Please do not take the following as sinful complaining. I hope it is not at least. I don't think there is a conspiracy theory out to get me, this is just how I have been feeling lately! I am voicing this in an effort to train my thoughts on this truth. "I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted." (Job 42:2) Romans may be a more relevant place to quote from but I like this verse and it is a truth that God's purposes are inclusive of us and our purpose.
Does it ever seem like you have been hogtied by the bureaucrat's red tape? Well I have had my fill of it lately! Not wanting to cast a shadow of ill repute on certain institutional setups I will be as vague here as I can and still make my point.
Educational Bureaucracy: When is enough enough? For those in academics the credentials that one has to have are never ending. It seems as if by the time I satisfy all of the demands I will be ready to retire! And no matter where you go or who you study under, it is never the right school or professor! Looking into PhD. programs lately I am horrified at the requirements for admission policies. GPA's, GRE's, leveling work, equivalency standards, already earned degree subject relevance, out of site tuition costs, reference letters, writing samples, and I am out of breath! I don't think Socrates, Plato and Aristotle would make it into some of these programs, and it is a definite that divine intervention will be necessary for me to get into one (as it has been the case in every instance so far). Who makes these rules up? I am not opposed to high standards but it seems as if we run the risk of and are indeed filtering out many fine capable people.
Along these lines let me take a rabbit trail and vent a bit more by saying that I have always despised most modern methods of testing. I am reminded of a college professor that said "don't loose heart if you don't do well on my test. It only points out what you don't know, it does not really test what you do know!" Is there not some truth in this? And it is also said that to do well on tests today one merely has to memorize what the teacher says and give it back just the way they want it. What is lacking here is critical thinking!
Ministerial Bureaucracy: Some denominations will make you the pastor if you show the slightest spark of interest in things spiritual while other denominations would have your knowledge surpass Jesus'. In being zealous to make our ministers qualified we sometimes raise the bar too high don't you think? If we wait on bureaucracy to balance itself (an impossible contradiction) in this respect we do injustice to the true biblical qualifications of ministry.
Vocational Bureaucracy: I am all for being fair but if you haven't noticed affirmative action has turned on the white American male in many instances. And then there is the classic "you have to have experience." How do you get experience without being given the opportunity? I realize this overlooks apprentice-type experience, but you get the point.
Let us not forget these things if we are ever awarded the red tape gun dispenser responsibility! It will not turn the world upside down if we season things with little bit of common sense.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment