As often happens when one spends time on one thing they wind up encountering something else of the same or a similar topic. This has been my experience lately. I stumbled across a book on the Spanish Inquisition from what I understood to be a reformed book publishing company. It piqued my interest enough to make me want to read it.
I have written about that book in two previous posts. It wasn't a bad book, it just wasn't what I was expecting it to be. But in reading that one I also found myself reading a summary on another book, this one also about persecution, this time an Inquisition in Scotland. Like the book I read, that one held my attention for a bit, right up until I read that it was about a preacher that was forbidden from preaching and had to forego his income from preaching and was 'dependent on the good will offerings of his flock'.
I lost interest at that point. I MIGHT could have made it through a book about a preacher...maybe...possibly...but reading that that preacher became dependent upon the good will offerings, offered from a disbanded congregation, to support that ex-preacher and his family, well...I lost all interest in it.
That book is a work of fiction and is supposedly about the persecution of 'christians'. I assume it is but it also seems to be about the 'poor' preacher that lost his income when he was forbidden to preach and it reminds me all too much of the over abundance of preachers that feel like they are entitled to be paid through their use of sharing the Scriptures.
There have been many great preachers throughout history...I am sure, er...I assume. Preachers that gave the Gospel straight from Scripture and taught the teachings straight from the Apostles. I can even see that once upon a time, before Scripture was put into the written word and distributed into the hands of pretty much anyone that wants a copy, that those preachers were pretty close to vital.
I have heard stories of people in countries that have no Bible in their language. I have read of people that have to hand write the Scriptures to be able to have them. Years ago I read about people in Russia, I believe it is/was, that had no Bibles because they were illegal in their country but someone published a book that spoke against the Bible and Christians were buying those books just as quickly as they could get their hands on them. They bought the book not for the anti-biblical teachings but because that book had many Scriptures in it and it was the closest thing to a Bible they could get.
I could see where a preacher...someone that knows the Scriptures well or someone that has the only copy of the Scriptures...could be vital to believers. I can see that. What I can't see is why preachers in modern America are seen as so important when every so-called 'christian' has a copy of the Scriptures in their house.
In fact according to a study done by the American Bible Society 87% of American households have a Bible (https://www.worldreligionnews.com/religion-news/bible-87-american-households), or almost 9 out of 10 homes do (http://www.bpnews.net/48743/study-americans-fond-of-bible-but-how-many-read-it). In a country that has God's word printed and in their hands, why in the world do we NEED preachers to teach anything? We have God's word...why let anyone tell us how to interpret it?
I have never met anyone that knows the Scriptures like my husband does. He can hear a snippet of a single verse and tell you where to find the verse and what it's about. I remember my first few times seeing him do that. I was beyond amazed. I was floored...and awed. I had never seen anyone do such a thing but he did. And he still does. It still amazes me.
And I must admit I got a kick out of stumping him when I spoke of a portion of a verse the other day. Rarely do I ever speak of Scripture that he doesn't know exactly where and what I am referring to but that day...that day...I stumped him. It was fun and a bit surprising.
But that is beside the point, the thing is, if I had no Bible I would want someone like my husband that could share Scripture the way he can. I would not only appreciate him (I do appreciate him) but I would seek him out (I do that too just so I could hear Scripture.
I have written on Bibles before and have admitted to owning more than my fair share. I don't even know the total number of Bibles I personally own. Off the top of my head I know there is a ESV, two versions of the Geneva Bible, an NKJV, and a NASB. That's not counting multiple copies of the same version or something I may have missed. I just don't keep track of how many Bibles I own. And honestly I could part with most of them and probably never miss them since these days my Bible reading and study is confined to two Bibles and the rest sit unused 99.99999% of the time.
Because I have such ready access to the Bible, because there is rarely a time that I can't put my hands on a copy of the Scriptures within a matter of seconds, I have a hard time imagining...although sometimes I do imagine it...what it is like for those that have no access to Scripture. And in my imaginings I can well understand why one would want and even seek out a preacher type person if that person knew the Scriptures and could share them with me if I had no Bible and no access to one.
What I can't understand is why people with Bibles, Bibles that often sit on shelves gathering dust, would go to a preacher to be 'taught' the Lord's word when they have that Word in their own hands.
Yes, I understand how the unregrenerate cannot understand the Scriptures and how and why they need an interpreter. I know someone that 'works' in a 'church' and mentors others in the Bible. I once told this person that these people don't need a mentor, what they need is to be handed a Bible and told to go and read it. I know others that read and study their Bibles and yet they still soak up the teachings of others on what the Bible says. I realize that only those granted eyes to see and ears to hear are able to understand Scripture straight from their Bible without turning to some form of outside explanations.
I get that.
I really do and it isn't those people I speak of now. What I speak of is all the people that supposedly understand the Truth's of Scripture that can read it for themselves yet are still holding preachers in high esteem. They idolize certain preachers, be they alive now or long dead, and they see them as having some sort of 'calling' or importance above that of every other Christian ever born.
And they, along with most people that attend some form of 'church' so highly esteem a preacher that preachers wind up with the very mindset of the one in that fictional book. A mindset that has them thinking they must depend on others for their very support.
I know that book is a made up story but I am also sure that very same thought process has afflicted many a preacher that found himself without a preaching position. And I can't help wondering what mentality, what mindset, what...victimized personality...what poor me thought process...would prompt a man unable to preach to think his only means of support must come from the pockets of those kind enough to give him money.
Why wouldn't this man's first thought be to getting a job...a real job...and providing for his family rather than mooching off of others as so many...as most...preachers throughout all of history do with or without a 'church'?
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