Dennis Diehl has written a very interesting article entitled Questions Your Pastor Will Hate. I find it to be interesting because none of the questions he asks pose a problem for me, in fact, it shocks me to think that some pastors out there would be stumped by any of these questions. Each of his queries can be answered very simply and without any mental gymnastics.
But then, in the midst of my shock I realize that Dennis is writing this article with stereotypically undereducated Fundamentalist pastors in mind, and this is why none of the questions bother me much, I’m not a Fundamentalist, nor undereducated and anyone who knows me knows I don’t fit a stereotype.
If anything, Dennis’ article points out that some (many?) church leaders are severely lacking in basic hermeneutic skills, basic biblical understanding, and basic adult-level reasoning.
I grasp the fact that Dennis’ essay is light-hearted and is not meant to provide any kind of air-tight argument for this or that. But still, it makes you think.
For the sake of interesting blogging I’ll pull out a few of Dennis’ questions verbatim and provide my own brief, quasi-witty answers. Dennis, if you’re reading this, know that I’m being very lighthearted right now, OK? 
“Who was Cain afraid would kill him when God put him out of the Garden for killing Abel? There were mom, dad, bro and himself on the whole planet at the time.” Answer…I’m not a young earth Christian. I believe that there were lots of people around at that time. Also, consider that different books of the Bible require different hermeneutics. Just like you read Shakespeare differently than you read Kant.
“Why, no matter what, is it always the human’s fault and God never gets any blame for not making good on his promises?” Answer… because when a promise is not kept by God it’s because some punk screws up his end of the deal first.
“Did Paul ever spend five minutes with the real human Jesus?” Answer… Yup. The Damascus road. Jesus had risen from the dead and at that point was physically in heaven via the ascension. If Paul experienced Jesus on the Damascus road then by default it had to be Jesus with flesh and blood, it was the only kind of Jesus around.
“How could Mary leave town after being warned of Herod’s intentions and never tell the women in the town, their kids were about to be butchered?” Answer…How do you know she didn’t? Maybe some women left with her, who knows?
“So is it just me, or are these good questions to ask about the text and theology of the Bible?” Answer…They’re absolutely great questions. Never stop questioning things, especially something as important as your faith.
At any rate, that’s that. I’m not out here to brow beat anyone and for those of you who read me regularly you know I’m not a Bible thumper. But I definitely agree with Dennis that in general pastors (again, at least in the US) are in need of a reeducation in some disturbingly basic knowledge and thinking skills.
