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questionable doctorates
- Thread starter SATS PROF
- Start date
We (our church) receive correspondence and other items in which it seems everybody and their dogs have doctorates. I agree that questionable doctorates are a problem. In Christian circles we need to inspect the problem or problems that are creating the need for preachers feeling they need to be called doctors. One is just good old pride, plain and simple. Something that interacts with that, though, is that we seem to have lost the ability to discern whether people are reliable and speaking the truth -- so we need letters behind folks' names, and titles in front of them so we will know. I know quite a few people who put more stock in that than what people actually say and do. This can be a very false foundation.
Having a doctorate means little
Many are bad preachers and teachers
Many are bad preachers and teachers
SavedByGrace
Well-Known Member
As long as the person is BA (born again), they then have the HS (Holy Spirit) living in their lives, and He is able to guide them into His Truth in the Holy Bible. Having a DD can prove to be a Double-Dunce!
I wholly agree with RL and partly with Cat. My partial disagreement with the latter is what can be learned in vigorous doctoral work. But I do agree with him that one can do great work for Jesus without a credible doctorate. But, there is something to be said about post graduate education in Bible and theology too. I wanted to learn more biblically and theologically about the Person of Christ, and, IMO, I accomplished that in the Th.D. and D. Min. both of which had the object of understanding better the Person of Christ. (Col 1:10b; Jude 3) That was my only motivation. At 80 years old, I'm not looking for pay raises or to be called "Dr., Dr." Could I have achieved that without having my dissertation(a denial of the role subordination of the Son) and my thesis-project (teaching Christology in seminary) guided and objectively approved by experts in the field? Maybe. But I don't think so. Before post graduate work, I didn't realize, for example, what a functional kenoticist Millard Erickson is, or why Nestorius was not a Nestorian or reasons to question Hodge's view that it is only God's nature that personalizes Jesus' humanity. Yes, this was pretty much self-motivated research, but it was supervised. These issues and many others I've had the joy of studying. Are such necessary to witness of our Lord or to preach about Him? Of course not, but I love to study about Christ, and I try to obey Him. And, I don't see a dichotomy between learning and obeying. Even at 80 I am writing a volume on 100 verses that Mormons misunderstand (it was preceded by two other anti LDS works) and, IMO, it was doctoral research which fired me up to go on with my studies after graduations. Perhaps these are a good witness!?Any way, I'm thankful to this site for allowing me to express my view.
Think that the key here is to get to a biblical balance, as have been in churches who saw any degrees training as being of the world, as only needed :"calling and Holy Ghost". and yet others see that DR label as required to even preach or teach in the pulpit!
I can agree if I'm allowed the qualification that different callings may result in the need for different "keys." But I have little respect for those who depreciate rigorous learning. For 35 years I taught learning disabled children in public schools. I can appreciate their difficulty to learn. But for believing, unhandicapped adults who do not lust to know the deeper thing of God's Word, I have less empathy.
The Pentecostal way is to have the anointing and calling as all important!
Congrats
I am theologically educated, so there is no agenda here
I also encourage some type of Bible edication and have Bible College for foreign countries mostly Africa but also Nepal, Indonesia, India and Phillipines
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If you were born with a mind gifted in reading such that you can read faster than average, and have the ability to retain what you have read, academia will love you and bestow credentials such that you can jump to the head of the line.
Scripture teaches that God does not respect those who are prized by the World's Value System. Look at our honored, the well born (UK royalty) or are powerful (Gates) or well connected (Hunter Biden).
We live in a world where R rated movies are said to be adult, rather than raunchy. Or infanticide is said to be health care.
Clever wordsmiths create ways to rename what is bad so it seems good. And they probably were trained by "PHD's."
Scripture teaches that God does not respect those who are prized by the World's Value System. Look at our honored, the well born (UK royalty) or are powerful (Gates) or well connected (Hunter Biden).
We live in a world where R rated movies are said to be adult, rather than raunchy. Or infanticide is said to be health care.
