Is This Possible?

[theyownyou33]

So, the last church that I went to was a fundamentalist King James Version only independent baptist church. This church was pastored by a man who has studied the Bible his entire life and we used t talk quite a bit about my doubts and faith. One time I asked him if he could explain the Council of Nicea to me a little bit and he told me that he had never heard of it. I didn't bother to "explain" it to him, because I felt that he was being dishonest. Is it possible that someone could be a graduate of a Bible college and self identify as a bible expert yet not know anything about the Council of Nicea or do you think that he was lying?

[sdelsolray]

Perhaps he was lying about being a graduate of a Bible College.

[Deva]

3 hours ago, theyownyou33 said:

So, the last church that I went to was a fundamentalist King James Version only independent baptist church. This church was pastored by a man who has studied the Bible his entire life and we used t talk quite a bit about my doubts and faith. One time I asked him if he could explain the Council of Nicea to me a little bit and he told me that he had never heard of it. I didn't bother to "explain" it to him, because I felt that he was being dishonest. Is it possible that someone could be a graduate of a Bible college and self identify as a bible expert yet not know anything about the Council of Nicea or do you think that he was lying?

Yes, I believe its possible he is sincere. There are  fundamentalist "Bible Colleges" that more than likely don't teach any church history.  I wouldn't be a bit surprised. I know that I never knew what this was (the Council of Nicea) being a Baptist fundamentalist, until I was quite a bit older.  If its not in the Bible (and the Council and 1,000 plus years of church history is not) then it is of the devil or it doesn't exist.  That is the mentality you are dealing with. It cannot be made to appear that humans created this religion. Explaining it to him would probably not have been worthwhile.

[Geezer]

It is quite common for strong fundamentalists Bible colleges to limit their courses to their own apologetics. Their purpose is to indoctrinate not educate.

 

David Fitzgerald, author of Nailed, surveyed every college in the U.S. that offers Bible or religious studies as part of his book research. If memory serves me correctly I believe that are 1400 or so schools that offer religious studies. About one third did not respond, approximately one third said they offered their professors complete academic freedom. The other third admitted their professors were required to sign a statement of faith & any violation of that statement was grounds for dismissal from the staff. 

 

Fitzgerald found evidence a number of professors had been terminated for violating the schools statement of faith. Offenses such as telling their students Adam & Eve were not real people resulted in the professor being fired.

 

 

[buffettphan]

I think either way could be possible.  He could be telling the truth because real education doesn't seem to be a high priority in most bible colleges.  Or he could be lying to protect his income source.   I read somewhere that the rate of apostasy is pretty high among seminarians but they, like most graduates, get jobs in their field of study.   

 

Whether or not his bible college allowed him the freedom to actually think for himself is a whole 'nuther question...

[florduh]

5 hours ago, sdelsolray said:

Perhaps he was lying about being a graduate of a Bible College.

I'm going back to this answer.

 

There seem to be many preachers/Biblical experts who have never seen a college textbook or spoken to a professor. And they are clearly not above lying, for the greater good, of course.

[hereticzero]

Don't fall for the Baptist no-it-alls. They want people to believe they spend most of their lives in scripture. If one were to critique the Baptist cult's doctrines, one would find they are not very biblical, meaning Baptists follow church doctrines, not scripture. I was So. Baptist for over 45 years and their doctrines were a reason why I left the church. They ignore what contradicts doctrines of salvation without works and once saved always saved, just to name a couple that don't hold up to scripture. 

[◊ DestinyTurtle ◊]

Graduating from "Bible College" could mean anything. It could mean an unaccredited diploma mill based in a basement somewhere, for all I know. Even if it's accredited, there's a strong incentive to lie and indoctrinate, as people have mentioned in the above comments. I wouldn't put him above lying, either.

 

Also, I noticed with many bible fanatics types they say they "studied the bible all their life" and boastfully display their crumpled up, heavily read copies of the bible... if you pay attention you'll notice they just plow through it unthinkingly, over and over again, like they're reading a mystic mantra. There's no actual effort to understand it or interpret beyond the church approved dogmas, and it's more about their pride in their perceived devotion than anything else. 

[Geezer]

Studying the Bible from a true academic perspective would have to include researching its origins & evolution from a purely historical perspective. Secular schools of religion do this, but church affiliated schools generally don't. 

 

That's the difference between apologetics & the Historical critical fields of study.