Hello everybody, it's me, it's Tall23, back to the video. In this video I'm going to be addressing the subject of biblical scholars,
theologians, and just the idea of any scholar in general.
So it's because it seems like in the modern day, if you try to have a discussion about a biblical or theological topic,
somebody will say, well scholars say this, or scholars say that, and often that just has an arbitrary meaning,
it doesn't really mean anything. Often could just be talking about one or two people who are considered experts in the
field who make that point. And this is a big problem, I think, among Bible-believing Christians for several reasons.
For example, from a video that I made recently, it was a book review from this book, The Case for Christ by Lee Shrovel.
I talked about this subject, and I'm not saying that this book is necessarily bad or that it's wrong,
but one of the criticisms which I had in the video was that the author just really bends over backwards to try to establish the
education of the people who he's interviewing. He's just trying to show the readers how intelligent the people doing it,
he's doing his research with, really are.
Every single time there's an interview with somebody else right before that, there's like a page and a half of just
description talking about this person's degrees, their awards, the universities that their professors at, their published books, etc.
To just try and show you,
and try to establish that the person is qualified to talk about the subject. And there are numerous other examples
I can give as well. Just pick up any Christian book out there, any book about history, or I guess really any subject in
general, and I'm sure that you'll see constant references to scholars.
There's always the phrase,
well, scholars say this, scholars say that. Sometimes it isn't even clear who these people are exactly. It just uses that word,
and I guess sometimes they may even be lying.
Maybe there's nobody who really says this, or maybe there's only one person who says this, and they're just saying, well,
scholars or whatever, and they don't make it clear who exactly they're talking about.
Now the word scholar itself refers to someone who has completed academic
studying. The word scholar, of course, is related to the word school, and also the word scholastic etymologically.
According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, the definition of scholar is a person who studies a subject in great detail, especially at a
university. So the assumption with a lot of these people who reference these
scholars is that receiving a university education or a formal education, traditional training underneath a teacher, etc, is
necessary for being identified as a scholar.
And it seems like people will dismiss you if you don't fall into that category, if you're not, if you haven't received a formal education
on the subject.
So if you want to have a theological discussion among the big theologians of today, well,
you're not going to be able to get through it without, well, Dr.
So-and-so said this, or Professor So-and-so says this. Well,
it doesn't really matter what they say, because that doesn't necessarily mean that they're right. Just because they have that title
doctor or professor in front of it, that doesn't necessarily mean that they're right.
I think a problem with Christianity is the reliance on people with man-made titles, like doctor as a trustworthy person.
The underlying assumption with this is that they're not liars.
If they're qualified, how do you know they're not lying?
How do you know that they haven't looked at other positions or other, they haven't considered other facts, etc?
And they haven't considered the fact that maybe they have some kind of ulterior motive.
Maybe they're just saying what people want to hear so they can get money or something like that. Why? So, why?
Just because they're learned, just because they know
something about a subject, just because they've studied it for many years,
why does that mean that they're right or that they're most likely right?
There's few subjects in the academic world which everybody agrees on. Now, these names are just examples
the names I'm about to give. So, let's just say there's a guy named Dr. Johnson.
He posits one theory, and then there's another guy named Dr. Phillips who promotes another idea. Well, they're both doctors.
They both received eight years of education, so which one is right?
Some might say, well, more of academia supports Dr. Johnson than Dr. Phillips,
but does that really prove anything? It's a fallacy to say that just because more people say it's true,
it's true, but it, no, just because more people say it's true doesn't mean it's true.
And in the end, the average common person who is maybe reading these theories or
looking into exactly what these doctors are saying, what these professors are saying,
they need to make their own personal decision about which one is right, about which one makes more sense.
That's their own personal decision. Even if they haven't had a
formal education, they will still have to make the decision in the end because there's always going to be disagreement in
different subjects in the academic world. Now, when it comes to Christianity and interpretation of the Bible,
we don't need scholars to tell us some esoteric hidden meaning,
hidden meaning in the Bible or anything like that.
And I think for too long
in Christianity, people have been doing this in
seminaries and biblical colleges and even in some churches as well, because there are fortunately a lot of churches out there where the pastor won't even
just preach what the Word of God says. They'll say, well, this, first of all, the one thing that I might do is quote another pastor.
They'll say, well,
Dr. Lastname, because there are some pastors who carry those titles like doctor, say, well, Dr.
