I have just come across a very interesting sermon titled, ""Why Bible College is Unscriptural and Wrong." As a seminary lecturer, this automatically intrigued me. I thought that it might be good to check out what this preacher had to say about the topic. At the same time, I also wondered why a pastor of a church would bother preaching a sermon against bible college/seminary and entitle his sermon in such a polemical manner. So I listened to the sermon he preached on February 10, 2008.
The pastor gave 5 reasons why he strongly believes a bible college is unscriptural and wrong. Let me highlight two of them and the following is extracted from the website of the church the pastor belongs to (the website listed 4 reasons, but in the sermon, the pastor provided 5):
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1. The Blasphemy of Bible College
"But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ." - Matthew 23:8-10
In the previous verses, Jesus clearly prohibits the use of 3 terms in reference to pastors and religious leaders: Rabbi, Father, and Master.
A perfect example of the fact that Bible colleges are completely patterned after worldly institutions is their "Masters" degree program. In an effort to perfectly mirror worldly schools, Bible colleges will confer titles such as "Master of Divinity," "Master of Education," and "Master of Pastoral Theology" upon their graduates. This is a clear violation of the teaching of Jesus Christ that such titles are off limits and belong solely to him.
Just as it is blasphemous for a Catholic priest to be called "Father," or for a Jewish leader to be called "Rabbi," it is equally blasphemous for a Baptist preacher or educator do hold the title of "Master." To say that it is wrong for Catholics and Jews to use these titles and then to use one of them ourselves is utter hypocrisy. This inconsistency and hypocrisy stems from an attempt to be patterned after the worldly school system.
2. The Only Mention of "College" in the Bible is Associated with a Female Preacher
"College" is mentioned only one time in the Bible in two parallel passages:
"So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asahiah, went unto Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college;) and they communed with her." - 2 Kings 22:14
"And Hilkiah, and they that the king had appointed, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college:) and they spake to her to that effect." - 2 Chronicles 34:22
Personally, I do not believe that anything in the Bible is incidental, coincidental, or accidental. If Bible College was such an important part of God's program, then why is it never mentioned in the Bible in a positive light? Many will point to Elisha's "School of the Prophets" as a scriptural mandate for Bible college. However, does the Bible really speak of a "school" of the prophets?
If you repeat a lie often enough, people will begin to believe it. The reality is that the word "school" is also only mentioned one time in the Bible, and it has nothing to do with Elisha:
"And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God. But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus." - Acts 19:8,9
The "school" of Tyrannus, just as the synagogue, was a place that Paul and the other disciples went to preach to unbelievers. It was not a training instution for God's people, but rather for the world. Paul went there simply to win souls, just as he went to the synagogue to win souls.
Therefore the only mention of "college" in the Bible involves a woman preacher, and only mention of "school" in the Bible involves people disputing with the word of God. This cannot be an accident.
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For the rest of the article, click here.
To listen to the sermon, download it here (make sure you listen to the 3rd reason why the preacher believed the bible college is wrong - go to the 31st minute of the sermon - it literally blew me away when I listened to his extremely ingenious , imaginative and creative interpretation of Gen 2:23-25 as a text against not only the bible college in particular but other colleges/tertiary institutions in general as well!).
Oh dear....what am I doing teaching in a seminary? Should I resign from STM and look for another job? Could we be wrong and unscriptural in calling my colleague, "Rabbi"?
Oh dear...Repent! Repent!! Kyrie Eleison.....
13 comments:
I found point 4 and 5 makes sense though. Having too many bible colleges will give the impression that maybe the local church has not done enough to teach their members?
On his website:
"Don't expect anything contemporary or liberal. We are an old-fashioned, independent, fundamental, King James Bible only, separated Baptist church and not ashamed to say so."
...pening....
Thanks to these attitudes, it is not a wonder that non-Christians slander Christians as stupid cum ignorant people with *blind* faith.
my dear seminary colleague and pauline scholar,
you are not in the wrong place or wrong profession or wrong calling and do not need to repent.
it is the guy who is preaching from eisegesis who needs the repentance (tshuvah)! after all, st paul went to school studying under rabbi gamaliel and turned out to be the best rabbi of his day.
Oh, I should apply for a down grade to BD or perhaps BTh liao!
Hi keropok lekor,
But what about his earlier points? Haha
Hi JW,
having said that, I tabik him for having memorised 100 chapters of the NT....which one of us has done that?
Sometimes it takes people like that to remind us of where we stand in terms of our own devotion and commitment to our faith.
Perng Shyang,
Too late now...haha
Dear Rabbi Anthony,
Thanks for your assurance and affirmation.
Well, but I suspect some will say that Paul learned under Rabbi Gamaliel before he was "converted" and "born again".....That's why he was wrong, and needed the 3 years period in the desert of Arabia to sort out his theology... :-)
Hi KY,
Rightly, credits ought to be given to him on that.
So far, I met only one Christian who told me that he memorize the NT. That was 8 years ago. He is a 7-day Adventist. And he asked me to test him. And so I did. I asked him what's John 3.16.
And you know what? He couldn't recall!!!
The other Christian that I heard who committed the NT to memory is John Gilchrist, who is actively working in the Muslim community.
As for myself...oh dear...mercy...
Your post reminded me of one of Teresa Kok's recent post - so much so she had to change the title of her post - your post ah, some blur cats will come and read and "believe" you!
According to his logic of (1) and Luke 6:46 "Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?, we also cannot call Jesus "Lord" then.
And with his logic on (2), there mustn't also be any sermons, committees, baptists for that matter, and seriously not even any pastors.
Therefore, because the local church is not teaching the Bible sufficiently as it should, the "Bible college" has sprung up as a place where people can go to learn Bible in-depth. This has resulted in the church service becoming even more shallow and devoid of spiritual meat. Now that Bible college has taken over the task of teaching Bible doctrine, the church feels even less compelled to do so. The result is that the common man in the pew who is not a Bible college student goes unfed.
Can't make head or tail of his logic. I just found out that this is the guy Reb was telling us about the hilarious interpretation of "him that pisseth against the wall" - am i wrong to say that he just might be the "not a Bible college student" that is unfed? Ooops.
And on (4), I think churches run into the exact same problems, if not at a much greater degree.
But as you tagged it - fun stuff!
Hi Pearlie,
The title of the post is deliberate - just to create "shock".
Hopefully there is no real blur cat, tikus or harimau around...But again you never know!
I like your logical reasoning...hahaha
You have to listen to the preacher's 3rd reason (not listed on the website but mentioned in his actual sermon) where he quotes the Genesis passage. Then you tell me what you think. I think this case is worse than the "him that pisseth against the wall" incident that Rabbi referred to.
She was a prophetess, not a preacher. Since when does God call women to preach? Didn't Paul say, as he was led by The Holy Spirit, God will not have a woman having authority over a man and teaching him anything? That's sounds like women aren't called to preach to me.
Why is this "fun stuff"? Should discussing God's word be reduced to merely "fun" then? Some points were made which seem serious and quite reasonable. Establishing modern-day Bible Seminaries based on Acts 19 i.e."the school of Tyrannus" is patently stretching the scriptures to fit an agenda. Maybe some repentance is fitting after all.
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