Feeling v. Knowledge

Tonight I wrote my Milton Exam. For those of you who don't know, Milton is a famous 16th century poet. He wrote the epic poem Paradise Lost which is based on the fall of man in Genesis. He was a protestant of the puritan tradition but he was a bit of a heretic. (Denying the deity of the Holy Spirit and such).

Anyway, Biblical allusions abound in Milton, and that is one of the reasons I took the course. Before the exam one of my classmates asked me, "How do you know the Bible so well?" I responded simply, "I'm a Christian." Her response to this was profound. She said, "Oh. Well, I know a bunch of people who are Christians, or at least they profess to be, and they don't know the Bible at all. If I ever have any Biblical questions I'll come to you." Now, I will attempt to make some generalizations based on this conversation:

1. Non-Christians expect Christians to know the Bible.
2. Non-Christians can see through people who claim to be Christians but do not know the Bible
3. Non-Christians will respect Christians who have knowledge of the Bible (and therefore, actually know what they're talking about...)

There is a prevailing trend in certain evangelical circles to focus on "experiential" Christianity. In other words, these people focus on feeling the love of God, Hearing the Spirit, enjoying God's presence. Now, these are not bad things. They are very good things that we should all strive for. However, "experiential" Christians who focus on these things tend to know nothing at all about theology (or, alternately, to have heretical theology). This can be contrasted with "theological" Christians, who know the Bible really well, but unfortunately shun anything that may appear remotely charismatic. (And that means emotion).

Both of these approaches are bad, and make one look fake. There is balance in the middle. Listen: if you're a Christian, you must know the Bible and theology, and you must experience a deep emotional relationship with God. If either of those is missing people will see through your faith and see it as a facade. Let's strive for authenticity, both in our brain and our heart.

Because Jesus said to worship God with all our mind, body, soul and strength.