Anyone can have an opinion but not everyone has a product. All you have to do today in America is think a couple of minutes and there you have it....an opinion....of God....of creation....of anything and everything, It's pretty much the same in politics.
Men....women....who over the years have constructed a factory of sorts by studying and analyzing....and taking a different course when it's called for....whether it was while in Bible school or a seminary or your own study or library....have in effect come up with a product and not just an opinion.
Now just because it's a product doesn't mean that's it a good product. I've purchased some pretty bad products over my 68 years and I'm sure that you have also. So what do we do? We put aside the bad product. In this case that would be false teachers all the way down to just poor teachers. This is how you come up with your own product....a product that you can defend if called to do so.
There is a product in these posts....not just opinions. Test that product....at least it's free. Reject it if you have produced a better product....but if all you have is opinions then you are fooling yourself. Granted, it may go over well at school or a dinner party or at work with others who only have opinions....but is this what you really want? Do you want to live the rest of your life just conveying opinions?
You cannot come up with a good product without studying the past....to see how we got here. That would be like trying to make a better widget with no plastic....no materials at all. The Bible itself and Biblical Theology came about after hundreds of years....thousands of years actually of men copying down every jot and tittle....and other men becoming experts in Hebrew and Greek....and yet other men having minds capable of systematizing concepts. Your product....our product....is a reproduction of cumulative other efforts....products....while an opinion is abstract....valuable possibly in exercising the mind....but still only an idea in search of a product.
To summarize....put the time in....or all you will ever have is an opinion. Consider the tragedy of what we have today....an America of opinions....and a church of opinions....an educational system of opinions....and now even law subject to opinion....unpredictable....random thoughts....subject to the slightest whim.....or as Merriam-Webster defines it....chaos.
Men....women....who over the years have constructed a factory of sorts by studying and analyzing....and taking a different course when it's called for....whether it was while in Bible school or a seminary or your own study or library....have in effect come up with a product and not just an opinion.
Now just because it's a product doesn't mean that's it a good product. I've purchased some pretty bad products over my 68 years and I'm sure that you have also. So what do we do? We put aside the bad product. In this case that would be false teachers all the way down to just poor teachers. This is how you come up with your own product....a product that you can defend if called to do so.
There is a product in these posts....not just opinions. Test that product....at least it's free. Reject it if you have produced a better product....but if all you have is opinions then you are fooling yourself. Granted, it may go over well at school or a dinner party or at work with others who only have opinions....but is this what you really want? Do you want to live the rest of your life just conveying opinions?
You cannot come up with a good product without studying the past....to see how we got here. That would be like trying to make a better widget with no plastic....no materials at all. The Bible itself and Biblical Theology came about after hundreds of years....thousands of years actually of men copying down every jot and tittle....and other men becoming experts in Hebrew and Greek....and yet other men having minds capable of systematizing concepts. Your product....our product....is a reproduction of cumulative other efforts....products....while an opinion is abstract....valuable possibly in exercising the mind....but still only an idea in search of a product.
To summarize....put the time in....or all you will ever have is an opinion. Consider the tragedy of what we have today....an America of opinions....and a church of opinions....an educational system of opinions....and now even law subject to opinion....unpredictable....random thoughts....subject to the slightest whim.....or as Merriam-Webster defines it....chaos.
