Joe Carter posted a quote from Kierkegaard today that kicked me in the pants:
“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.”
Why do I say it kicked me in the pants? Because I'm writing a sermon on John 5:1-15 and trying to figure out how to soften the blow of Jesus' threat. I have to admit, reading commentaries has helped. They just sort of gloss over it, so why shouldn't I?
3 comments:
Beautifully written. I've always liked Kierkegaard. He was a zealot spirit, like I tried to be. Practically, it doesn't work that well...it only gets you martyred.
I have a soft spot for the father of existentialism.
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