In university, my major was not Divinity 鈥� in fact, I was probably the furthest thing from a Divinity student you could find. I majored in English, and one of the most enduring lessons I learned was in Economics 100, with Professor Larry.
With his black moustache, glasses and vocal delivery, Prof. Larry resembled Groucho Marx. With his shoulder-length dark hair, prowling the front of the lecture hall with a hand-held microphone, he also resembled George Carlin. With the reading list, he resembled anything but an ECON prof.
笔濒补迟辞鈥檚听搁别辫耻产濒颈肠.听贬别颈濒产谤辞苍别谤鈥檚听The Heavenly City of the Eighteenth-Century Philosophers.听翱谤飞别濒濒鈥檚听Animal Farm.听"What is your conception of economics?" one indignant student snarled on Day One.
"I'm not going to play that game," Professor Larry snarled back. "You'll have to see. Or there's the door."
Some took the hint.
It soon became apparent what his 鈥済ame鈥� was: he was teaching us to challenge 鈥渃onventional wisdom鈥�, and anyone progressing in the field of Economics would have to learn to do that. Case in point: it was the mid-70s, the NDP were in power, and people were afraid 鈥渇ree enterprise鈥� was threatened.听
"When businesspeople bleat about 'free enterprise'," he said, "understand that they really mean听辫谤颈惫补迟别听enterprise and government rules that benefit them. Ask yourselves how well they could survive in a听迟谤耻濒测听free-enterprise system."听
鈥淎sk yourselves.鈥� 鈥淟earn to discern.鈥� (Prof. Larry didn鈥檛 speak in slogans, so that one is mine.) That stuck with me and in later years, shaped my faith. 鈥淒iscerning鈥� doesn鈥檛 mean judging, but being able to determine right from wrong, the false from the true. The Apostle Paul writes that the Word of God is the perfect 鈥渟word鈥� to help you slice the one from the other.听
Twenty-five years later, when I finally started reading the Bible in earnest, I realized that what I had been hearing about God and Christ from Christians and non-Christians alike was often different from what I was reading. I saw the utter failure of my own belief system, which had boiled down to, 鈥淚f it works for me, then it鈥檚 got to be鈥�, and how some around me had been inconvenienced and other devastated by that attitude.
And God said, 鈥淗ow鈥檚 that workin鈥� for ya?
Reading the Bible diligently (not, as W.C. Fields said, 鈥渓ooking for a loophole鈥�), it became clear that it was not 鈥渁 book of Jewish stories鈥� or 鈥渁 bunch of 鈥榙on鈥檛s鈥欌��. It rang true 鈥� and what wasn鈥檛 immediately obvious would become clear through contemplation.
I learned to recognize wonky theology 鈥� both ultra-conservative and super-liberal. I became an advocate of 鈥渞ead it for yourself鈥�. 鈥淒on鈥檛 just take the word of the guy prancing about up here,鈥� I would tell the people at Gospel Mission (referring to myself). Indeed, some of the most joy-filled moments for me, would be having 鈥渟treet people鈥� ask intelligent, probing questions, or stand up during an 鈥渙pen mike鈥� night to read, and watching positive changes in their lives. They will be better protected against wrong teaching.听
The more I read, question and pray, the more I look past orthodoxy to learn for myself; the more I feel able to decide whether something is true. Truth will always stand up to questions and criticism and will not 鈥渁lter when it alteration finds鈥� (that鈥檚 Shakespeare). Nor does it suppress doubters. A good pastor or teacher will not get offended or patronizing but will welcome the discussion.
鈥淟earn to discern鈥�. An enduring lesson from an unlikely source. I don鈥檛 know his faith, but that teaching helped me determine mine.
Thanks, Prof. Larry!
Drew Snider听is a former pastor at Gospel Mission on Vancouver's Downtown East Side, and has been a guest speaker at churches in BC. His new e-book,听鈥淕od At Work: a Testimony of Prophecy, Provision and People amid Poverty鈥�,听will be released July 24 in all online bookstores.
Photo by听听on听
You can read more articles on our interfaith blog, Spiritually Speaking,
* This article was published in the print edition of the Times Colonost on Saturday. July 20th 2019
