Frustration with Dogmatism and Pride

I'm just going to have a brief rant. I'm not an important person and nobody reads this blog anyway- so I don't have to worry about being cautious about how I word things here.

Here's my frustration: ok... I'm a "layperson" in the church. I haven't studied theology formally in a seminary. But you know what really bugs me? When I'm not taken seriously by those who have studied theology for a long time. When I'm frequently interrupted when I'm trying to clarify my position. When they listen to someone else because they think the other person is smarter than me (which, yes, may be the case... but!!! it's not fair to keep interrupting me while hearing the "smarter" person out before responding.)

I'm starting to think that the more one studies theology, the less one is willing to *really* listen to others, particularly to those who are "laypersons". I've probably been guilty of this too. It's like there's this theological pride... "I've figured it out. I'm right. I know what your position is before you even finish your sentence." But you know what? When humility vanishes, what use is your theological brilliance? Now, on the open theism discussion board I frequent, I haven't encountered that for the most part. They are willing to uncover every rock to understand what philosophical assumptions they bring to the table when reading the Bible. Perhaps they've been willing to hear me out because that type of discussion is in writing.

But it seems something happens when I have face to face discussions. Maybe I'm just too emotional. Maybe my voice just isn't strong enough. Maybe I have the wrong image. Maybe it's the blond hair. Maybe because I'm young (31?) Maybe it's the fact that I'm a woman and men tend to subconsciously look down on that... perhaps because of the Corinthians passage. I don't know! But it's frustrating. I can tell when a person looks down on me; you can see in their eyes - mentally they're finishing your sentences for you and not really hearing what you're saying. They only think they know what you're saying, but their responses show that they haven't got a clue - mentally, they're only building strawmen. Erg.

Many theologians and pastors tend to see things in black and white, failing (and basically refusing) to see where their philosophical assumptions are when coming to the text, and (especially when they think they are *absolutely right*) have a blatant unwillingness to consider that there may be more than one way to interpret a text. When mentioning certain words, they jump to conclusions. For example: "philosophy", "theology", "biblical", "sovereignty", "hermeneutics". For some strange reason, people think they can separate philosophy from theology. You can't! Philosophy encompasses every discipline, every argument, every position one holds. When you analyze, interpret, decide what the author is trying to say, you are using philosophical tools, assumptions, beliefs.

There's the loose, everyday usage of the word "philosophy", such as "I have a philosophy about the stars," "I have a philosophy about how one should use chop sticks," "I have a philosophy about Bilbo the clown." But think about questions like this: Why are we here? How should one interpret the Bible? What is the proper mode of discourse? What is "sovereignty"? What hermeneutical approach should we use: Baconian or something else? Can we set aside all assumptions and just simply "read the text"? Those are all philosophical questions. And here are other philosophical positions as well: We should first analyze the Greek and Hebrew grammatical structures when analyzing the Bible. (Why?) We should interpret scripture with scripture. (Why?) "Day" instead of "time period" or "season" is the best translation for "Yom" in Genesis chapter 1. (Why?) We shouldn't bring our philosophical assumptions to the table when reading a text - we should read it straight-forward. (FYI, you CAN'T do that. You always bring your philosophical assumptions to the table. Here's the clue: How ought we interpret this biblical text?)

I've heard enough Calvinists say, "My position is biblical and theirs is not." Give me a break - you (who say things like this) refuse to listen to the others and when others present a biblical case for their position, you are dismissive by saying they are incorporating philosophy rather than letting the text speak for itself. The same can be said about you - it's arrogance that prevents a person from hearing the other person out. You don't even *really* try to *really* understand where the other person is coming from!

Ok, my venting rampage is over. (almost)