Tag: arrogance

On Humility: My guide to become a recovering fundamentalist Part 3

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“You should read my book, ‘Humility and how I achieved it.’” ~Unknown
“Every side has it’s ‘fundamentalists’.” ~Joe M.

Admit it
You’re arrogant. We all struggle with pride. Arrogance isn’t exclusive to any movement. This is why it’s best to deal with heart issues; not create a strawman. For example, I interacted with two churches that made this statement:

“They’re not [blank] because they’re wearing [blank]. It’s important to [blank] to [do what God wants].”

One church was a hysterical fundamentalist church. The other was a progressive outreach oriented church. Both had the same heart problem and both make a good point. Name the issue and its most likely there is arrogance on both sides.

Humility modeled: Dr. Arp
“Right now, this is what I believe what the text is saying,” said Dr. Arp. My tongue dropped to the floor. I’m in seminary, the professor is to be the grand know all guru of all things Bible. Dr. Arp amazed me by his humility. He was a student of the Word. (And a really hard grader!) More than anything he discipled me to approach the Scriptures with humility and to listen. Confidence and humility are not exclusive.

Humility modeled: John Calvin
I read Calvin’s Institutes of Theology. I wanted to see if I was truly a “Calvinist” or not (a discussion for another day). I was amazed by the humility and grace Calvin projected in his writings. He demonstrated confidence in what he said, but also grace and approachability. Those who debate “Calvinism” could learn a lot from Calvin’s humility.

Humility prescribed: St. Peter
Peter had what I like to call “foot in mouth disease.” Ambitious or spirited people often struggle with that. He says this in 1 Peter 5: “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’” It’s in the context of shepherding the church. This attitude stands out as I see Peter struggling with this area.

Jesus
Jesus didn’t stand out in a crowd. He didn’t come into the world with much fanfare. As much as we bash religious leadership of his day, He did interact with them and some came to believe in Him. Jesus was a man’s man, and Jesus was fully God. Jesus dealt with and pointed to heart issues. There was times He was stern, and times he was very approachable. Our task is to be like Jesus. Without humility, we wont’ get very far.

The bottom line:
To become a recovering fundamentalist you need to be humble. Act with humility and grace instead of reacting to a strawman out of arrogance and vindictiveness. We all struggle with pride and arrogance. No movement claims a monopoly on this. Listen, be approachable, and seek to be like Jesus.

The bride is not ready yet…

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Jesus said the meek shall inherit the Earth. I feel as though we are not always meek, for sure I am not. It seems we are awfully arrogant, more than we would care to admit. This is not bad in the sense of being overwhelming to us. It just means God is not done perfecting us yet. Here are a couple of examples:

Jesus: Whoever is not against you is for you.
I remember sitting in class and the prof started to list out different movements in evangelism, their proponents, and the ensuing criticism. The discussion fascinated me. There wasn’t a linear progression of understanding. It was a cycle we were already repeating. The realization went like this:

“How many of you thought big-ten revivals were a good thing? Uh-huh. And the seeker sensitive movement? Not so many hands this time? In about 150 years evangelism in America came full circle and is now repeating the cycle.” Ouch…

Rather than criticize form we should learn from each other. A large part of a method’s success is its context: both historical and cultural. Granted every method, movement and church carries problems. The problems may be significant, but it doesn’t make them completely wrong nor completely right. We need to listen and discern better.

Paul: Instruct men not to teach strange doctrines…
God really does care about solid doctrine. Paul did not tell Timothy to remove, separate, ignore or burn the men of Ephesus at the stake. Throughout his writings Paul told Timothy to use love and patience, to instruct as a son to a father or a brother to a brother. Said another way, Paul sent a young guy in to help, clean up and correct the church by leveraging humility. Not exactly a quick, authoritarian method to clean up what was a doctrinal mess.

I sense as Christians we speak right past each other. We are great at making straw men and even better and beating them. Confidence of one’s doctrine and humility are not mutually exclusive. The elder professors I had in seminary were very confident in what they taught, but their humility was excessive. They listened and asserted, held firm but still learned with open minds.

One day I purchased a large number book and proceeded to move them to my car. One of the elder professors put his stuff down on the floor and helped me. He taught none of my classes at that point during seminary. I saw and better understood the relationship between confidence, faith and humility when I did have him as a teacher; all based on this event. We need to pursue humility as a path knowing God and truth.

The bottom line:
Other than Christ is it seems the other thing we Christians have in common is our arrogance. We all to easily forget that it is Christ who wills and works in us. It is He who will carry our work until the day of perfection. Christ washes and purifies the bride. In the arrogance we all have in common we can continue to act that way, get overwhelmed, or we can rest in the fact that God isn’t done with us yet. We call can improve in listening, discernment and humility while also laying aside our straw men.

I wonder if we lack peace in what we do because we don’t follows Paul’s instructions if Philippians 4. We are a very anxious people. Yes, there are differences in our churches. But, we can still be thankful and pray for each other. Yes as Christians we disagree on points of doctrine. We can still learn from each other. Christ leveraged humility in leading us, and we should do the same when interacting with each other.