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What do you get when sheep get a PhD? … Just stupid
sheep with a PhD! Incredibly,
J.D. Greear, a rising star in the SBC, included this question and answer in his
sermon the day my husband and I visited The Summit. It appears this comment has
been edited out of the sermon archive at the church web site.
C.J.
Mahaney never got any degrees beyond high school. Joshua Harris was
homeschooled and didn’t earn any further degrees. The Duggars have homeschooled
their kids and the two oldest children, who are now college age, run a used car
lot. Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis calls himself a creation “scientist”; yet he
has never earned more than a bachelor’s degree. In case a reader might like to
proclaim that Mahaney and Harris have created “The Pastor’s College” and by
this are now educated, we at the TWW are not impressed. A nine-month education
is not serious study in any field. This is only magnified by the fact that said
attendees of the PC do not need a college education in order to enroll.
So
what’s the problem? Quite simply, Mahaney, Harris, and others have not been
tested in an objective manner. Mahaney calls himself a “pastor/athlete.” Just
as Mr. Humility has named himself as head of SGM’s “apostolic team”, he has
also named himself an athlete. To the best of our knowledge, his athleticism
has not been tested. Did he play collegiate level sports in which he was part
of a recognized team? Did he every try out for the Olympics? Mahaney simply
declares himself an athlete. A real athlete moves up the ladder within sports.
For example, my son who plays soccer has moved from recreational level soccer
to what is called “Classic” soccer, which is achieved by both experience and
tryouts. He now plays varsity high school soccer. To get to that level, he had
to try out and advance through junior varsity soccer. He has elected not to try
out for soccer in college. He has decided that it is neither his passion nor is
he playing well enough for a college level team. He would laugh if you called
him an “athlete.” He would claim to enjoy sports; he would claim to “mess
around” with soccer; but he would never
have the hubris to call himself a soccer athlete. He knows his limitations. He
has played the sport and has been judged by his peers and his coaches.
Mahaney
also regularly declares himself as one who studies Spurgeon, Calvin, the early
church fathers, etc. He loves to quote such individuals and, as such, gives
himself the cachet of understanding these vaunted individuals; however, he has
never placed himself in a position to study under those who have made theology
their life’s work. Those professors have gone through the Masters and Doctoral
programs in which their very thoughts are closely judged by the tests they take
and the papers they write. They must defend their thoughts during
dissertations. And most have had to write and rewrite and revise their thoughts
over years until they finally hold that degree that authenticates their years
of study and hard work.
I
have absolutely no idea just how deeply Mahaney has studied these theologians.
It is far too easy to Google any of these guys and throw in a quote which
Mahaney is famous for doing, especially in his books. Most folks take you at
your word and far too impressed with those who quote “smart sounding” guys.
Ken
Ham is able to give the appearance of being a “scientist.” The average person
has no idea how difficult it is to obtain such a title in the real world. One
must first earn a PhD. Then, one sets up a postdoctoral experience in which
he/she conducts independent research. This research is turned into articles
that are then published in journals such as Science and Nature. These
journals have rigorous peer review to make sure that the data and conclusions
stand up to scrutiny. Then, one has his/her own lab and his/her own grant
money. Once again, Ham is guilty of (at the minimum) arrogance to include
himself in these ranks. In the event there are members of the Young Earth (YE)
crowd who are scanning for bias, Dr Kurt Wise, in the YE group, comes closest
to matching this description. This is NOT a discussion on creationism.
The
value of academic training is that it forces an individual to consider opposing
views, to defend one’s point of view, and to prove that one understands what
one is reading. Papers and debates give professors the ability to judge,
challenge, or congratulate the budding student.
Mahaney
has close contact with the likes of Al Mohler and John Piper. Shouldn’t that
keep him on track? Our answer is a resounding, “No.” There is a good reason for
this. Take, for example, Mahaney’s aversion to foreign missions. Approximately
ten years ago, John Piper subtly chastised him for his lack of concern for
missions. Funny thing about that, however. Nothing has changed whatsoever in
Mahaney’s abysmal lack of appreciation for missions in the last ten years. In
fact, this “apostle” considers his own churches “missions.” These are the ones
he plants or “adopts” in areas with wealthy people and well established
churches.
Why
hasn’t Mahaney responded to Piper’s challenge to be more missional? Perhaps
it’s because they speak at the same conferences and endorse each other’s books
which points to the question of MONEY.
Also, pastors appear to loathe criticizing other pastors which causes us to
theorize that the ‘old boys’ clubs (women rarely allowed) is alive and well
within Christendom.
When
people become dependent on each other for income and notoriety, it is quite
easy to overlook minor issues such as “calling each other on the carpet”.
Mahaney is friends with Al Mohler, John Piper, Mark Driscoll, John MacArthur,
Ligon Duncan, and the members of The Gospel Coalition and the Alliance of
Confessing Evangelicals — organizations to which he belongs. What amazes me is
that Mahaney is quite cozy with the seminaries in the SBC, especially Southern
Seminary. Heck, Mahaney makes graduates of SBTS, where his buddy Mohler is
president, go through his nine month “Bible light” Pastors’ College (PC) since
he obviously believes his college’s training trumps that of a real seminary.
But, guess what? The PC gets people like Wayne Grudem to teach there
(obviously, very part-time) so it must be OK, right? Hmmm, how much does he pay
these guys to do this? Better yet, we would love to see how much money Mahaney
has made Piper over the years to get him to shut up on the lack of missions and
the allegations of abuse within Sovereign Grace Ministries.
