Elitism and Understanding

Rush Limbaugh was back in action today, and he was discussing the reaction to the story of one of the President’s “czars” who had resigned amid controversy.  The reaction on NBC News centered around the fact that the revelations of this guy’s past came from the Internet and not from “trusted” news sources.  Here’s a portion of Rush’s comments from today’s show, regarding statements by Thomas Friedman of the New York Times:

FRIEDMAN:  The Internet is an open sewer of untreated, unfiltered information, left, right, center, up, down, and requires that kind of filtering, by anyone.  And I always felt, you know, when modems first came out, when that was how we got connected to the Internet, that every modem sold in America should actually have come with a warning from the Surgeon General that would have said “judgment not included.”  That you have to upload the old-fashioned way, church, synagogue, temple, mosque, teachers, schools, you know, and too often now people say and we’ve all heard it, “but I read it on the Internet,” as if that solves the bar bet, and I’m afraid not.

RUSH:  So you people are idiots, you don’t have the capacity to understand what you read, whether it’s true or not, you need filters, you need the professionals, you need the experts like Tom Brokaw and Tom Friedman and so forth.  The Internet is an open sewer . . . So I guess it’s an open sewer for them, too.  They just can’t stand it.  Their monopoly is gone, they just can’t stand that they are not the ones anymore to get to determine what’s news and what isn’t.

You’re not supposed to have the opportunity to be this informed, that’s the real problem.  You know too much.  This is threatening democracy in their arrogant, conceited view.  Every modem sold in America should come with a warning from the Surgeon General?  Who uses modems anymore, for crying out loud?  Do you use a modem, Brian?  I’m sure some people do, but every modem should come with a warning from the Surgeon General that says “judgment not included”?  That’s right, and you’re not capable of making your own judgment.  We have to let Tom Friedman and Tom Brokaw make judgments for you.  They’re the ones that are qualified; they’re the ones that are highly trained; they’re the professionals.  You’re just a rube, an idiot.

Such is the elitist mentality of those who think they know better than others because of their “education” or their “position”.

Translate that same attitude into church and you get the elitist attitude that the “common” person in the pew cannot possibly understand Scripture without the “enlightened understanding” that can only come from one of the “educated elites”.  I don’t mean to paint with too broad a brush here, but many preachers I know and have read or heard possess this mentality.  They, and they alone, or others of their “intellectual level”, are the only ones truly qualified to read, understand, and interpret the Bible.  Those who attempt to do so on their own risk falling into doctrinal heresies such as befell several in the 1800’s who began spin-off denominations with some peculiar semi- or extra-biblical beliefs and practices.  I recently read something by a current seminary professor and some who agree with him that reinforces this attitude.

I’m sorry, but I have to totally reject that position.  As a member of the “royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9) I have unfettered access to my Heavenly Father with intercession by His Holy Spirit, who, according to the Lord Jesus, was sent specifically to “guide [me] into all truth” (John 16:13).  Granted, without prayerful consideration of the Book, and without careful study of the context, the history, and the meanings of the original words behind the translations, it is possible for *anyone* to fall into error.  Studying is certainly easier now with the availability of many fantastic online and computer-based study tools (I like e-Sword and Bible Explorer).  With such fine study helps, with a prayerful and reverent attitude, and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, anyone can understand what God has to say in His Word.

But, like Mark Twain, many reject the Bible for personal reasons.  Twain reportedly said, “It ain’t what I don’t understand in the Bible that bothers me, it’s what I do understand in the Bible that bothers me.”  So the choices are to ignore it, reinterpret it to say something else, or change your opinions to match what is written.

I’ve made my choice.  What’s yours?