Discussions

How Do People Grow?

Does a school define and set the life path of its students?  Haven’t some of the best scholars been the ones that weren’t afraid to modify and negate what their teachers taught them? (Jesus of Nazareth, Karl Barth)  Could a new possibility emerge out of the straight and narrow?  Is ones theology formed primarily through books and teachers or a multiple array of factors?

As a recent Dallas Seminary graduate, I’ve wondered if my application would be looked at by all churches?  Dallas Seminary has a reputation, among many, for being an ultra-conservative, dispensational, pre-tribulation rapture, women fearing, fire and brimstone breading ground.   During my job search, I have often asked myself, “Will this church even consider someone with a Dallas Seminary background?”  I have received many of the following responses to my resume;

“We have reviewed your resume but feel it does not fall within our hiring parameters.”

Don’t get me wrong, I understand that many will reject my resume for good reason but I find it fascinating that I’m not even considered for positions where my resume exceedingly meets the qualifications.  I have the experience, but for some reason, I don’t meet their hiring parameters?  While many churches are eagerly seeking and hoping for a Dallas Seminary grad, others are less than excited about Dallas Seminary students.  I’ve heard one Senior Pastor say “When I see Dallas Seminary on a resume, it’s a RED flag.”  This puts me, a Dallas Seminary graduate, in an awkward position.  I once tried to contrast the prejudice against female pastors with the prejudice against Dallas seminary grads with a  female pastor of a prominent church in Texas.  Her response was that women didn’t have the ability to choose gender but Dallas Seminary graduates had a choice in the school they chose.  She was right……but is there more to the story?

Is Dallas Seminary Narrow?

There are a couple different ways of dealing with this situation.  I could, as some have done, explain how Dallas Seminary is no longer your your fathers seminary.  I could talk about some of the different theological arguments that are floating around and how views have evolved over the years to become more ecumenically friendly.  I could talk about how revised dispensationalism is very different from classical dispensationalism.  I could even post some of the required and recommended reading lists for classes that I took which include books by Rob Bell, Brian Mclaren, N.T. Wright and others who would be considered on the other end of the Dallas Seminary spectrum.  I could also talk about how the majority of my professors were more interested in my ability to argue a point than they were my actual point.  One of my fondest memories from Dallas Seminary was when my Greek professor would say, “I don’t care if you agree with me but I want to see what evidence and method you use to defend your points.”  Another student once said to me, “There are no answers, just good or bad arguments.”  The bottom line is that Dallas Seminary is an institution which is set in its beliefs but also open to how those beliefs are communicated.  Different definitions are on the rise which emphasize the old but communicate in the new.  The professors are more than open to feedback and have often times researched further when legitimately challenged.  Many professors go out of their way to have different Christian and non-Christian traditions challenge their work through conferences.  (ETS, SBL).  One of my favorite activities during my time at Dallas Seminary was attending debates between professors who respected one another and yet held different theological convictions.   Instead of going into detail about those areas, I would like to raise another point which was mentioned in my opening paragraph…..

Again I Ask:

Is a persons theology formed primarily through books and teachers or a multiple array of factors?

Dallas Seminary is one chapter or maybe a couple chapters in the novel of my life.  Since when did a school become the end-all of a persons education?  Where does the role of family of origin, important experiences, music, and the Holy Spirit fit into a persons theological makeup?  Granted, there are many in the “Christian” subculture who have subscribed to one group as the director of their faith but not everyone has to jump on one bandwagon.  Not everyone feels compelled to throw pep rallies for their school of choice.  Some of my favorite theologians have gone to multiple different schools for their theological training.  Not only have some of my favorite theologians come from a variety of different schools but some of my favorite people have come from a unique mixture of people, schools and experiences.

