Priesthood of the Believer

After discussions with Matt on posting I have been informed that no topic is too controversial, and since the most controversial topic we’ve had thus far has been about race, I figure, its about time to get deep on in it!

I’m talking about Priesthood of the Believer.

For those who are unfamiliar, “Priesthood of the Believer” is a historically Baptist/Protestant doctrine that states that every individual is their own “priest”. This principle was a driving force in the Protestant Reformation.

The doctrine comes with the following pieces:

1.) Each believer has equal standing before God. While the scripture clearly calls us to respect the authority of our leaders, ultimately, there is no distinctive between clergy and laity as far as their ability to receive instruction from God or to understand and apply Scripture.

2.) Each believer must stand before God for themselves at judgment. This is self-explanatory, but no one else other than Jesus will stand with us in Judgment. It doesn’t matter how much my momma prays for me, it ain’t helping me once I’m dead.

3.) Each believer has direct access. A fundamental tenet of Protestantism is the ability to pray directly to God and Jesus and not through any other person or object, living or dead.

4.) Each believer has the right to interpret the Scripture for themselves. Being a priest with equal standing as others under God, having direct access to God through prayer and the work of the Holy Spirit, and our own ultimate responsibility to God for our life’s work brings the logical conclusion that we each have the freedom to interpret Scripture as the Holy Spirit moves in our lives.


In my opinion, it doesn’t get controversial till piece 4. The right for believers to interpret Scriptures for themselves cast a lot of gray areas and perhaps even more shadows on the topic of the “Priesthood of the Believer”.

I agree with this theory in part. The biggest reason I give, is the topic of alcohol. The Bible does not condemn the intake of alcohol, only the abuse of it (i.e. “too much wine”). In fact, in order to settle his stomach, Paul recommends Timothy partake of a little wine. Yet, many theologians make it a point to absolutely condemn getting near it. Southeastern Seminary mandates that none of its students even look at it. I recognize that some people may be more tempted to become alcoholics than others, and I believe that with prayer and guidance from the Holy Spirit, God may say to some “don’t do this at all, you don’t want to open that door” and to others, it may simply be the Biblical directive of “not too much”. At this point, I agree that the priesthood of the believer allows for individuals to determine what God’s will is in their life on their own.

However, there is a slippery slope here that I fear, and it’s a quick trip into moderate theology. It becomes easy for a congregation member to say “I’m reading Scripture and to me it says that taking care of my family is of top priority, but I really can’t afford kids right now, so getting an abortion is okay because I wouldn’t be able to take care of it as the Scripture’s request”. Or “Jesus is certainly one answer for salvation, but I know that God is love, so He wouldn’t be so exclusive, it must mean that all religions lead to God”.

Without having a firm set of doctrine that gives you a standard of historically understood Biblical truth, the “Priesthood of the Believer” becomes almost a hall-pass to believe whatever you want since each believer is just as “correct” as the next.

For a Pastor in a church whose congregation believes the extreme of “Priesthood of the Believer” your sermons must devolve into touchy-feely speeches on being a better person and how to promote friendship. Knowing that everyone will interpret Scripture differently means that it can hardly be used to preach authoritatively from, in which case you can only barely mention it in passing as you move on to discuss why God wants you to recycle, or not recycle if you don’t feel like it. Ugh, who would want to sit through that garbage?

On the flip side, there are pastor’s who become so dictatorially authoritative that they try and govern their congregations choice of vehicle and tell them what to believe or not believe.

So how should the doctrine of the “Priesthood of the Believer” be rewritten, or "re-understood", to address the concern of individuals reaching up to God in a one-on-one relationship while respecting the volume of church history and understanding of what certain passages mean?

The Good Life

The Good Life

I want to live the good life, or at least a good life. More specifically, I just want the good things in life, to have them and experience them. Who doesn’t? I think that if given a choice, everyone will not choose bad things for themselves. Even if what they choose is bad, it has to be perceived by them that that it is good for them, even if they admit that it is “bad.” So I took it upon myself to evaluate some of these good things in life. What is it that makes life good, or gives you those good moments in life?

So in thinking about all that is good in life, the first place that I landed is at Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Now, to all you healthy people: do not judge me. I might get to the goodness of sports later. Anyways, the Krispy Kreme doughnut for some, is all that is right with food. In fact, it is all that is right with America. It in and of itself is why I love and hate this country equally at the same time. And I’m not talking about just any doughnut at Krispy Kreme. Forget the cream filled or the chocolate iced ones. I’m talking the warm, fresh out off the conveyor belt, dare I say moist…doughnut. It’s temperature is combined with the perfect amount of icing.And they do not come alone. They bring friends. If you are real lucky, they come in 12’s. They make their way into a nice spacious box that elicits the perfect amount of warmth on the way home in your lap. Your self control wavers, and you find yourself fumbling at the tab that keeps the box closed. And we haven’t even gotten to the taste yet. Oh the taste! … Sorry, I know yo just had a moment. You take the first bite and you get the immediate feeling to powder your face with its sweet goodness. It just melts in your mouth. Before you know it your eyes are closed and you are inviting another into your mouth because they are just that good. They are smooth; man are they smooth. If you are not careful a half dozen can make their way into the bottomless pit that is your stomach. You sigh and think to yourself, “I hope heaven is this good.” A roommate may ask you for one and at that moment, you know what jealousy is. How dare they ask for your Krispy Kreme! Krispy Kreme has embodies all that is good.

