
educated men speak and you are present. It seems to me that
perhaps you
are insecure with your own educational level. You surmise
that when
someone uses "big words" or "complicated semantics" that they are
trying
to impress someone. Most of the time, that is not at all the
case.
jt: I am quite comfortable with where I am at right
now but why
am I the issue?
The reason that "big words" are used is simply because those
who
exercise themselves toward serious study begin to develop a
larger
vocabulary. Their knowledge of other scholars who have gone
before them
increases, and their knowledge of words increase. They
use "big words"
because such words better convey a meaning. Of
course, if they knew
ahead of time that such words were considered "big
words" by their
audience, they would not use them, or if they did, they
would back up
and define them first.
jt: Hmmm .. The Bible is right on when it
says students become like
their teacher. Jesus used the language of the
common people during
his earthly ministry and His is the image I want to
be conformed to.
What bothers me with your reaction to the educated among us is that
it
perpetuates a class system among us. Scholars invariably become
more
esoteric in their language and understanding. It is simply an
artifact
of serious study that goes beyond the level in which others
engage.
jt: Who is doing the perpetuating here - the high
class folk or those of
us who are more down to earth? My Australian
heritage probably does
not help here. There is a definite bias in my
homeland toward Pommie
snobbery that came to the colony with the
Oxford/Cambridge blueblood
types.
When I was a student in biology, there were very few people
who I could
talk with about biology. The only people I could talk
with concerning
my interests in biology were other professors and graduate
students
because nobody else could understand what I was talking
about. They did
not understand the words I used, and they did not
understand the
concepts. The further I progressed in my studies, the
more lonely I
became in regards to academic discussions.
jt: This is true in any field and it gets worse as
things become more
and more specialized. There is a language for
medicine and a language
for psychology, a language for law, a language for
theology, and
apparently a language for biology though that's a new
one on me.
I would have to travel across the country to conventions with other
scientists to present my research with those who would understand, and
I would read journals that only scientists read, the titles of which most
people had never heard and could not understand when I said them.
"What are you reading?" I would reply, "Copies." They would
say,
"Huh?" I would say, "oh, just a scientific journal." "Oh,
ok. So, what
is the article about?" I would reply, "It is about the ontogenetic
relationship
between prey size and body size in Nerodia fasciata
compressicauda." They
would reply, "What?" I think you can see how tedious conversations
became
and why I might have a tendency to crawl into my own shell and be more
of a hermit.
jt: This may be true in the area of your secular
studies but should not
be so in the body of Christ and this is why I do not
like all this
theological talk. To me it's like Babel
revisited.
My point is that I never wanted to impress anyone with big words or
my
knowledge. It is just that my studies took me into a realm
that
invariably separated me from others who did not pursue such
studies.
Believe me, I would do almost anything to be able to communicate
with
non-biologists about my own research and interests, but the nature
of
serious study simply separates scholars from non-scholars, both
in
language (words used) and in understanding.
jt: This is why we need to stick with God's Word.
There is such Bible
illiteracy out there and this is the kind of thing
that puts people off and
makes them think they can't understand for
themselves. We attended a
PCA Church here full of Calvinists. The pastor
was a nice guy but very
intellectual and most of the people didn't have a
clue what he was
talking about. Big waste of time all the way
around.
Now the same thing happens in theological discussions. I believe
that
in Christ, these natural barriers that separate the educated from
the
non-educated should come tumbling down. There are two sides to
this.
The one who is educated needs to tread a little more softly and try
not
to inundate others with big words and difficult material. On the
other
hand, those who are less educated should not marginalize those who
are
educated, nor should they have the attitude that everyone educated
is
arrogant or dismissive of the uneducated.
jt: I think it is out of place to put secular
"educational" definitions
upon walking after the Spirit and the study of God's
Word. This is
the problem and this is what causes division.
Christianity should not be
adversarial in and of itself other than Truth vs
Error. All truth is not
positive and all error is not negative - and noone
has arrived that I
know of so far.
Somehow, we need to be joined
together, the educated with the
uneducated, in a way that is peaceful
and harmonious. I do not
believe that the educated must cease from his
studies, neither do I believe
that the uneducated must marginalize the
educated, in order for this to
happen. What do you think, Judy?
jt: I think we should give this a whole lot more
thought.