Have you ever seen the “Evangelist Idol Complex”?  This happens when one person, we’ll call them “the evangelist”, leads another person to faith, and the new convert forever exalts that persons teachings .  The error in this complex is that the new convert fails to recognize that “the evangelist” while playing a significant role in the conversion is not responsible or even a major part of the conversion.  The new convert fails to recognize that Jesus has been trying reach out to them way before “the evangelist” ever showed up.  At some point or another, the new convert becomes an old convert and must deal with this issue.  The new convert must learn that God has been trying to “woo” them through all sorts of experiences, people and avenues before and after the initial decision to come to faith.  I believe that God has shaped me through MANY different avenues.

What Shaped Me?

I was raised in a small town named Turlock in the heart of Central Valley California.  This region has a personality of its own which is known for its rich agriculture and of course…. cows.  My parents emigrated from Iran in 1981 and I was born in November of that year.  My parents raised me Roman Catholic although we did not attend church regularly.  I loved watching the Ninja Turtles and Parker Lewis Can’t Lose.  I went to Crowell School elementary where I had some wonderful teachers who impacted me with required readings such as Hatchet by Gary Paulsen.  I was deeply impacted by my “Introduction to World Literature” class during my senior year of high school.  It was in that class where Mr. Avey prodded his students to look deeper and think critically.  I was the chaplain for Theta Chi fraternity for 3 years and it was there that I learned a lot about different world-views.  Theta Chi was filled with members from all different types of religions and I still look back at that time as one of the most formative times of my theological life.  I spent a few too many dollars and hours at West Village Starbucks in Dallas, where I enjoyed intense theological conversations with Atheists, Buddhists, Muslims, non-religious skeptics and many Christians.

The Point

Any person or organization that judges my theological framework strictly based off of my seminary experience is selling the story of my life short.  They are selling how God works short and are impairing what could be.   I believe that there is more to a person then their schooling and that every person, regardless of their theological background, should be given an equal opportunity at a job.  There are a few bad apples on every tree but that doesn’t mean the tree is all that bad and that the rest of the apples should be discounted.  Perhaps you can be a catalyst in changing the perception by allowing an interview or entertaining a different worldview? I am glad that I was able study at Dallas Seminary and more importantly I am thankful to have had the professors that I did.  But I also remember that a school doesn’t make a person.  The school exists for the scholar and NOT the other way around.

Bible?  Who Said Anything About the Bible?

I love how leaders in the Bible responded those who preached about God from different backgrounds.

Numbers 11:28-29  Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ aide since youth, spoke up and said, “Moses, my lord, stop them!” But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the LORD’s people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!”

John 9:38-40 “Teacher,” said John, “we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.”  “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us.

Acts 5:34-39 But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. ^ Then he addressed them: “Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. ^Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. ^After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. ^ Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. ^But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”

Philippians 1:15-18 It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.

Thoughts?

I am preaching my first sermon post-seminary this morning. I am rather gleefully nervous. I am not nervous about speaking in front of people or of being irrelevant or boring, ect. No, I am nervous about one thing and one thing only and that is that my message would be God-honoring. One of the things that happened in Seminary was that I became a worse critic. Those of you that know me, know that I was already very critical and through seminary I have become even more critical except now I am backed by 3 years of study. A critical spirit cripples the imagination and confidence. I am almost positive that one day I will look back at this message and find many flaws in it, many places where I didn’t use the right metaphor or even proclaimed something that was false. But what am I to do? Stop preaching and allow someone else to make those mistakes?  A friends blog inspired me recently to pick up the brush and produce something rather then nothing.  One of my seminary profs once said “the problem with the Bible is that it has to be interpreted.” And he is right, that is a problem but it is a problem that God is comfortable with. I am excited about this message because I believe it to be true but I am also nervous about it because I know that when people take hold if it, it will cause some upheaval in their lives. It will cause them to have to reorient their lives around Jesus.  That moves me, it excites me but it is also very daunting. Of what value are my words? God says plenty, he says that I am to be his mouthpiece this Sunday.

