The 'S' Factor

There seems to be an unknown factor when it comes to debate, a power that few seem to yield. Those that do have it all share one thing in common, they've all been to seminary, thus my labelling of this secret factor "the 'S' factor". What is the 'S' factor, what power does it yield, and is there a similar historical precedent?

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge..." - Hosea 4:6a Knowledge. Knowledge is a major power card in the hands of the people. It's also the major obstacle to total control. Just ask the Roman Catholic Church - they managed to do it for 800 years. In fact, one of the first ways to get a people under your thumb is to convince them that you know best - and those poor uneducated lay people don't. And this is something that I and many others are seeing more and more of from some seminary students and graduates (and some university graduates).

Now don't get me wrong here, there are a good many fine men that come out of Bible College or seminary, and I've had the pleasure of meeting or conversing with some. However, there are a great many these days who aren't, and have an attitude that is utterly disgraceful. My fight is with these such people.

One of the biggest things that gets carried to me by these wielders of the 'S' factor (for future reference, lets refer to them as seminary creampuffs) is the fact that they seem to think that I and every other person who has never been to seminary has no right to contribute anything to the intellectual community. It doesn't matter that I may have a better knowledge of the Bible than they do, or of manuscripts or of 'the original languages' than they do, and yet, because I haven't been to seminary, I have no right to tread on their feet. Why? The answer is simple. It's a mixture of pride and self-worship. They feel that because they have apparently been 'called' to go to seminary (some say they have been called when they clearly haven't been, as that would violate scripture) that they are some sort of special being. Wielding only their study bible of choice and strong's concordance, they feel that they can wow the world and themselves with their knowledge. There's a party going on, and we're not on their invited list.

[title5]How to see one coming your way[/title5] The first sign that a seminary creampuff has entered the arena is usually not a straight out "All hail me! I've been to seminary!" The first sign is the pride and the denial of any form of intelligence that you might have, which seeps from them. It does not matter whether you've got a higher IQ or an obvious greater depth of knowledge in the topic - your opinion does not matter. Even if yours is the only voice of sanity or the only possible satisfactory outcome, it does not matter. To the seminary creampuff, the only voice of reason is that of another seminary creampuff.

The second sign will be their referral to obscure textual resources, which no one in their right minds (or outside of seminary) would ever refer to. Of course, any texts that you may refer to will be swept under the carpet.

If they haven't come out and revealed that they are products of seminary (which usually doesn't take long, with a characteristically prideful comment such as "In all my years at seminary I blah blah blah...") then the next step is to deride you for your lack of knowledge of 'the original greek' or the 'original hebrew'. Here is where it gets really interesting. Firstly, 99.9% cannot utter more greek or hebrew than the common 'lay person', and get their supposed great knowledge out of a Strong's Concordance, a phenomenon known as 'playing the greek game', or as I refer to it (and will write an article about this phenomenon sometime) 'original languages lunacy'. I have heard of creampuffs who obviously have hot air in place of where a brain normally resides, chastise speakers of hebrew and greek. Not just someone with the same knowledge as them, but someone who could sit down in front of it and read it, as opposed to said creampuff, who needs a strong's concordance to look it up and read it, much less translate it! And woe unto him who tries to beat them at their own game. Oh no! Totally unacceptable unless you have been initiated into the seminary creampuff cult.

By this stage it is usually irresistable to them to pull out the condescension tactic - that is, the "In all my years at seminary I blah blah blah..." that I mentioned at the beginning of the previous paragraph.

[title5]An historical similarity[/title5] It's common knowledge that for more than 1,000 years Roman Catholicism was the dominant religion in Europe (there were small pockets of Christianity as well, though most were heavily persecuted by the "catholic church"), and it is in the depths of Roman Catholicism that we find a parallel to what is happening today.

From the time of Constantine's "conversion" to Christianity, the catholic church wielded great influence throughout the Empire. Bishops and 'priests' clamoured for temporal as well as spiritual power, and a strict monopoly was held on the Bible. From the writing of Jerome's new Latin Vulgate (there were two vulgates), the catholic church withheld the Bible from the common people (laymen) and it was restricted to a special class of Bishops and 'priests' to interpret the Bible in light of church tradition (oh believe me, nothing has changed in the catholic church today) and then taught to us poor fools who aren't smart enough to be able to understand the Bible education was restricted and difficult to access.

[title5]Sound familiar folks?[/title5] Like then, the message being sent today is that those of us who haven't been 'specially trained' in the art of biblical interpretation should stay out of it, and let those who have this 'special training' do the teaching. Because without this 'special training', this 'S' factor, we are incapable of understanding God's Word. This is almost exactly the same as what happened when institutionalised religion subverted Christianity. The only real difference, is that now any of the laity may join them in the fun and games by attending seminary.

[title5]Why the issue?[/title5] As I mentioned earlier, control and knowledge are linked when it comes to God's Word. God's Word was given to us as the final authority, not that of our own minds, or the mind of another. To control the Bible is to control us, because if we cannot learn for ourselves they must teach us. The whole point to this is that we are supposed to be incapable of learning from God's Word, and therefore should not be studying it, despite this violating a scriptural command.

"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." - 2 Timothy 2:15

As christians we are to study the scriptures. That does not mean listening to someone else tell us what they mean, it means studying them ourselves. How can we study them if we are of the belief that we cannot understand them, and must rely on someone who is seminary trained to tell us the answers? This is contrary to scripture, and puts an incredible amount of power in the hands of those who could lead us astray. Just look at what happened as Roman Catholicism tightened its grip on the laity - Mariolatry, Transubstantiation, image worship, indulgences... If the Bible is not in the hands of the people, then how are we any better than the morass that "Christianity" became during the Middle Ages, and what a stab in the back to all the martyrs who gave up their lives for Jesus, and for us, so that we may have God's Word, not someone else's opinion on what it says.

[title5]In closing[/title5] This is an issue of final authority. To all believers, our final authority is the Bible, and naught else. No one, absolutely no one, has the right to proclaim a superior attitude because of their having gone to seminary or other such institutions. Any such claim is unscriptural, usually unfounded, and certainly not that that should be displayed by a Christian. Any such person who is making such comments is in error, and should repent and turn their back on their ways. All believers are priests, and all are entitled to read, discuss, debate and teach God's Word. There is no qualification that was ever given to any of the early church fathers which gave them the right to preach, to be smug, to correct or to be hypocritical. Such activity is not of God. The 'S' factor is not of God.

"Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." - 2 Timothy 4:2-4