RandomPokesWhat We Don't Know Steve Dennie
I received the recipe for marinating some meat in a particular way which, I knew from well-savored experience, is absolutely delicious. So I bought the ingredients and set about preparing it.
However, I am not on the Gourmet Registry. Neither is Pam. I'm real handy with a grill, and Pam can make a mean carrot cake, once won an award for her barbecue chicken, and is good with a variety of other things. But we're not adventurous when it comes to the kitchen. We stick to the basics.
So this recipe seemed a bit cryptic to us. It assumed knowledge which we didn't have.
For instance:
- The recipe required four juiced oranges. I could juice an orange okay. But I didn't know whether to include the orange rinds, too. I know, you think I'm a total culinary Neanderthal. But I didn't know. The recipe just assumed I did.
- We needed several "T" of soy sauce. Did that mean teaspoons or tablespoons? The recipe assumed I knew, but I didn't. Fortunately, Pam did. And I'm not going to tell you the answer.
- The recipe said to marinate the meat for two days. Where? In the refrigerator? Seems obvious to you, I'm sure. But the question came up in my household.
- The mixture needed some red wine.
Here's where I'm treading on shaky ground. I have never ever ever ever ever in my life bought any alcohol stronger than vanilla extract. Never used any in cooking. There doesn't have to be a first time for everything, but there was in this case. However, as I stood in the grocery store's wine aisle scanning the shelves (and continually looking guiltily in both directions, expecting the Bishop to stroll past at any second), I couldn't find a single bottle bearing the words "red wine." So I made an uninformed guess, and buried the cheap bottle in the bottom of my basket as I walked to the checkout, dodging lightning bolts the whole way.
Well, the meat is currently marinating, and we're too ignorant to know if an opened wine bottle needs to be refrigerated or not, or whether we should just throw the thing away to exorcise our home.
Don't assume people understand things. That applies to recipes, and it applies to Bible teaching.
Churches can have good ministers who fervently preach the Word, yet even after parishioners sit under that preaching for years, the next preacher comes in and declares, "These people are biblically illiterate." So he sets about correcting the situation. But several years later, when his successor arrives, not much has changed. A lot of teaching has occurred, but not much learning and understanding, let alone transformation.
In Evangelism Explosion, we were taught to ask people two questions. One was, "If you died tonight, do you know for certain that you would go to heaven?"
Many people, even long-time churchgoers, would say, "You can't know that for sure."
Well, yes you can. The Bible makes that clear. We don't need to live with uncertainty about whether or not we're heaven-bound. But too many Christians never learn that. Maybe you haven't.
We also asked, "If you did die tonight and stood before God, and he asked you, 'Why should I let you into my heaven?', what would you say?" The typical answer dealt with doing good deeds--"I've lived a good life, haven't killed anyone, blah blah blah." Wrong answer. We get in because of what Christ did on the cross, not because of anything we do. Again, too many Christians attend church all their lives and never understand the real basis for their salvation. They might know all about End Times pro
I'm amazed at some of the studies in which people who identify themselves as born-again Christians hold mistaken or wishy-washing views on key doctrines. They don't necessarily believe that Jesus rose from the dead, that He was born of a virgin, that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, that salvation is a gift (rather than something we work for). They say that, yes, you can probably be a Buddhist or Muslim or Mormon and still go to heaven.
And the idea of biblical absolutes--if the Bible says it, it's true--is giving way to "doctrine by consensus." Like that crazy Jesus Seminar bunch, who vote on whether or not certain miracles happened, or whether Jesus really rose from the dead. They don't understand the Bible's authority. If 70% of today's people believe that hell isn't a real place--so what? Doesn't change a thing.
Thom and Joani Schultz wrote a fascinating, thought-provoking book called, "Why Nobody Learns Much of Anything at Church: and How to Fix It." In one chapter, they point out three mistakes we make in the church:
1. We assume people have understanding and knowledge, when they don't.
2. We think that more teaching results in more learning. It's like reading through the whole Bible in a year, or fully immersing yourself in Ephesians for the whole year so you will know it inside-out for the rest of your life. Less can be more.
Jesus told his disciples, "I have many more things to say to you, but they are too much for you now" (John 16:12). His goal wasn't to stuff them with knowledge, but to impart understanding and to transform their lives.
The Schultzes write, "If, each time we gather with our learners, we can help them learn one single essential point, we're wildly successful."
3. We don't tell people what's most important. The authors say, "We try to cram so much into our people's noggins that they haven't a clue what's essential and what isn't."
Some churches spend a lot of time studying Revelation, social issues, creationism, and other "interesting" topics--but the people still don't understand the basic doctrines. Like how to know for certain if you're going to heaven.
I guess I look at my own life and see much of what they point out. I've attended church all my life and was raised in a good Christian family. I've heard countless sermons and Sunday school lessons and everything else, but there's so much that never sunk in.
Thom and Joani Schultz raise many important questions we need to wrestle with. And they provide good answers about how to make our teaching more valuable. But I'll stop here.
Copyright 2005 Steve Dennie |