There is one verse that I have painted into a picture image and saved as my desktop background. It is the verse that I constantly read for reassurance on the direction I am heading . John 7:18 “Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.” I hope that this Sunday, my words, though filled with logical fallacies, fledgling metaphors, unclear jokes, will carry with them the truth, to an audience who is open to hear it. I hope that this sermon will be the first of many.

So I’m sitting in Ecclesiastes class today listening to Dr. Gordon Johnston lecture about the meaninglessness of life. This is my second class with Dr. Johnston, last semester I had him for Hebrew 4.  Class in and class out this man continues to amaze me. I am always in awe of his ability to illuminate the text using his Hebrew language tools and mindset. One theme I have seen over and over in his teachings is “hard work”.  Hard work pays off. Today he was specifically lecturing about how there is a balance to everything that is done under the sun and that hard work has its place, as long as the work is done out of enjoyment.

I’m in my last semester of seminary and one of the questions I have been wrestling with is vocation.  What it is that I like to do and whether or not I have what it takes to do it.  One of my goals was and still is to have a preaching ministry, an excellent preaching ministry. The reason why I came to seminary was so that I could get the skills necessary to dive into the Bible and not only understand what it communicates but also to be able to communicate what it says. As time goes by I see the multi-faceted jewel that the Bible is and have come realize that I don’t have what it takes to know EVERYTHING there is to know about the Bible. But I have learned that there are general themes which run throughout (grace, redemption, love, repentance). This has given me hope.   But I have been weary of preaching for one big reason. As I research passages I see that there are seas of commentaries and there are a number of directions one can go with a given passage. Since I am a perfectionist, I find it necessary to do every little bit of research before moving forward with a given interpretation but this perfectionism has caught up with me in the pulpit. I get overwhelmed with all the different directions, nor can I study all the different directions to see which one(s) is legit. Well this all had been weighing me down and today after class I decided to ask Dr. Johnston to get something to drink at the Cafe. He kindly agreed.

As we walked to the Cafe, I happened to pass by a bunch of people that I knew.  I quickly interacted with them in passing and then waited in line.  In line I began to unload some of my apprehensions on him. We sat in the Cafe and talked for about 30 minutes and during that time he unloaded a wealth of wisdom on me. He zeroed in on some of my talents, reassured me, and gave me some tips on how to combine my talent with his. He put words to the ideas I was wrestling with and brought resolution. These aren’t his exact words but he reminded me that at the end of the day we’re all in this together and there are times where it is okay to trust someone’s opinion on a passage. He reminded me that one of his major contributions  is content while my major contribution would be communicating and facilitating enviornments for the content. That conversation lasted about 30 minutes but it covered about three years of questions. One conversation changes everything. I had a class I was suppose to attend after Ecclesiastes but I skipped it in order to talk to Dr. Johnston. Was it worth it?  I think so.

Most of us have texts which dominate our lives. Even though tv shows, movies, plays, and music aren’t communicated in a written format they still send messages.  These messages are communicated in words.  Texts.  These little texts control our view of reality.  Newspapers, tv shows, fashion, cultures, The stock market is going to crash, the government is bailing out to many people, there is nothing to do this weekend, I’m behind on stuff and I’ll never catch up.  Well I think you now get the point. All of these texts dominate our lives but are these texts real?  Are they true?  I have now come to the realization the Bible is a text that reinterprets the above texts.   The Bible is a text about reality.  Now the key to good Bible study is to be aware of all the factors by which the text erupts out of.  Context is key.  You gotta know the context of the texts.   Once you know the context of the texts then you step into the real world.  When Jesus said Herod is a “fox”, he did not mean that Herod is good looking, instead he meant Herod is sly.

