Let's Say
A Question for Teachers and Ministers
A Question for Teachers and Ministers
Everyone has an opinion. Everyone has a set of beliefs. Yet very few people hold the same opinions and beliefs as everyone else.
What forms our belief system? Have you noticed that people around you tend to hold the same opinion, or nearly so, as others in your circle?
Of course that is not always the case, but those with differing opinions and beliefs either remain silent about what they believe, or else they speak out and are considered trouble makers and are ostracized, or avoided altogether.
This is particularly so with Teachers and Ministers. Try varying your teaching from what is popularly held by the school board or the church, and you will very likely be looking for a new job.
None of the above applies to you. That is to say, you are in full agreement with all you are expected to teach or preach. You are fully convinced that those many souls who rely heavily on your words and example will be led down the straight and narrow road to success (and Salvation if you are a Minister).
You have integrity. I believe I can say this with confidence because if you do not have integrity then this study will mean nothing to you, and you will very likely stop reading right here and consider this to be so much garbage.
Now that I know I am speaking to those with a great deal of Integrity and Self-Assurance; I will ask my question:
What if, let's say, you as a Teacher were to discover that the method of teaching math you are using is not the best one available. There are several methods available, I am assuming, because by the TV ads it appears more success has been found in one school than another. And at one time I heard that "Modern Math" was taught in some schools and not in others.
But whatever your school teaches, what would you do if you discovered that it was holding your students back in their achievement. Would you just bite your tongue because there is nothing you can do to change the system? Would you start teaching what you believe to be the best for your students and hope you aren't discovered? Would you quit that school and hope you will be hired by a school that teaches what you teach? Would you just change professions or subjects? Or would you start your own school where you can do that which you believe is right?
Spelling is a big thing with any school. Reading ability can make or break a school on occasion. And there are some (apparently) very successful programs available that are not taught in the schools (or so I hear). Are you teaching that which you believe is the best technique available for the majority of your students? If not, what will you do about it?
I'm going to heat up the griddle now, so if you are beginning to feel a little uncomfortable, you might want to stop reading here.
There are many controversial subjects taught in Public School nowdays; subjects that were just beginning to be offered (now forced) when I was in school. These subjects were often presented in a tame and elective manner, but are now glued to the wall of the classrooms.
Because you are a teacher in a public school it would be assumed that you either teach such things as sex ed, evolution, Modernism, Humanism, or some other such subject that goes contrary to historical teaching, or at least you agree with them.
But I have put forth an assumption that may be totally invalid. Perhaps you don't hold to those philosophies, and because of conscience, you avoid teaching those subjects that you don't agree with.
Now for the sake of let's-saying; let us say that you are in a school that teaches Creation and does not accept Evolution. Let's say it is a private school at which you are teaching.
Now let's say you are shown absolute proof (at least absolute enough to convince you) that Creation is impossible, and that Evolution is a definite fact.
What would you do? Would you continue teaching what you no longer believe? Would you change schools? What would you do?
I am now going to inject a new train of thought to consider in this equation:
While teaching Creation you felt that you were helping to bolster your students' faith and understanding of God. (Again I am making an assumption that you believe in God, or otherwise you would not be teaching Creation.) Now you may or may not believe in God, but you don't believe you are being honest when you teach Creation.
Of course you have all the options already presented; but you now have some added considerations.
Believing in God can't do any of your students any harm; in fact it could do them good by helping to keep them out of trouble. So even though you are teaching a falsehood (in your own mind) it is doing no one any harm, and you do not have to look for a new job.
Now let's turn the picture around. You have been teaching Evolution (or some other subject on the Controversial list) and you are presented with absolute proof that Evolution is bunk, and that Creation is an undisputable fact.
Can you now utilize the same rationalization as you did in the illustration above? Now you find that God is real, and you are teaching your students that He doesn't exist, thereby you are teaching that there is no punishment for living life like the TV tells them they should?
Let's turn up the heat a bit more, and add some steam to the mix.
And let's talk to the Minister of God's Word for a bit.
You are a highly respected Minister with a long, clean history of preaching the Word in a well-founded church teaching Fundamental Faith.