But…

These little Turkish delights have their consequences. By the way, you are awesome if you just got the reference to Turkish delights, and no that does not mean doughnuts from Turkey… I still refuse to look up the nutritional value of these things. Once you get to the end of however many you eat, you are more than full (We all know we can't have just one. I once asked a Krispy Kreme employee if they ever sold just one doughnut. She laughed). They contribute to a big gut, thunder thighs, and a big ole badonkadonk. (Yes that is how you spell.) Your hands are sticky, and sometimes the napkin you wipe your hand with sticks to the tips of your fingers. You are too lazy to take the box out because of what is settling in your stomach so the box collects dust beside the trashcan in your house. Which of course reminds you how much you need Krispy Kreme later. By that time you forget all the consequences that came with eating them. Finally, they end, they run out, they expire, they do not last. At the end of the day you are left with an empty box or bag, and a gluttonous filled stomach. Let us not mention where full stomachs empty themselves. They promise to be appetizing at least for a while, but they leave you completely empty and longing. They pose as little angels of light only to leave you wanting. They end in high blood pressure, cholesterol, heart attack and death. Not always the perspective we have when we are thinking about the wonderful promises that Krispy Kreme doughnuts will give us as we watch them come off the conveyor belt. Their goodness runs out. Now I am not saying that we should not ever eat them. I am probably saying less is more. But this is an illustration has more implications than just doughnuts.

In the right time, doughnuts have their purpose, and there is some element of them that is good, I think. But they were created as a means, not an end. Good is not sustained in them. We could go to any other area of life and break it down and show how it can leave us wanting. Exercise can leave us unsatisfied, frustrated, or vain.

Friends are good right? People to experience laughter with. People to lean on. Someone that at the end of the day, you know you they have your back. But friends have let us down, intentionally or unintentionally. They, at some point will frustrate and fail to meet your expectation. What about family? The idea of family and what it represents is good right? We all know that there is something in our family that is not perfect. We all know families that are broken or split. And even if they are not, the tension that exists leaves the environment hostile and undesirable. Not always, but it happens. While a father and a mother is supposed to be loving, comforting and safe, yet there have been fathers who have abandoned families, mothers who have hated their children. What about love? Everyone believes in love. Sometimes, in its pursuit, you are hurt. Some fall in and then out of it. It is perverted and abused. Some rob and scar others making them afraid to ever love themselves, so they prostitute themselves in exchange for false comfort. Or they retreat and become unbreakable, hard, and callused. They forsake the one thing they once had faith in and become self-serving and then steal the idea of love from everyone else because they think they are not allowed to have it. To the extreme, they isolate themselves and end their lives because a life alone is not life at all. For all intents and purposes, they died when the idea of love died in them. Friends, family, and love are good. But they can be perverted, broken, and marred.

Something is radically wrong.

Good things are not always completely good. We are trying to live the good life but these good things do not guarantee it. Sometimes the absence or perversion of these good things can be a major source of pain. How can good be sustained? We have seen glimpses of it. But it falls away when it does not meet our ideals. Why is it that even the “good things” in life let us down?

I have an answer. We have made idols of those good things and they have let us down, and that idolatry has separated us from the source of good. When we put hope in these good things and not in the One who is good; we fail to see where good comes from or what good truly is. We are left longing, wanting, empty, and dying. This problem goes back to the original idol, the desiring of knowledge and the lack of faith in the goodness of God. We thought we could be the source of our own happiness, that we could be good. But we were created to be in a relationship and from that relationship goodness flowed to us from the One who created it. We severed that relationship. The result of that was evil, death.

There is good news.

It does not end here. Creation has cried out from that point on for a restoration of good. The reason that all of those “good” things let us down now is because we seek them without their Author. God is good. He is the embodiment of good. It is through Him that things were made and created and it is only through Him that things can be seen and experienced as good. Not only that, but He has gone to universal lengths to restore goodness to us. He entered into humanity as Jesus, took up our death and put it on Himself in order to make a way for us to once again experience a good God. Through Him, we have access to the goodness of the Father. God took it, and is taking it, upon Himself to restore goodness. In Him we hope for the restoration of that which was severed.

It is here that I find hope, and that I have peace. Jesus is restoring me and giving me a good life. He is the only one that can give a good life. He is the source of it. There is no reason to look for good anywhere else, because goodness lies in Him.

There are good things in life: friends, family, and love to name a few. These gifts are a pale reflection of the richness of the peace in Christ. With Christ these good things can fall away and our world will not be shattered. It is with Christ that when these things are shattered, they can be put back together. It is only in knowing Christ that we can recognize good things to be truly good. In Christ, everything that is good finds its meaning.