Lastname, this other pastor from
this church over somewhere like 50 years ago or something, he says this, so let me just read that instead of
preaching from my heart and saying what the Bible actually says. Well,
they might also say, well, historians who look,
historians who looks into the
cultural context of the Bible say this, and therefore that's right.
Well, Hebrew scholars say this about the word used there in Hebrew, therefore it's right.
So instead of actually preaching the Word of God, instead of actually preaching what the Bible says, there's a trend to just go to
those who they perceive as a scholar. They just go to other people and say, well,
they have these titles, they're scholars in this subject,
so let me just quote them instead of actually using the Spirit of God to guide me and
teach from the Bible. Now the Bible says in 1st John 2,
227, but the anointing which you have received in him abideth in you, and you need not that any man teach you,
but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and his truth and his no lie, and
even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
In John chapter 14 verse 26,
Jesus says, but the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name,
he shall teach you all things and bring all things to you, to your remembrance whatsoever
I have said unto you. John chapter 16 verse 13, howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come,
he will guide you into all truth, for he shall not speak of himself,
but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come.
So we see that it's the Holy Ghost which teaches us what the Bible says. It's the Spirit of God which dwells inside of a
born-again Christian, which shows us what the Bible is and helps us interpret it.
The Bible went as far as even saying that you need not that any man teach you. You don't need these scholars.
It doesn't matter what they say. They might say something that's completely wrong.
They might say something that's completely contradictory to the Bible because they just want their pockets filled up with money.
They don't care what the Bible says. They just want people to like them. They're false prophets.
So when it comes to theological and moral issues, what should settle the matter is the Word of God, not man's opinions.
Even if they say, well,
you've got to understand the cultural context. Well, a lot of the time they just make stuff up.
That's not actually the cultural context or the historical context, okay?
The
Bible talks about comparing spiritual with spiritual. If you're gonna look at a spiritual thing in the Bible,
you want to compare it with another thing in the Bible, not compare it with what some
isolated historian has to say about it based on very limited evidence.
Now the Bible says in Proverbs chapter 1 verse 7,
the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
So without a fear of God, everything that a man could possibly learn is vanity. It's worthless. It's not, now I'm not saying that it's
impossible for those people who aren't believers to know anything. They can know things, but in the end what they know is all vain.
Okay, the Bible talks about how
God will try our works in the end and how the world will be renewed and everything like that. If what you're doing
doesn't do work for God, it's pointless.
It's not practical. You can't apply it.
It's just learning things for no reason. Without knowledge of the Lord, there's no point to knowing any of these things.
So why is it then that the world focuses so much on these so-called scholars and academic chief
achievements as if it's necessary? The Bible is the truth. It's the Word of God.
Every saved person should know that. If you have the Spirit of God inside you, you don't need man to interpret the Bible for you.
You have the Holy Ghost. You have it to teach you.
The Holy Ghost is our teacher. If we read God's Word and we pay attention to what it says,
we'll figure out what these things need. We don't need somebody to tell us
that's what it means when the Holy Ghost can show you what it means.
Now, let's just illustrate the lack of emphasis of these things in the scriptures. So just consider these facts because
in a lot of biblical, so-called Bible colleges and
seminaries and just Christian universities in general and Christian private schools and
even in churches, people will say, well, I'm doctor this or I'm doctor that. They'll give themselves titles like that or they'll talk about
how they're qualified because they have a degree or they'll talk about how they're qualified because they've received this education, etc.
Well, let's see what the Bible has to say about those things because
there's not much it has to say. The word doctor only appears in the Bible three times. In Luke
246, 517, and 534, every single time it's referring to the Pharisees.
You'll never see the word doctor in the Bible refer to somebody who's actually studied
the Word of God and who actually knows the Word of God, somebody who actually believes it.
They're all people who, according to Jesus, don't believe Moses whatsoever.
The word scholar, or the word school, rather, appears only once in Acts chapter 19 verse 9 and it refers to a
pagan academy, the school of such a Taranis, where Paul goes to dispute with the people in that school.
The word college only appears once when it's talking about
where Huldah the prophetess dwelled in 1 Kings chapter 22 verse 14. And the word scholar in 1 Chronicles 25
is talking about the song leaders appointed by David. So it says, I don't remember exactly what it says,
but it refers to them as scholars. It's not talking about
necessarily people who are learned in anything else besides music. It's talking about
musicians. It also appears in Malachi chapter 2 in a negative context referring to how the master and the scholar will be cut off
for committing abominations before God. It says Malachi chapter 2 verse 11 to 12,
Judah hath dealt treasurously and abominations committed in Israel and in Jerusalem.
