Last year I attended a conference with a friend of mine and amid the many discussions we had during the course of the week we discussed the “benefits” of doubt. Well, he pretty much discussed the benefits while I tried to point out the dangers. And of course if you read the right blogs and/or books you discover that the whole “does the Bible really say” line of thinking (to borrow a line from Genesis 3) is very prevelent! With this in mind a recent post over at team-pryo brought up some observations that are worth thinking about, here are some of the ones I’ve personally noticed: (Read the entire post here)
Have you ever noticed…
- …everyone who tries to back away from an unpopular Biblical doctrine insists that his path won’t end up where every other doubter’s path ended? Which is to say…
- …everyone who tries to back away from an unpopular Biblical doctrine hates it when the historical and logical progression of doubt is pointed out?
- …everyone who tries to back away from an unpopular Biblical doctrine paints himself as smarter, deeper, less lazy, and more honest than people who don’t share his doubt?
- …everyone who tries to back away from an unpopular Biblical doctrine paints himself as humble, while those who point him back to the Word are arrogant?
- …everyone who tries to back away from an unpopular Biblical doctrine paints himself as academically sophisticated, carefully nuanced, and wonderfully insightful, while those who point him back to the Word are unenlightened hacks and drooling theological troglodytes?
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The current infatuation with uncertainty gives new meaning to the phrase “benefit of the doubt”.