Random Thought

Random Thought: The Wheels of Orthodoxy

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The guillotines of orthodoxy keep a clean blade that is always honed for heresy.

~Calvin Miller, The Singer

Recently encountered another of what I call “sifters.” They are the evangelical purists that keep a sharp eye out for the  fine points, the the exegetical minutae; human adjectives for whom modification, correction and adjustment are their duty and call. I’m always intrigued by such brethren. Always sifting everything they hear, eagerly seeking the point on which to disagree or to add a salient observation–the trump card. Discussions with them–speaking around them–are difficult because you know that the thrust is coming and that you will need to be ready to parry, to defend the thing you said but did not qualify or explain fully enough to satisfy the sifter that you are acceptably orthodox, which you usually are not.

I grow aweary of the millers of scripture grinding at the wheel of orthodoxy. Sifting and grinding–oh, how they grind so exceedingly fine! Would that we would follow Jesus’ example and love the world as carefully as we sift one another’s words!

4 thoughts on “Random Thought: The Wheels of Orthodoxy”

  1. Dan,

    Is this your comment?

    I grow aweary of the millers of scripture grinding at the wheel of orthodoxy. Sifting and grinding–oh, how they grind so exceedingly fine! Would that we would follow Jesus’ example and love the world as carefully as we sift one another’s words!

    Either way – thanks for sharing it — extremely profound!!

  3. Well said, Dan. I like your choice of words: “exegetical minutae; human adjectives.” I get so very tired of this. Why should Christians keep having to prove their “orthodoxy” to one another? I like what I heard recently. “I have more faith in God’s ability to keep me in the truth than in the devil’s ability to lead me astray.” I don’t think God intended for us to walk on eggshells around each other. I just can’t do it anymore. My freedom in Christ keeps me breaking the eggs!

    Sighing with the best of them…

  4. Weird. On 26 March there’s an entry on my blog with a long thread of comments, about 9, I think. In one of my replies, I mention a poor man now in heaven (I expect) who was denied ordination by the Conservative Baptists many years ago because he had misplaced very slightly a dot on one of the “i”s in Millennialism in the opinions of — oops, I’m sure I sure mean truths revealed to the denomination officers at that time. Why they didn’t expell those already ordained in the denomination to whom truth had been revealed differently (in some cases, like my father’s, revealed well before his ordination council met).

    The vibe I get from the über-orthodox of all flavors (I take specific pains to include those in my own “tent”) is that they seem to feel they are smarter-than-thou or even wiser-than-thou. I wonder: is it orthodoxy or humility that seems to stop them short of presenting themselves as holier-than-thou? Or is it, as cynicism whispers in an ear exquisitely attuned to its blandishments, that right thinking is the sure sign of holiness and thus obviates the need for other virtues? I’m joking, though perhaps only a little.

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