Intellectual Humility: Giving Away the Need to Always Have the Right Answer

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During today’s episode on Back Porch Theology, we’re talking about intellectual humility, which could be loosely described as giving away the need to always have the right answer. I spent way too many years afraid that someone would look under the hood of my life and discover everything I was ashamed of. During those years that I was consumed with shame, I used what modest intellect I have as a deflector shield. And posing behind my need to be perceived as always having the right answer robbed so much of my peace as a young Bible teacher. I was scared that making a public mistake regarding the WORD OF GOD would brand me as a fraudulent heretic forever. Here’s the deal y’all, as Christ-followers of course it behooves us to imitate those ancient Bereans from the book of Acts, who received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. However, it also behooves us to remember that when you filter the divinely inspired and inscripturated Word of God through the finite minds of men and women, it’s bound to be distorted at some level. Now please hear me, I’m not at all saying we have a license to be irresponsible – anything but – however, as a sixty-year-old, mistake-prone Bible teacher I’ve learned that intellect without humility equals insufferable arrogance, which is the antithesis of Christoformity – of having a Jesus-shaped life! Speaking of Jesus-shaped living and intellectual humility, if you haven’t already please check out our upcoming Kerygma Summit April 25-27, here in Franklin, TN. It’s a curated, 3-day intensive – basically a Bible study boot camp saturated with belly laughs – where a whole bunch of us from all over gather together and learn from a dream team of seminary professors, theologians, and ministry leaders so that we can better understand, emulate and communicate God’s Word. I don’t have time to tell you everyone who’s on the teaching team for this third Kerygma Summit but y’all it is a veritable Who’s-Who of modern-day theological heroes and heroines, among them they’ve published something like 300 books, Bible studies, and commentaries. Several of them have even served on translation teams – which means they’ve translated the original Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic into English - for specific versions of the Bible, including the NIV and ESV, isn’t that cool? But the coolest thing about these brilliant saints is that they love putting theological cookies on the lower shelf for people like us so that we can lean more fully into Jesus as a result. Getting to hang out with them, meet new friends from all over the world who are passionate about God and His Word, and be led in worship by Brooke Ligertwood – yep, Brooke’s coming back this year and will be leading worship throughout the event - is going to be like drinking from a firehose of wisdom and grace! Space is limited and over half-full already, so again please check out the details at KerygmaSummit.com and don’t dawdle if you’re thinking about coming because we don’t want it to fill up without you. In the meantime, go ahead and grab a caffeinated beverage and your Bible – unless you’re practicing the hand jive, of course – and come hang out on the porch with Alli, Dr. Howard, and me.