Clever wordsmiths create ways to rename what is bad so it seems good. And they probably were trained by "PHD's."
I don't see your connection between learning the meaning of the Bible doctrine and the "The World's Value System"?
Grudem says Christ acts distinctly through each nature; Erickson denies that. How is evaluating that biblically and theologically being worldly? How is trying to understand the Person of Christ being worldly? How does striving to grasp biblical concepts relate to R rated movies? Why do some on Baptist Board have such low opinions on learning?
Grudem says Christ acts distinctly through each nature; Erickson denies that. How is evaluating that biblically and theologically being worldly? How is trying to understand the Person of Christ being worldly? How does striving to grasp biblical concepts relate to R rated movies? Why do some on Baptist Board have such low opinions on learning?
No, think that we just need to cultivate the discussion!
Yeshua: I appreciate your suggestion, but I feel that just now I don't have time to try to "cultivate" where comments like "having a doctorate (in the Bible no less!!) means little" .are thought acceptable. Such remarks must be acceptable here as no one except me negatively reacted! Baptist Board has been around for quite a spell, but it seemingly has become a place where higher learning is not prized. "Cultivation" seems to not be working. Please, you go on cultivating. When I'm finished with the book "100 Verses Mormons Misunderstand" perhaps I'll be anxious to post again. Now, I'm not. I'm too busy working on a volume to discourage people from joining the LDS and providing for those Christians who actually do value biblical information with biblically based counter arguments against LDS theology to try to "cultivate" believers who should be striving to grasp "advanced biblical theology. My efforts are a calling too. But, blessings to all believers, I'll be back. Bill.
Will your book be for the Mormons like what Waletr Martin was to the JW?
Yu and I agree more than we disagree- I think
My son got his doctorate in NT under David Alan Black at SEBTS. I am immensely impressed by the knowledge, understanding, and wisdom he gained through that process. I have the privilege of teaching with him, and often get help from him.
Amazing to me how some still see higher education as being somehow bad thing, even to the point where pastors better off not learning the Greek AND Hebrew biblical languages!
University of Wales a "Laughing Stock"
BBC: "The University of Wales is a 'laughing stock' for having awarded degrees [in conjunction with] Trinity College of the Bible in Newburgh, Indiana....The Quality Assurance Agency, which regulates universities in the UK, said it released a statement in July which warned higher education institutions 'that they should not be collaborating with organisations that are not accredited'. The University of Wales said this is what prompted them to begin to question their relationship with Trinity."
2011 • University of Wales Abolished
BBC: "The troubled University of Wales (UoW) has been effectively abolished and its council chairman has resigned....The future of the University of Wales had come into question following....scandals involving courses validated by the University of Wales at outside bodies in the UK and overseas....the QAA...found serious shortcomings in the way the university collaborates with colleges around the world."
"Education minister Leighton Andrews told BBC Wales earlier this month that...the university's leadership [was] 'untenable'. He said what had happened...was 'deplorable' and he thought the University of Wales 'probably requires a decent burial'."
BBC: "The University of Wales is a 'laughing stock' for having awarded degrees [in conjunction with] Trinity College of the Bible in Newburgh, Indiana....The Quality Assurance Agency, which regulates universities in the UK, said it released a statement in July which warned higher education institutions 'that they should not be collaborating with organisations that are not accredited'. The University of Wales said this is what prompted them to begin to question their relationship with Trinity."
2011 • University of Wales Abolished
BBC: "The troubled University of Wales (UoW) has been effectively abolished and its council chairman has resigned....The future of the University of Wales had come into question following....scandals involving courses validated by the University of Wales at outside bodies in the UK and overseas....the QAA...found serious shortcomings in the way the university collaborates with colleges around the world."
"Education minister Leighton Andrews told BBC Wales earlier this month that...the university's leadership [was] 'untenable'. He said what had happened...was 'deplorable' and he thought the University of Wales 'probably requires a decent burial'."
Disagreement is one thing you must expect to consistently find if you post on the Baptist Board. You will need to learn to take that in stride.