I think that there's a big difference between critical thinking (which is a gift) and being critical (which is the curse side of the gift).
When Critical Thinking serves people, and particularly the church, by solid and thoughtful and gracious analysis, it's a good thing. When it degenerates to sitting back and taking pot-shots at whoever and whatever (it's easy for some of us to always find something 'wrong') then it's destructive to the community and no longer a blessing.
So critical thinking about Bible study, good. Taking shots at Beth Moore, probably not so much.
3 comments:
I think there is a place to make some clear observations about the good & bad of certain approaches to things, e.g. Scripture Study.
For example: Playing "Scripture Roulette," where one randomly opens the Bible to a verse and using that verse as a kind of oracle, is a terrible way to use the Scriptures. Period.
While not in that vein, Beth Moore studies in general have some very serious limitations. On average, I would not recommend them. There are one or two that seem to be better than others.
Critical commentary is not, in and of itself, faithless, hopeless or loveless.
To be critical of those who are finding life in such places is perhaps a loveless thing to do. Marsh is right, we ought to celebrate that folks want to study the Bible, and we should celebrate that the Lord will meet them there.
But that does not mean that we must revise our opinion of the studies themselves.
To use an oft pointed out moment: The Lord used a donkey to speak to Balaam. Hooray! We should marvel at the Lord's goodness & power and affirm Balaam for listening to the Lord, and not mock him for having to hear it through the donkey.
Riding around on a donkey, though, does still not constitute the best, or even a "good" way to discern the will of the Lord. And, I think it is fine for us to say so, so long as Balaam is not belittled for his experience and is led towards a more helpful way of listening to the Lord.
Finally, there is also a place for us to say to folks, "Stop riding the donkey. It's great that you want to hear from the Lord. That's not the way to do it."
There are better & worse ways to say this, and, of course, one should always speak with love & tact. But there are points where it ought to be said.
Well-said, guys. AK, I really didn't see my comments as a rebuke, and I hope they didn't seem harsh. I think that thinking critically, even about Beth Moore and The Prayer of Jabez and Wild At Heart, is great. I agree that the Church settles too often for simple and shallow rather than digging deep (even settling, for example, by not pressing deeply into the things that the authors we read are presenting, i.e. reading Wild At Heart, thinking it is awesome yet not letting it deal with deep places in out heart). I think what my comments were hitting at were the times that rather than being constructively critical, we take shots in passing.
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