I have
believed in Jesus Christ for almost three weeks past fifty years. During that
time, God was very gracious to me. As I reflect, God's grace was extended to me
long before I came to Christ, for which I am profoundly grateful.
One of my
blessings growing up, though my parents were decidedly not believers, was
exposure to their habit of reading. My parents seemed always to be reading
something, with my recollections being my dad blasting through a book daily.
Taught to read by an older sister when he was only four years old, reading was
my dad's escape from a sharecropper's life.
At this
point, I must recollect one of Mark Twain's sayings: "A man who does not
read has no advantage over a man who cannot read." How right he was. This
episode of my musings is a pitch for reading, but more than that. It is a pitch
for reading even what you know in advance you will not much like, mainly works
related to biblical and systematic theologies written by men whose persuasions
and convictions differ from yours.
Sadly, as a
Baptist pastor for more than forty-five years, I have concluded, from many
conversations, that most missionaries and pastors do not read much. And if they
do, they tend to read unsubstantial works written only by authors they agree
with. That is both sad and mistaken.
Pastors and
missionaries need to be widely read men. And we need to read for various
reasons. We should read to clarify our positions. That is the first reason for
reading widely. My first pastor was a man with convictions he refused to
articulate. He did not refuse to answer my questions only, but also the
questions of other Church members about the Bible and other matters.
One of my
favorite teachers in Bible college, I was saddened to discover years later, was
a man of strong convictions that he could not defend because he was not widely
read. He was a remarkable teacher. All of his students loved him in class. But
after entering the pastorate, I learned from interacting with him that he was a
man of deep convictions with shallow reasons for his convictions. This was
disheartening, especially in light of my agreement with him. But I am persuaded
that someone right for the wrong reasons is wrong!
Another
reason for being widely read concerns your understanding of those you disagree
with. It is insufficient to disagree with those who are wrong, even if you do
not sufficiently grasp the intricacies of their error.
Most
Baptist pastors and missionaries do not have much track record opposing
Arminianism. Why not? It may be because their grasp of Arminianism is
insufficient, and they do not comprehend how man-centered Arminianism is and
its proximity to Pelagianism.
Far more
Baptist pastors rail against Calvinism but do so without having read Calvinist
authors. The result, of course, is childish caricatures of Calvinism that men
who have investigated Calvinism easily see through.
If you are
confident your understanding of Scripture on a point of doctrine is accurate,
you will profit from reading diverse positions written by thoughtful men who
disagree with you. It will clarify the position you disagree with and help you articulate
your position more clearly.
I believe it helps to know what you are talking about, and strongly held, but unsupported positions bolstered by little more than vehemence are unpersuasive. Further, I am persuaded that not only are readers leaders, but leaders are readers, and a Gospel minister who is not a devoted and prolific reader needs to find another line of work!
