I’m taking an advanced theology course from Crown College. I have been teaching an online World Religions course at a community college in Iowa for more than 15 years and needed to grab a few extra credits, so I signed up to take this online course for the next six weeks. I have to confess; it is so much harder than what I realized.
I have been studying the Bible for more than four decades. One of the things that I strive to do is to take something profoundly difficult and simplify it so that anyone can understand it. I personally do not think that it honors God to try to dazzle folks with your knowledge. Even the instructions for this course seem like they are written in some secret hidden language. It just does not make a whole lot of sense and it is super frustrating.
When we talk plainly with people, it helps them to be able to relate to us better and it also improves our chances at not being misunderstood. Perhaps that is what Solomon meant when he wrote, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver” Proverbs 25:11. Just say what you mean and mean what you say. If we follow that prescription, it seems to me that everyone would be a whole lot happier.
Pastor Jeff Lawson 