Anywho, lately I have been thinking about the Bible.  I have been thinking about how most people do not see it as a real book and how preachers have misused the Bible.  I know that I have always subscribed to a “high view” of Scripture but this “high view” may actually have been a lower view.  Ouch.  Rather then letting it be a book which defines reality I have tried to defend the Bible.  The Bible exists within worlds that are characterized by economic problems, dissatisfaction, personal depression, abuse, and all the horrors we fear.  But the Bible re-envisions every horror in the grand reality that is a Good God.  This doesn’t mean that we don’t experience pain or that the reality of life is not painful but it certainly gives us a different grid of how to endure through reality.  Initial thoughts.

I have a tip for all students.

The best music to listen to while studying is movie soundtracks.  I’m not talking about the soundtracks that have songs with lyrics.  I’m talking about the instrumental stuff.  Reading can become laborious but when you have a soundtrack moving you through a movie…..well it makes all the difference.  I don’t think I would have gotten through seminary without Ben-Hur, Gladiator, Indiana Jones, Starwars, Jurrasic Park, Godfather, Back to the Future, Bond, and Narnia.

Invest in a soundtrack.  Buy it used and then study with it.  Let me know how it works out or if you have some good ones to reccomend.  You may also want to check out Unearthed by Posthumas.

mhgs what no. 2 from blaine hogan on Vimeo.
Last night I had the honor of listening to Dan Allendar speak at Irving Bible Church.  If you aren’t familiar with him he is the President of Mars Hill Graduate School in Seattle, Washington.  The school is revolutionary when it comes to the seminary experience.  I visited there after my first semester at DTS and I was thoroughly impressed with their presentation.  When I got a tour of the building(which was downtown in the middle of all the other businesses) my tour guide informed me that the walls weren’t straight because they didn’t want to claim to have all the answers.  There were no desks only round tables, that way people face each other and have conversations.  I got to sit in on a class and it was interesting to see that the class was discussion based rather then lecture based.  Quite a difference from my seminary experience, both approaches have there positives and negatives.

Anyway back to Dan.  He was speaking to a group of 10-20 leaders about the 6 most commonly reported leadership struggles.  I’ll spare you 5 of them and focus in on the last one.  Dan talked about crisis which entails any situation that could be career/life threatening.  I forget the exact number but he said that crisis occurs about 12 times a month.  It was so refreshing to hear a true and real perspective on what it takes to be a leader.  Here are some of the refreshing statements.

- It’s lonely at the top.  Often times the leader has to carry so much on his/her own shoulders because certain secrets cannot be repeated.

- Plan on having your closest friend betray you.

- The people who love you today won’t love you in two days.

- Follow Paul’s example in admitting that you are your institutions worst sinner (1 Tim. 1:15).  This was a reminder to me of how much I try to hide my sin rather then admit to it.  Admitting my own sinfulness helps me to gain power over it.  The amount of sin that is hidden is directly proportionate to the amount of power the enemy has over me.

I can’t remember everything he talked about but I would highly recommend his book “Leading With A Limp.”

After he spoke we got to have a question and answer period and I got to spend a few minutes talking to him one on one.  I told him I was just doing my best to stay balanced while in seminary to which he responded “that’s impossible, it’s like keeping your room organized while there is 70 mile winds running through.”  I don’t know why but when he said that I felt a gust of energy run right through my body.  Except for the fact that what he said next was even more refreshing!  I shared with him some of my concerns about seminary and how I sometimes get the thought “if only I was at a different school then….” and he quickly corrected me and said “every seminary has its own culture.”  Even though he didn’t say the words we both knew what that meant.  It meant that every school has its positives and negatives and you just got to roll with the punches.  I thoroughly appreciated that response.  He didn’t give me that run-around or the “come to my school” business. It is one thing to hear statements like this from other students and it is an entirely different thing to hear it from the President of the school.

Not to change the subject but I want to pose a statement for discussion that came up last night.  The statement was “To the extent you fear a person, to that extent you also hate them.”  I’ve never looked at it this way.  It was both harsh and freeing.  I’ve never thought of myself hating the people I fear and I’ve also never thought of myself as being hated by the people who fear me?  What do you think?