For Judah hath profaned the holiness of the Lord which he loved and hath married the daughter of a strange God.
The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob and him that
offereth an offering unto the Lord of hosts.
Degree only appears in two contexts.
When it's talking about societal rank and
degrees of an angle, such as when it's talking about the sundial of Ahaz, turn 10 degrees backwards in 1st or 2nd C.20 and
somewhere in I think 2nd Chronicles. And then in James chapter 1 verse 9 it says, let the brother of low degree
rejoice in that he is exalted. So
degrees in the term that we use it today refers to a
baccalaureate, like a bachelor's degree, a master's degree. It refers to academic rank.
Let's assume that one is smarter than the other, one is more qualified than the other to
speak of things simply because they went through this more formal education and therefore they have this higher
academic rank. They have this higher degree.
But here it talks about those who are of these low rank, these low degree. Those people are
exalted according to James chapter 1. So really, because the Bible always talks about this, the Bible makes this very clear that somebody who
exalts himself, somebody who raises himself up and says, well, I'm better than you. I'm more qualified than you.
I think I'm better than you and everything like that.
Well, they're gonna be brought low while those who humble themselves are gonna be exalted.
Because it's not about the achievements you receive on earth.
It doesn't matter that you've went through eight years of college or four years of college or however long it is.
It doesn't matter how long you have studied these things. If it's not for God, it doesn't matter.
You can spend all the years of your life
working towards earning a degree or earning some kind of education or earning some kind of earthly achievement.
But if it's not for the Lord, it's worthless. The Bible teaches in
Ecclesiastes chapter 12. In the last few verses of the chapter, it summarizes basically the whole book of Ecclesiastes.
It says,
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
If what you're doing isn't about fearing God, isn't about serving God and doing what he wants you to do, it's worthless. It's vain.
That's a phrase that's used throughout the book of Ecclesiastes. If what you're doing
doesn't do anything for the Lord, it doesn't matter because all that's gonna go away. All the results of that are gonna
disappear one day when the Lord comes back and when the earth is renewed.
And the Bible also says in Proverbs chapter 2 verse 6, For the Lord giveth wisdom, out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
So Christians should not rely on the world's measures of how intelligent someone is, or who is intelligent or who isn't.
But they should rely on what the Bible actually says. And even if we just lay that aside, even if
for those people out there, I guess, who aren't necessarily Christians, just common sense should show you that it's entirely possible for somebody
to know what they're talking about without ever having some formal education.
There are multitudes of polymaths and successful people throughout history who had never, never went to college, never even went to high school
possibly, and who knew a lot of things. Benjamin Franklin is one. He is an autodidact, which is somebody who teaches themselves.
It's possible to teach yourself. It's possible to get homeschooled. It's possible to learn things. For example,
I just mentioned the homeschool thing. My friend Nathaniel Kuchenberg, he's fluent in a lot of languages.
He's, I think, like at least three or four. He's pretty good at math.
It seems like he knows a little bit about science and, or not a little bit, but a lot about science and stuff like that.
I'm not exactly sure what the extent of his knowledge is, but he seems to know what he's talking about.
He has a lot of education, but he never actually went to some formal education. He doesn't have a
degree in anything. He can never be called, well, unless he goes to a university, but right now
he can't be called doctor or anything like that. He doesn't have a bachelor's degree or any kind of degree.
But that doesn't mean he doesn't know anything. That doesn't mean that he's not,
doesn't know what he's talking about. Just because somebody has a title, a man-made title, just because they've published
peer-reviewed papers and things like that, doesn't mean that they're right. Just because somebody hasn't done that, doesn't mean that they're wrong.
Especially in this day and age, when we have all kinds of information
just given to us, we can access all kinds of information and we can determine, we can see which is
reliable and which isn't. There's a lot of ways we can do research. We don't have to go to
formal education. You don't have to receive those titles. So people can learn things on their own. It's entirely possible.
So we shouldn't just support the scholars out there. Well,
if we're Christians, the thing we should be relying on is the Holy Ghost. He's our teacher.
He's the one who shows us. And if we just read the Bible ourselves, we're gonna learn what it says if we're saved.
So thank you everybody for watching and goodbye.