Education is a big business in America. It has been reported that the largest debt of people under 25 is student loans. President Bill Clinton opened the way for anyone to get a guaranteed loan and a chance to go to college. Others have supported the idea because education is big business.
Some occupations need a certain level of education. A medical doctor needs to go through various stages of education and training before they can be called a doctor. The assumption, when we go to a doctor, is that they have completed the required steps of education, and that they know something. I was told by a doctor, some time ago, that someone needs to be at the bottom of the class in medical school. Yet, they were still in school.
Pastors are also a profession that requires a certain level of education. Pastor’s education is not as official as medical education because there is no state license for a pastor. Yet, it is important for a pastor to be education for several reasons.
The first is languages. The Bible was not originally written in English, but in Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic. A teacher of the Bible needs to be able to handle those languages. Fortunately there are many software tools to assist and continue the training, but the initial education is required.
The second is theology. A person can read the Bible, find God and be saved. But to teach the Bible, there is much more than needs to be known. People have been discussing and explain the Bible for 2,000 years and the history of biblical theology needs to be known and it is taught to pastors. In addition to theology is the history of the Bible. Authorship, time of writing and other facts about our Bible are taught to pastors.
The third is how to preach or teach the Bible. Many can be taught, some are natural born teachers and some will never get it, but pastor training must include this skill. How to exegete and exposits the Bible to an audience is a key skill.
Some people today quote Acts 4:13 saying that Peter and John were uneducated, why do pastors need to be educated? An interesting point, but not applicable to today’s churches. If all a pastor had to do was tell their testimony over and over again, then no education is needed. But to exegete the depths of Scriptures, to rightly divine the word of truth, takes education. Yet there are those who only have a high school diploma, or not, who have made themselves pastors. I know two people like this and both of them are in the weeds of false teaching. Both have been enticed by the lure of large churches with large salaries and are now ear ticklers. My belief is that they would not being doing that if they went to Bible school and were trained in the Bible.
Medical doctors manage and repair the physical body. Pastors manage and repair the souls of people. If there any reason pastors should not know as much about the soul as the doctor knows about the body?
Some occupations need a certain level of education. A medical doctor needs to go through various stages of education and training before they can be called a doctor. The assumption, when we go to a doctor, is that they have completed the required steps of education, and that they know something. I was told by a doctor, some time ago, that someone needs to be at the bottom of the class in medical school. Yet, they were still in school.
Pastors are also a profession that requires a certain level of education. Pastor’s education is not as official as medical education because there is no state license for a pastor. Yet, it is important for a pastor to be education for several reasons.The first is languages. The Bible was not originally written in English, but in Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic. A teacher of the Bible needs to be able to handle those languages. Fortunately there are many software tools to assist and continue the training, but the initial education is required.
The second is theology. A person can read the Bible, find God and be saved. But to teach the Bible, there is much more than needs to be known. People have been discussing and explain the Bible for 2,000 years and the history of biblical theology needs to be known and it is taught to pastors. In addition to theology is the history of the Bible. Authorship, time of writing and other facts about our Bible are taught to pastors.
The third is how to preach or teach the Bible. Many can be taught, some are natural born teachers and some will never get it, but pastor training must include this skill. How to exegete and exposits the Bible to an audience is a key skill.
Some people today quote Acts 4:13 saying that Peter and John were uneducated, why do pastors need to be educated? An interesting point, but not applicable to today’s churches. If all a pastor had to do was tell their testimony over and over again, then no education is needed. But to exegete the depths of Scriptures, to rightly divine the word of truth, takes education. Yet there are those who only have a high school diploma, or not, who have made themselves pastors. I know two people like this and both of them are in the weeds of false teaching. Both have been enticed by the lure of large churches with large salaries and are now ear ticklers. My belief is that they would not being doing that if they went to Bible school and were trained in the Bible.
Medical doctors manage and repair the physical body. Pastors manage and repair the souls of people. If there any reason pastors should not know as much about the soul as the doctor knows about the body?
Comments
Post a Comment