Choosing to Preach Discussion

re: #4 - Can You Preach Astrophysics?

Posted by Marian Tong on Oct. 22, 2007 at 21:01

I’m more conservative on this issue. I believe that one must be called to preach not because preaching is a professional job, but it’s a divine job where the preachers’ personalities, characters and spiritual life have to match the "job descriptions". I do not have much opinions on the gender issue in which male or female should/shouldn’t be preaching on the stage. But I believe that the preachers have to be doctrinal appropriate in order to deliver God’s messages. I also believe in spirit-led preaching but not improvisation. The knowledge of God’s Words and the power of spirit-led preaching have to be balanced (or be integrated, according to our professor’s term :>) in order to accomplish the objectives.

But I’m not surprised that one must be called to Preach. Moses, Joshua, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, etc are called by God to do the preaching in their days. Even Peter and Paul – they encountered God themselves and devoted their lives to the Lord. It seemed that the divine call appeared less in NT, but the heart and their spiritual life seem to be a more important aspect to look into this issue. I guess both passion in preaching and the call to preaching are required.

re: #4 - Can You Preach Astrophysics?

Posted by Marian Tong on Oct. 22, 2007 at 21:00

What Keith said is also my concern because I really think that "how to preach Bible" is a more practical question.

Even though I have a desire to teach Bible, I’ll really think that I sometimes have my own interpretations and experiences of Bible knowledge. Of course, I’m not going to change the major interpretations of the Bible, but sometimes because I’m not sure I’m really proclaiming God’s words, or my opinions of God’s words. Every year when I turned back to the same memory verses, I feel something different about my experiences related to the Scripture even though the teachings of Christ are the same.

The question, Can You Preach Astrophysics?" seems obvious, yet from my interpretations I’ll re-word is as "How can we sure that we are preaching Bible without mixing astrophysics into the message?" Are Yoga, Henry Potter, horoscopes and astrology "astrophysics"? Some churches say no, some says not a big deal. How about psychological theories from Freud, Piaget, and Erickson? They are all popular but Christians tend to accept Piaget and Erickson but not Freud, because the latter two focus on human development and learning. However, Piaget & Erickson are more atheistic than Freud, while Freud was one of the few ones who is willing to talk about the spiritual side of human beings!

Seeing from a practical point of view I believe that we should not preach astrophysics either. Knowledge of the world will change all the time. There are more cancer cases and other diseases, more different sociological trends, more technology evolved inventions, etc. We can’t guarantee what we learn now is right, or it will not be defeated forever. So it has a practical implication when we really teach something outside Bible.

re: #4 - Can You Preach Astrophysics?

Posted by Sally Peng on Sep. 25, 2007 at 00:28

I definitely think that preaching has to be about the Bible. The Word of God is what distinguishes preaching from any other kinds of public speaking. People come to church to hear God’s word, not our opinions on different topics of the day. So it is the responsibility of preachers to speak God’s word, and to help the listeners understand the meaning and significance of it through expository means. In a word, we can talk about astrophysics in the sermon if it helps to deliver the message of God, but we definitely need to make the Word of God the center of a sermon.

re: #4 - Can You Preach Astrophysics?

Posted by Keith Whitaker on Sep. 14, 2007 at 11:50

It’s pretty difficult to read through chapter two of the book and not come to the conclusion that we must preach the bible. In that sense, Dr Anderson makes a great preacher because he presents a "persuasive" case :) In fact, I have been challenged to be more dependent upon the Biblical text rather than my own opinions about the text. This being said, I wonder about the polarization of these two things. On page 34 it reads "We could offer our own opinion, or we could preach the wisdom of God." I wonder whether these two things ever overlap, and if so, how might we know where God’s wisdom ends and our opinion takes over. Indeed, even our interpretation of God’s wisdom, at times, relies somewhat on our "opinion" albeit an informed and Spirit guided opinion. In essence, I am weary of preaching "my opinions" because I want to be biblical, but I sense that in some instances these "opinions" make up my understanding of God’s wisdom as it is laid out in scripture.

re: #4 - Can You Preach Astrophysics?

Posted by Chris Synesael on Feb. 04, 2007 at 08:35

yes. i think you can preach anything. should you? probably not. context dictates the validity of your message. if i were to preach ‘astrophysics’ at my church there could be some issues, likewise, if i preached the scriptures to my ‘astrophysics’ class the issues may be similar.

with all that being said i feel a greater sense of responsibility to preach the scriptures.

re: #4 - Can You Preach Astrophysics?

Posted by Johnny Lo on Jan. 25, 2007 at 00:12

It seems as if a lot of this is based upon semantics and the definition and usage of the word ‘preaching.’ Some would call ‘preaching astrophysics’ as someone who is just teaching with a passion and strong conviction. In a Christian context, however, I believe that one must preach from the Bible.

re: #4 - Can You Preach Astrophysics?

Posted by Steve Driediger on Jan. 17, 2007 at 21:14

Just curious, though, what if we preached how astrophysics reveals who God is? Or if by preaching ‘science’ we could proclaim how God has ordered how world? Or if by preaching ‘creation’ we could proclaim how incomprehensible our God is?

re: #4 - Can You Preach Astrophysics?

Posted by Melissa Lane on Jan. 16, 2007 at 14:56

If preaching is just about speaking about something with passion, then one could preach astrophysics. If preaching was merely about the transmission of ideas someone could choose anything to preach about. However, preaching is not about talking, its about the Proclamation of the Truth. It is about bringing people into the presence of God so that He can interact with them. It is about jumping into Scripture and hearing what God has to say about it through the text to people in a particular time and place today. Preaching is not just a mode or setting of communication—it is about hearing from God. Astrophysics "preached" in the pulpit brings on sleep for most, not an experience of the divine.