Rule Number 1 – The Experts Are Always WRONG

As a young operations staff officer in the Army, my commander had a simple operational maxim that he posted in the operations (S-3) section and the intelligence section (S-2) of the TOC (Tactical Operations Center). It was a simple sign, in bold letters, which read, “THE FIRST REPORT IS ALWAYS WRONG!” Now he did not mean that we should, as a result, ignore the first report, but that we should put our effort into determining what the real situation was. In seeking to verify/disprove the initial report, we always received a much more detailed and verified second report, which made a tremendous impact on our ability to take appropriate action.

This is a good principal for businesses and people to follow. It can save a lot of heartache and embarrassment down the road.

It is also a good rule for Christians to follow.

My own experiences have brought this home to roost in my mind.

I was saved and received my initial training in the Bible at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, in Belton, TX. In my studies I began to see patterns in the narrative that indicated that, taken as a whole, it was far more integrated and consistent than I had ever thought (someday I will expand on this point). In my first two weeks of classes they taught us how to study the bible. The remainder of my time there, I was taught what to believe.

One of the things I was taught was that divine healing was no longer in evidence. I was taught a great deal more, which I accepted without questioning, because the instructors were highly educated and authoritative, and I had been taught to respect the offerings of highly educated and authoritative people…but not without thinking about stuff for myself as well (it is just that at this point in time, I delayed the thinking for myself for a while).

Then, my oldest two children were born, a minute apart, about two months early. My son weighed 5# 5oz, and my daughter 4-5. My son's lungs collapsed almost immediately because he had not expressed the amniotic fluid in birth (C-Section) and would not re-inflate. He was not expected to make it through his first 24 hours. My daughter was a 50/50 chance. They both survived with no ill effects and have prospered tremendously.

I immediately knew the day after they were born that God had wrought a healing miracle as a result of my prayer. But it defied what I had been taught in school, by the Navigators and by the Army Chaplain. I had to re-evaluate my theology. I have had several more of these opportunities to witness early church miracles, and re-learn my theology. As a result, I came to the point where I realized I needed to change my approach. To do so, I adopted two additional rules of hermeneutics, what I refer to as my first and second "rules" of studying (these rules apply to any subject, but in this case I am applying them to studying the bible): (1) the experts are always wrong; and (2) I have to prove it. (Both of these "rules" are offshoots of the operational maxims quoted above. It really comes down to not taking someone else's word for anything of critical value, always verify the information. Human beings, beginning right here in front of my computer, have inherent biases of which we are totally unaware. They are each products of our life experiences, and we are aware of some of them, but not others. (My distrust for experts is one of my biases.)

Experts, whether popularly acclaimed as such, designated so by other experts, or just in their own minds, are also tinged with bias. Either their bias often comes in that the title “EXPERT” requires them to learn from other experts and accept their biases as your own, intentionally, or out of a sense of awe at the teacher who knows more than the student or so it is believed. There is a little parlor game called "Gossip" where the first person whispers something to the second who relays it to the next and so on; the last person has to repeat what they were told. If there are more than two people playing, the final version is invariably different than the original. Education is the same, sorry all you teachers, but this is true, although the distortions are mitigated by the use of text books. Experts also, for the most part, believe all the press about how wonderful they are, and how infallible they are. Sadly, almost all of these experts do often wonder about their answers, and they do fail and fall. But they are in a position where, were they to change their minds, or challenge the status quo they will have to yield up their special exalted status of experts (which is great for me, because if they were always challenging the way things are, there would be no statuses quo for me to challenge, and I would have nothing to write about.

For example, when I say the word "pet", everyone has their own image of that word. If I tell a funny story that includes a pet to an audience, but never describe what kind, or even a name for the pet, people will repeat the story and some will call it a cat, some a dog, some will name it, some will do a combination. Some will even catch on that I did not mention whether my pet was an animal, a rock, a chiapet or a gigapet, and adapt the story their own way. If I write my funny story down just as I told it, even people who read it will insert their own fillers for the incomplete information.

We do the same thing with the Bible.

Want a really good example of this?

What is it with the three kings, and the tiny little gifts they drop off at Jesus manger-cum-cradle in a stable? It sure makes a wonderful story, but the Bible tells us there were Magi (also called wise men, but not kings and no number is ever given) and that they brought three categories of gifts for a child they believed to be the next mighty king of the Jews (no sizes were mentioned, but I wonder if they would make such a long arduous trip with a couple shoe boxes worth of stuff, and where is the rest of their entourage, people did not travel that far alone, or even in a small group...I am open to discussion in another thread on the particulars, but be aware that such a discussion itself will prove the point that there is indeed personal bias in most of what we are taught). Moreover, according to the Bible, the wise men arrived some time after Jesus birth, and arrived at a HOUSE, not a stable, where Jesus is referred to as a small child, rather than a baby.

Our theology is filled with little and big insertions of bias, some of which are eternally damning to individual, flawed people seeking out the truth. They are not fatal, nor even seriously damaging to the faith because God is there holding it together. My visual on this is a military transport plane flying over hostile territory. It is hit by a bullet, which puts a small hole in the plane, but also hits and kills a passenger. The plane is only slightly damaged, a 30-minute patch job, but the passenger is dead.

As a church, we do the same thing

(To illustrate how easy bias can enter into a discussion, did anyone object to how I slipped in "mighty" to describe the king of the Jews? It is not in the text, but could be implied, depending on how you want to read the text? It could only be implied as a motive for the Magi, because at that time the king over the Jewish territory was what I would describe as a power-hungry, paranoid non-believer who was a puppet of the Romans.)

We are all CALLED (not just recommended) to study for ourselves, decide for ourselves, to listen to the Spirit ourselves and to relate to God for ourselves. We are called to believe whatever we believe FOR OURSELVES; after all, heresy is not what some other man or group of men define it as; heresy can ONLY be defined by God, and HE will tell us what that is.

The final nail in the coffin wherein I buried my former blind acceptance of Christian traditionalism was when I transitioned and discovered that God still loved me, that he still had a call on my life, and that there are strong Christians on this side of the spectrum. It is at that point I came to realize that the dogma I had been taught was built on a framework of eisigetic assumptions.

While you may wish, hope and pray that the church you are in will suddenly be open to a different reality, it's leaders are part of a closed society where to even think that there might be something amiss is heresy of the highest order.

I would pray that God allowed me to stay and gave me the avenue to challenge the hierarchy, but that is accepting the role, and calling, of a martyr. If I was unable or unwilling to face that kind of opposition and pressure, I would make plans to move on, while praying for guidance on where to go.

I would only stay there if God directed such.