As young adults or grown-ups (though our parents would most probably beg to differ), we often like to think we know better. Whenever I see children in Sunday School memorizing Bible verses and singing praise songs at the top of their voices, it makes me wonder and sometimes even doubt if they really understand who God is.
Over the past two weeks, we have been delving into theological education and the importance of it in understanding the God whom we proclaim to worship and adore. As I recall the sharing by Marianne on her experience with the children in South Africa, I was struggling to reconcile the pursuit of theological education and that of childlike faith.
In Matthew 19:14, Jesus says “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” From this, we know that God values the faith of young children because they are unassuming, trusting, dependent and most of all pure and innocent. They do not hold on to their possessions like adults do, they do not doubt but simply believe. This made me question the importance of being theologically educated in the eyes of God. Does God really require us to attain that much biblical knowledge or does He simply want us to believe and trust in Him? This question brought me in circles and so I had to seek the help of fellow STEP-ers.
It turns out that I had interpreted innocence and trust incorrectly. God called us to have child-like faith and that does not equate to having blind faith. One of the greatest possessions man holds dearly to his heart is pride and self-centeredness which can be manifested in many forms. One of which is intellectual pride.
When we pursue theological education with the goal of wanting to win an argument against an atheist, beneath this façade of upholding God’s truth lies an insidious motive of self-righteousness. As Christians, we must understand that ultimately, it is not the soundness of our arguments that leads another to believe in Christ but God’s grace through faith. It is His gift to us and not something which we can earn. This is a humbling truth that I sometimes still struggle to grasp, especially at the peaks of church ministry.
I would like to reconcile theological education and child-like faith as having the curiosity just like that of the children to want to know more about the mystery of God but not to acquire knowledge to fuel our intellectual pride. As children, we always ask ‘why’ and even though we do not fully comprehend the answers given to us, we do not doubt nor question the authenticity of the answer. It is this humility and selflessness which children possess that our Father values. Theological education (or at least a big part of it) is to help us understand God’s intention and not to justify our selfish and prideful ones. After all, will our being theologically educated guarantee our salvation?
Amanda Pan
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