by Gardner Hall<\/p>\n
Independent thinking about the Scriptures is good! The Jews in Berea weren’t satisfied with blindly accepting traditional Jewish interpretations of Scripture. Still, they listened to Paul with an open mind, searching the scriptures daily to see if his teaching was true.<\/p>\n
Those who are presumptuous in their thinking often assume the label of “independent thinker” for themselves. Still, several clues indicate that their motives aren’t as noble as those of the Bereans:<\/p>\n
The Pharisees believed that their knowledge elevated them above the riff-raff, “this accursed crowd that does not know the law<\/em>” (John 7:49). After all, contemporary scholarship rejected Jesus and his backward followers (John 7:48). As useful as knowledge can be, it also puffs up. Any pride that leads us to look down on “the common man” will put our own souls in jeopardy.<\/p>\n The air of superiority promotes teaching with sarcasm, often with unflattering references to individuals of the “CoC tradition,” “Pharisees,” and “legalists.” Yes, dangers represented by these sometimes-imprecise terms exist and should be confronted, but not with the disdain we see among the presumptuous.<\/p>\n Sometimes, godly men and women who have influenced our lives are disparaged, even though, in some senses, we may be standing on their shoulders. No, they weren’t right about everything, nor should we blindly follow them. However, many deserve respect and not derision for their own endeavors to imitate Christ and faithful early disciples, even though their efforts were often imperfect.<\/p>\n I can’t help but think of saints in my past who have been independent thinkers without exhibiting the rebellious spirit described above. I’ll miss many, but I will mention L.A. Mott, Robert Turner, Leslie Diestelkamp, etc. Going further back in history, I think of F.D. Srygley, David Lipscomb, Tolbert Fanning, Barton W. Stone, and others. They were by no means rock-bound traditionalists but were full of humility and love even as they tried to reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all long suffering while growing in their understanding of biblical truth. These are examples we can follow.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Gardner Hall Independent thinking about the Scriptures is good! The Jews in Berea weren’t satisfied with blindly accepting traditional Jewish interpretations of Scripture. Still, they listened to Paul with an open mind, searching the scriptures daily to see if his teaching was true. Those who are presumptuous in their thinking often assume the label…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1076,1528,126],"class_list":["post-66515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-independence","tag-presumptions","tag-pride"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28518,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-your-own-thinking\/","url_meta":{"origin":66515,"position":0},"title":"Do Your Own Thinking","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 12, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bob Buchanon via\u00a0The Eastside Edifier Not many of us think for ourselves when it comes to matters of religion. Most of us are what we are religiously because of the way our parents reared us and have never questioned whether we were right or wrong. We prefer to leave\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/thinking3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":33712,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/knowledge-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":66515,"position":1},"title":"Knowledge (Overby)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 26, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ben Overby Sentry Magazine, March 2000 The Hebrew writer desired to feed his readers \"solid food.\" but was prevented by their inability to consume such \"food,\" (see Hebrews 5:12-6:3). An interesting question arises after reading this passage. What value is there in our pursuit of \"solid food,\" or those\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39775,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-deceived-myself-into-thinking-i-was-saved-when-i-was-lost\/","url_meta":{"origin":66515,"position":2},"title":"I deceived myself into thinking I was saved when I was lost","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 23, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Minister, I have been in a state of utter despair for the past 1.5 years. I feel like I am in a horrific state of having rejected the gift of Jesus and now finding myself with no place for repentance. I had deceived myself into thinking that I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53473,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/pride-and-preachers\/","url_meta":{"origin":66515,"position":3},"title":"Pride and Preachers","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 15, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce Reeves There has been some discussion lately about preachers and jealousy. Brother Tommy Peeler has pointed out that preachers are not the only ones who struggle with jealousy. I knew a man one time that told a gospel preacher that he did not think that it was fair\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3076,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-recommend-a-good-commentary-and-study-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":66515,"position":4},"title":"Can you recommend a good commentary and study Bible?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 12, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear sir, Could you please recommend a good Bible commentary and study Bible? Thank you very much. Answer: Commentaries are basically a man or a group of men's opinions about what the Bible is saying. The opinions might be good, or they might be completely wrong depending on the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14713,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-in-the-bible-is-instrumental-music-forbidden\/","url_meta":{"origin":66515,"position":5},"title":"Where in the Bible Is Instrumental Music Forbidden?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jerry Fite Nowhere in the Bible does God explicitly forbid the use of instrumental music in worship. Some find implicit condemnation in Amos 6:1-5, where the prophet writes, \"they invent for themselves instruments of music, like David.\" But upon a closer contextual examination, one must conclude that the self-indulgent\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66515\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Sarcasm<\/h2>\n
Lack of Respect for Godly Teachers of the Past<\/h2>\n