----- 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.
