At church this morning, the "Prayer of Confession" stood out to me. Here are some aspects of it:
"So we confess...
"The times when we used knowledge to put people down rather than build them up...
"When we see people exploited because of lack of knowledge, and do nothing...
"When we have idolized knowledge at the expense of loving and caring for others...
"When we have ridiculed others for having a weak and feeble faith because they appear to lack wisdom..."
I'll comment on each of these:
"The times when we used knowledge to put people down rather than build them up..."
This definitely caught my attention, especially since so many academic discussions and debates online (i.e., blogging, Facebook) strike me as games of one-upsmanship---portraying people who disagree with me as if they know nothing, and trying to save face when I appear to know nothing.
"When we see people exploited because of lack of knowledge, and do nothing..."
I'm not sure to what extent this applies to me. I will say that religion strikes me as exploitative, and it's good when people are at least exposed to other ways of looking at issues (i.e., hell, biblical inerrancy). But whether they want to pursue those questions is up to them. Many people are content with their present belief system, and, in my opinion, that's fine---just as long as they don't try to ram it down my throat. But I think that it's good for knowledge to be out there for the people who want to pursue it. It can be liberating, for people who feel that they are in bondage to religion and want to know that it's okay to think outside the box.
"When we have idolized knowledge at the expense of loving and caring for others..."
In terms of my spirituality, I have often patted myself on the back for pursuing the knowledge aspect of the faith---Bible study, quiet times, etc. A big reason is that I'm not good at the interpersonal elements of the faith---fellowship, evangelism, reaching out to others---and so I seek some assurance that I am all right. Moreover, I get annoyed when I raise a question or pursue an issue, and a Christian comes along and says, "I don't think that's important...it's just important that we love people." But the question or issue is important to me. Is it loving to casually dismiss it, whether one believes that it is important for her at the stage of the journey that she happens to be on?
At the same time, there are Christian intellectuals or pseudo-intellectuals who can be complete jerks. I wonder: what is the purpose of their knowledge if they don't treat other people with respect? And, while it's tempting for me to preach this to other people, I should also adopt it as a sermon for myself.
In a way, I feel that my sharing of knowledge (or so-called knowledge) through blogging can help other people, if they are interested in the topics that I address. And there are people who are, as my stats demonstrate. Should that substitute for service work? I don't think so. There is a sense in which blogging about knowledge can coincide with pride---look at the knowledge that I am sharing! But serving people---putting away chairs, opening doors for them---coincides more with humility. I am acting as a servant in that case, rather than as someone who thinks he should be looked up to.
"When we have ridiculed others for having a weak and feeble faith because they appear to lack wisdom..."
Do I do this? I think that I have, in a way. I've learned things in school and through reading about the Bible, and it's tempting for me to view those who don't read the Bible with a critical methodology as if they're naive. But they're not. Many of them have more wisdom about the world than I possess. They may be better than me at bringing their faith into their day-to-day lives. And there are times when a fresh way of looking at Scripture is better than an academic parsing of the text---especially when academia is pretty much a speech community in itself, which acts as if certain questions or insights are acceptable, whereas others are not, sometimes with little or no basis. I see this as I read for my comps, as certain scholars challenge the status quo: Why should we assume that P wrote that part about Abraham buying land from the Hittites, when other biblical authors talk about agreements? Why should we compare the Bible with Icelandic folk sagas, as if one is even remotely similar to another? The way that these scholars challenge scholarly assumptions makes me wonder why I should assume that the sun rises and sets on the assumptions of academic speech communities.
I grew up in a denomination that essentially ridiculed others for what it considered a lack of knowledge. We know about the seventh-day Sabbath, whereas others are keeping Sunday. We know that we will sleep until the resurrection, whereas others think our souls go to heaven or hell after we die. We know that Christmas and Easter are pagan, whereas others observe them. We thought that we were better than other people. Sure, we'd try to fool ourselves into thinking we were humble, saying that God graciously revealed to us this knowledge. But there was still an attitude of contempt towards those who did not see things the way that we did. Nowadays, I can condemn that sort of mindset in others, but does such condemnation coincide with any love on my part, even towards those who look down on others?
I will make another point: This part of the prayer criticizes looking down on others as weak in faith because they lack wisdom. But I've found that there are plenty of people who look down on those who have knowledge. I've heard Christians say things like, "Well, you're smart, and that's good, and I can't debate with you, but sometimes God reveals himself to the humble." I find those kinds of comments to be patronizing and condescending---especially when I wonder what makes the people saying them think that they know God more than I do. I don't see it in their words or actions---with their hatred of Muslims or their narrow-minded allegiance to the Republican Party, or their contempt for the poor. I don't want to be an elitist, but I'm also sick of others being spiritual elitists towards me.
Also, here's a question: When will we see a prayer that apologizes for making social extroversion into a mark of genuine spirituality, while treating introverts or shy people as if they're second-class citizens of the kingdom? I read and hear Christians bash knowledge for being elitist. But I find their definitions of "love" to be judgmental and elitist, as well.