In
fact, it is most disconcerting to see that J.D. Greear recommends Mahaney’s
books, Humility and
Living the Cross Centered Life,
on his blog. The latter illuminates Mahaney’s view on sin. In fact, it is
his view of sin that deeply troubles us. We believe that Mahaney’s lack of
education may have led to his conclusions. We also believe that Mahaney’s
method of control of the people in his churches stems from his limited view of
atonement. We also might suspect that it is Mahaney’s conclusions that cause
folks like Greear to approve of Living
the Cross Centered Life.
Here
is what we mean. Mahaney stops the Christian walk at the cross. He meditates on
our sin and how we are so sinful, yet he rarely understands the depths of our
sin. He points to the need for the cross as his proof. Yet, he forgoes
mentioning what actually happened on the cross. Jesus died for us while we were
yet sinners. But, He also said that “It is finished.” Mahaney gives short
shrift to the resurrection and the fact that we are now, “Free, free, indeed.”
“Free,
indeed” means that Jesus calls us all into the priesthood of the believers. This is a scary thing to control
freaks like Mahaney. Don’t believe that he is? Just read the myriad of
survivors’ sites that tell tale after tale of control and pain. So many blogs,
so much smoke, so there must be fire! (Try just one – sgmsurvivors.com).
We
believe that Greear may be cut from the same cloth. Let’s revisit the quote at
the top of this post. Greear preaches in the Research Triangle area of North
Carolina, which is home to Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, N.C. State and other colleges
and universities as well as the home to great high tech and pharmaceutical
companies such as SAS and Glaxo. It is also home to the greatest college
basketball on the planet and, may we say, C.J., you ain’t no Michael Jordan. The Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel
Hill) has the highest concentration of PhDs in the country! The great
Francis Collins (Christian, head of the National Institite of Health, and
leader of the Human Genome Project) trained here, Duke and UNC conduct world
class, cutting edge research in many areas such as oncology and cardiology.
Greear
is letting all of us know that we are nothing more than a bunch of sinful
sheep, and it doesn’t matter how smart we are. How very sad! It is worth noting
that The Summit is a “young” church in more ways than one. The congregation has
a large constituency of college students who love to hear their “shepherd” put
their professors in their place! It’s highly unlikely that many professor types
attend his church.
God
gave us our intellects to explore this world that we have been given. Greear,
however, wants to put us in our place. We are just dumb sheep. But, he is the
pastor and he somehow gets a pass on this “dumb” issue. Therefore, he can let
all of us know just how sinful we, the sheep, are so we better shut up and
listen to him. Oh, and don’t try and tell him how to run his church.
J.D.,
there is a better way to say this, but perhaps it is more threatening to you.
Yes, we are all sinful; but so are you. God has given each one of us the
following: a mind, reasoning ability, compassionate hearts, the Holy Spirit,
forgiveness, and love. Together, as the community of the forgiven, we all bear
the mark of God, and believe it or not He speaks through ALL of us.
So,
instead of denigrating the calling that God has given to those who have been
called to higher learning, why don’t you rejoice in the blessing that God has
brought such gifted people into your midst and figure out how to use their
gifts to further the kingdom? Did you know that there is a science professor at
UNC-CH who has formed a student/faculty Christian fellowship that meets once a
month for encouragement and evangelism. Also, the next time, include yourself,
front and center, in the dumb sheep with a PhD. Or, do you believe that you are
just a bit better or have been given a secret gift that eludes the rest of us
sheep?
TWW
highly recommends Mark Noll’s seminal book, The Scandal of the Evangelical
Mind. Noll published this book in 1994, and his words resonate in 2010. In
fact, was he a prophet exhorting us to a great calling? He says that Christians
have dumbed down the Gospel, have entered a holy huddle, and have eschewed the
universities and the arts, leaving education to those who do not follow the One
Who created our minds. We reap the consequences of this in a society that
increasingly forgets the role of faith in the public square. Why not?
Christians have deserted rigorous study and have settled for silly little
sermons like Ed Young, Jr.’s sermon on “Sex for Seven Days.” EGADS, no wonder
the world looks down on our intelligence. Then Christians complain that
atheists run the universities. Well, who among them studied enough to stop this
from happening? This public square will not listen to uneducated men like Ken
Ham and C.J. Mahaney. They respect those who have done the work to achieve
higher education. Folks like Francis Collins and Dr. John Lennox of Oxford have
done the work and have earned the right to be heard.
Christians
such as Francis Collins, Michael Card (who writes a Christian music and is
working on a PhD in Classical Literature) , Walt Kaiser (PhD from Brandeis
University and President of Gordon Conwell), and many, many others have studied
hard and opened themselves up to peer review and criticism. We admire those
within Christian circles who have had the courage to submit their views and
thinking to objective scrutiny within the institutes of higher learning where
they know they will be challenged.
We
join with Dr. Noll and others to implore Christians in positions of prominence
not to denigrate higher learning. In fact, we believe that folks like Mahaney
should be encouraging higher education. We also believe that Christians need to
enter into all aspects of our society and show the world that are not afraid to
enter the debate on any level. Richard Dawkins might think Christians are
delusional, but he must admire Francis Collins who has achieved more in the
world of science than most any other scientist alive. And this has earned him
the right to be heard.
Just
to show how easy it is to pretend like we know all about Spurgeon and Galileo,
we leave you with some Googled quotes. Are
you impressed, yet?
“The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is knowledge
of our own ignorance”.
-
Charles Haddon Spurgeon
“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God
who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo
their use.”
-
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
(http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/quotes.html)
