Each comic strip will have it's own analogous meaning. Think Christianly about the message. The first one is overtly obvious. I am interested in how you might interpret the second one. Click it to get a better view and please comment below.
"Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness." (Rom. 12:8) "For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward." (2 Cor. 1:12) "But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." (2 Cor. 11:3)
Actually I saw the second one referenced in Corinthians:
But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. (1 Corinthians 2:14)
The second strip could either be an indictment of antiintellectualism or an indictment of overintellectualism as some have pointed out already. Neither are helpful.
For scriptural support, one could accuse Jesus of teaching over the disciple's heads. Paul well understood the philosophical milieu of the day as is evidenced in his sermons. John also addressed philosophical problems in both his gospel and his letters. 1 John is Christian epistemology 101, for example. The reference to Jesus as the Logos addresses a philosophical debate that we associate with Platonism, but that entailed for more than ancient Greece. John was essentially identifying Christ as the Logos that people were debating and that he wasn't like anything they thought he was. So the neo-Platonist theologians in the early church missed their cue in John to get off the world's philosophical bus, where others understood what John was saying.
The point is that we are all at different levels of intellectual development and if the pastor only preaches to the lowest common denominator he stands to starve out a segment of his congregation that should be developed as a blessing to the church, not as a segment of elites, but as coworkers according to the grace they have been given. So if the proverbial room needs to be wallpapered, someone capable of making the proper calculation should be developed to translate it into the number of rolls that the wallpaperer needs to use. And someday the wallpaperer might be interested enough to learn to do the calculations himself and the whole team will be edified.
"Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness." (Rom. 12:8)
ReplyDelete"For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward." (2 Cor. 1:12)
"But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." (2 Cor. 11:3)
Vedy vedy good.
DeleteLOL!
ReplyDeletePreaching or teaching over peoples heads doesn't get the job done.
ReplyDeleteDon't be a hypocrite, and don't overcomplicate things. ;-)
ReplyDeleteActually I saw the second one referenced in Corinthians:
ReplyDeleteBut a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. (1 Corinthians 2:14)
Thanks everyone! Your inputs are great!
ReplyDeleteThe second strip could either be an indictment of antiintellectualism or an indictment of overintellectualism as some have pointed out already. Neither are helpful.
ReplyDeleteFor scriptural support, one could accuse Jesus of teaching over the disciple's heads. Paul well understood the philosophical milieu of the day as is evidenced in his sermons. John also addressed philosophical problems in both his gospel and his letters. 1 John is Christian epistemology 101, for example. The reference to Jesus as the Logos addresses a philosophical debate that we associate with Platonism, but that entailed for more than ancient Greece. John was essentially identifying Christ as the Logos that people were debating and that he wasn't like anything they thought he was. So the neo-Platonist theologians in the early church missed their cue in John to get off the world's philosophical bus, where others understood what John was saying.
The point is that we are all at different levels of intellectual development and if the pastor only preaches to the lowest common denominator he stands to starve out a segment of his congregation that should be developed as a blessing to the church, not as a segment of elites, but as coworkers according to the grace they have been given. So if the proverbial room needs to be wallpapered, someone capable of making the proper calculation should be developed to translate it into the number of rolls that the wallpaperer needs to use. And someday the wallpaperer might be interested enough to learn to do the calculations himself and the whole team will be edified.