"The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church's prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament."
-Soren Kierkegaard, "Provocations: Spiritual Writings of Kierkegaard"
I don't disagree that we need people to study the bible and that parts of it are hard to understand (2 Peter 3:16, but I don't think that's what he's getting at. Maybe an example of what he's talking about will help.
"On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. 'Teacher,' he asked, 'what must I do to inherit eternal life?' 'What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?' He answered: ' "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind"; and, "Love your neighbor as yourself."''You have answered correctly,' Jesus replied. 'Do this and you will live.'
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, 'And who is my neighbor?'
and then he might as well have said:
"My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world?"
I'm sure, if I had the time or the skill I could find an abudance of Christian literature that redefines what a neighbour is to something that makes my life easy enough and wouldn't ruin my life though.
Also, regarding:
"OK! Let's get rid of evangelists... Whilst we're at it, lets let anybody and everybody preach and scrap all Bible colleges. It's all so easy after all."
I'd like to say something about evangelists and preachers and there job, but I can't think what just yet. I think maybe, that there job isn't just education.
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Benjamin
"The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand."
OK! Let's get rid of evangelists, lets just give the bible to people and tell them to read it. "But what does this mean?" ha, we're not telling you, work it out for yourselves. It's so easy to understand!
Whilst we're at it, lets let anybody and everybody preach and scrap all Bible colleges. It's all so easy after all.