It’s sad to hear some to preach in a way as to totally discredit Christian doctrines, or at least speak in a way that could easily yield to such understanding by theologically untrained ears of congregants. The preacher himself may claim to have reached the top of theology and whatnot, but seems to never have had much appreciation nor treaded through an in-depth understanding of systematic theology due to whatever background, upbringing, or education he was fortunate(?) to have experienced in his own life. Does he understand the consequence of such implied imperative to distance from the very tradition of his own theology on the lives and minds of his own congregation? This is very much in tune with the post-modern Zeitgeist of the day, and yet, paradoxically, the preacher claims to a personalized version of a branch of Biblical theology. The apparent lack of metacognition, an aspect of self-aware on his part, at times, is suffocating at the least, and appalling in the best of times.

Oh, a mere mortal, a human. We’re all too apt at holding multitudes of contradictory ideas. Tolerate, we shall, but do we truly know the cost of such misguided rhetoric, or conviction, or whatever one shall label. In this day and age of illiteracy, and sinking of the Biblical authority in all areas of life, we have the workings of very leaders of the church destroy the edifice of millennia while giving rhetorical service to the Logos of the Divinity. The author of De Doctrina Christiana would be embarrassed to say the least when he hears a line such as, “Doctrine divides,” for an echo of Chamberlainian peace of 1938. Christian doctrine has been the tool not to divide, but as a tool of proclamation of truth against heresy. A Christian unity of faith that isn’t grounded in the truth is a unity against God’s truth. On one hand, you want to turn a deaf for once and maintain a level of comfort for communal peace, while in parallel, a corner of mind rationalizes for the other — what more can you expect from a background of liberal theological education. If I had grown up in his cradle, I may have ended up with a similar theological horizon. A mix of simple, inherited faith on the surface that is familiar to the masses, and yet, a forceful inertia of a critical education. But again, one does have to draw a line when it concerns the word of God. In spite of such understanding, I only ache at the famished landscape, a land without much introspection. A land where everyone tries to claim a type of ownership to something different from the tradition, with no understanding of the tradition that’s been passed down to us by God’s providence. How can one appreciate the beauty when, out of ignorance, we’re prone to throwing out the baby with bathwater?