I have noticed over the years that the only Christians who tend to oppose theological training, the importance of learning Greek/Hebrew, or studying philosophy/apologetics are those who have not had formal theological training, have not studied Greek/Hebrew, and have not studied philosophy/apologetics. I have never met someone who has theological training, learned Greek/Hebrew, or studied philosophy/apologetics who will tell you that such training is not helpful and important for the advancement of Christianity. I find this quite interesting. How can one evaluate the worth of endeavors for which they have not participated in? Could the devaluing of these fields be little more than justification for one’s own ignorance? Hmm.
September 30, 2009
Thinking to Believe 
October 1, 2009 at 12:46 am
Interesting thought. I’ll have to remind people of that next time I’m discussing it! 🙂
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October 1, 2009 at 11:08 am
Great point. Although he who taste knows isn’t the only sage wisdom here, it works quite a bit of the time.
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October 1, 2009 at 11:52 am
James,
I think you bungled up some words when you were typing. I’m not sure what you meant to say.
Jason
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October 1, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Jason,
That’s probably due to self-selection.
Arthur
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October 1, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Arthur,
?
Jason
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October 2, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Jason,
Consider this:
“The only people who tend to think following the San Diego Chargers is a waste of time are those who don’t know the names of the players, the team schedule, and the team history. I’ve never met anyone who knows those things who thinks being a Chargers fan is a waste of time. Perhaps devaluing NFL fandom is really a way of justifying one’s ignorance of the sport.”
I think you’d agree it’s not surprising that people who know all the nitty-gritty about the Chargers are fans, that those who are Chargers fans don’t think being a fan is a waste of their time, and that it would be weird for a non-fan to know all that stuff.
Arthur
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October 5, 2009 at 11:14 am
Arthur,
I see your point, but I think it misses the mark because you are comparing unrelated “domains.” Indeed, why should an engineer (a domain) care about the Chargers (an entirely different domain). People have different interests, so we shouldn’t be surprised that someone who thinks X is wonderful should think Y is wonderful as well.
But what I am discussing all pertains to the same domain. I am talking about Christians specifically. Studying theology, the original languages of the Bible, and apologetics are all aspects of Christianity. If someone is a Christian, I would expect them to be supportive of, if not interested in these things. I find people, however, who are not supportive of them. Atd the interesting common denominator between them is that they have not studied them, which lead me to believe that in many cases, it is simply a self-justifying excuse for their ignorance. After all, if one can claim something does not matter, then it does not matter if they know nothing about it.
Jason
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October 9, 2009 at 7:03 am
I was being a little vague because I was just scanning and commenting. What I was attempting to say, after reading the post, was that “he who tastes knows” isn’t the only sage wisdom to learn here. I’m talking about those who never take formal training yet disdain it anyways.
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October 9, 2009 at 7:26 am
James,
Yes, those are the people I am referring to. I have never met anyone who has received formal training, only to say afterward that it was a waste of time, or that such information is not important. It’s only those who’ve never had it.
Jason
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