You stand firm on the Word you preach, and have plenty of Scripture to back up every Doctrine you teach.
Not a thing can be said against you. "Let not your good be evil spoken of" fits you to a tee. The road to the Narrow Gate is like a crowded freeway because of your faithful preaching.
Good for you! Congratulations.
Now let's stir up that perfectly ordered pot a little. Let's add a "let's say" or two.
Let's say you were to discover that one of your fundamental truths were a fundamental false tradition, kind of like the ones Jesus had to reprimand the Pharisees for. Let's say, oh, for instance, the Doctrine of Satan having been a Glorious Angel at one time, and was kicked out of Heaven came into serious dispute.
(Remember, were just-saying here. I'm not trying to prove or disprove any Doctrine - so don't let any defensiveness rise because of the object of discussion. The Subject of the study is Integrity.)
For all these years you have been preaching that Satan was a Fallen Angel; now you learn that he was a liar and a devil from the beginning.
Do you tell your congregation that you were wrong all those years? Do you tell your wife and kids that you and they are going to have to change churches because yours won't let you preach what you know to be true?
Or do you just keep quiet about it because, after all, what difference does it make? Devil or Angel - who cares? It's not effecting anybody's Salvation is it? Of course not.
More heat and more coals.
Let's say the fundamental belief you had been preaching is Works plus Grace. After all, there are a lot of churches preaching just that, and the Catholic church is fairly based on that belief.
Let's say you discover that Works has nothing to do with Salvation - that it is all Grace and once you are Saved, you are always Saved.
Again, this option is easy enough to rationalize in that Works is just extra stuff that might even help your congregation feel a little bit better about themself, and maybe even get them a little closer to Heaven.
So why make waves? It's just a little more icing on the cake is all.
Now let's turn it around. Let's say that you discover that it is all Works and no Grace that get's you to Heaven; but you have been preaching that it is all Grace for Eternity, and Works was a bad word.
(Don't look at me that way. I don't know how that could be seen; but there are certainly groups out there who do.)
Now if you don't tell them that you were wrong, and your congregation continues on their merry way without the Works that is absolutely required to get them to Heaven and save them from the pit....?
The stakes for a lack of integrity have been raised considerably, don't you think?
What do you think God will have to say about such a preacher who doesn't preach that which he believes? What does the Bible say about a Minister's responsibility?
Of course everything above is merely hypothetical because we both know that you are very sincere in what you believe and teach.
And of course so is every other preacher and minister - even though every one of them seems to preach something very contradictory one to another, yet exactly the same as everyone else in that church organization they belong to.
Just like every teacher in the school system teaches exactly what all the others do, even though what they teach is exactly opposite of what the entire school system was founded upon.
Surely I have a point to all this let's-saying. And yes, I have.
When we all stand before that Great White Throne and have to face the One who commissioned us to do whatever job He gave us to do; I think we would do well to have an excellent reason for doing just what we did with what He gave us.
I think we had better not have tares to present when it was wheat that He gave us to plant. I think that we would be better off having produced much less of the right produce (wheat) than a lot more of the wrong (tares). I would rather have taught poorly what the Lord said to teach, than to have taught well what Tradition has put forth.
What am I saying? I'm saying that I believe there are too many preachers out there "rightly dividing" the word of Tradition, instead of spending time in the Word and in Prayer seeking the Holy Spirit to guide them in the Book that He helped write.
And I think there is going to be a lot of "But I was told" excuses presented to the Lord by preachers who have dedicated themselves to Tradition instead of the Lord.
I think the Church is sinking into a quagmire of Tradition while the Lifesaver of the Holy Spirit is ignored and rejected.
I think there is going to be a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth by the very ones who are supposed to be teaching the Church how to avoid that very same.
And finally, my question, ye men of Integrity; are you prepared to change your Doctrine if you discover that what you now believe is wrong? Or, like the Pharisees, are you so embedded in Tradition that you are afraid to look outside of the Traditional Box for fear that there might be some Truth waiting to be discovered?
Tumbleweed
