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Knowledge takes effort
James Becker’s faith versus knowledge letter of Jan 15 says that the simplest believer (faith) knows (knowledge) more about Jesus than a religious professor. Even professors that have devoted their entire lives to studies?
Has his “simplest believer” studied the Old Testament in Hebrew and the New Testament in the original Greek? Has he read the Gospels in parallel, noting the inconsistencies, especially in John? Does he know of the making and canonizing of the New Testament almost 400 years in length?
Has he read the numerous alternative Gospels that didn’t survive the vote for canonization by the orthodox winners in the theological wars? Has he studied the evolution of Christianity from a Jewish sect to Jewish and Gentile Christians to Proto-Orthodox Christians to the Orthodox Christianity we have today?
Has he read the Apostolic Fathers who created long-lasting anti-Semitism and figuratively interpreted the Old Testament to justify Jesus and the faith to the Romans? Has he developed a theodicy to resolve the problem of evil?
When the simplest Christian learns all this and much more, he will have knowledge, many doubts and maybe still his faith.
Roger Junttila
Post Falls