# Wisdom Hunter

## Metadata
- Author: [[Randall Arthur]]
- Full Title: Wisdom Hunter
- Category: #books
## Highlights
- I learned quickly that the subjects of legalism and spiritual dictatorship were provocative topics worldwide, transcending all denominational and cultural borders. ([Location 125](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002OTKENI&location=125))
- He was convinced these low points in his life represented the most awful state a person could ever be trapped in. It was an emotional abyss that could not be willfully shaken. It could only be endured. ([Location 1520](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002OTKENI&location=1520))
- “All these years you’ve acted as if you had a monopoly on biblical truth. All along you’ve stubbornly—proudly—closed your ears to your critics, such as your own daughter, when they accused you of preaching standards that just aren’t taught in the Bible. And they were right. You’ve deceived yourself, Jason. You’ve been preaching extreme ideas that were probably fabricated by fanatics like that jerk on TV.” The articulated self-admission led him to ask whether his entire profession was a mockery to God. Was there a preacher alive who treated the Bible objectively, who refused to interpret it in the light of personal experiences and preferences, who preached nothing more and nothing less than the Bible preached? ([Location 1551](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002OTKENI&location=1551))
- those state and national gatherings in which pastors convened for mutual encouragement, but inevitably ended up gloating about their ministries, and callously belittling those of others. Pastors, he concluded, are proud, presumptuous, and pathetic little jackasses. ([Location 1558](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002OTKENI&location=1558))
- He longed for the atmosphere of worship to revive his faith and blanket him with a sense of inner peace. But he had already become too cynical. Instead of sitting there with a normal churchgoer’s frame of mind—either absorbing the service or deflecting it with wandering thoughts—he found himself attacking it with malice. ([Location 1568](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002OTKENI&location=1568))
- The prayers, the hymns, the testimony, even the announcements all seemed part of a heartless, impersonal mechanism that had been activated by a flip of a switch for the one-hour Sunday morning time slot. It all seemed so ineffective, so useless. ([Location 1572](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002OTKENI&location=1572))
- He had come too far to leave one foot behind. The cord had to be cut. ([Location 1939](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002OTKENI&location=1939))
- For the first time in his life he was free from the moral expectations of others—and the freedom had changed him drastically. ([Location 2003](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002OTKENI&location=2003))
- Philosophically he had not lost his heart for God, but he had long since lost his heart for his traditional Christianity and all its manmade disciplines. ([Location 2004](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002OTKENI&location=2004))
- To go about it, he had become a self-motivated wisdom hunter. He was diligently searching for what he called the secrets of life, those insightful truths where life and the Bible come together, where truth is naturally obvious and not fabricated by one’s whimsical fancies. He was trying to cut through everything man teaches and assumes, and learn what God reveals about life. ([Location 2009](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002OTKENI&location=2009))
- He had even begun putting together what he called his Wisdom Book, in which he wrote down special insights discovered through personal experience, honest observation, and open-minded thinking. As he recorded his discoveries, the bitterness that had simmered in his heart was duly registered in ink. ([Location 2012](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002OTKENI&location=2012))
- Thus far the volume contained four entries: 1. STUDENT ATTITUDE vs. AUTHORITARIAN ATTITUDE All my Christian life I was taught, both directly and indirectly, both professionally and nonprofessionally, that a preacher should be an authority, and that he should clearly, and forcefully if necessary, display the attitude of an authority. “No one,” I was told, “should ever develop the idea that the preacher is weak or doesn’t know the answers.” After having succumbed to that philosophy and being driven by it for fifteen years, I am now convinced that there are few things more counterproductive, self-defeating, and utterly destructive than a mortal preacher with an authoritarian attitude. I realize now that my attitude was the cause of countless and uncalled-for offenses. The number of… ([Location 2014](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002OTKENI&location=2014))
- and thus decided to leave, were people who had more potential for dynamic Christian growth than those who stayed. The ones who stayed were the simple-minded “yes” people. The ones who left were the “thinkers,” the people whose active, creative, and hungry minds were being suffocated by my style of leadership. Never again will I be characterized as one who has an authoritarian attitude. For as long as need be, I will purposely work at suppressing that kind of flagrant attitude and will work at cultivating a student attitude in its place. It’s now clear that I actually know very little. Therefore I’ve resolved to open my mind and let the world be my classroom. So that I don’t swing to the other extreme and become a philosophical anarchist, I’ll let the Bible, objectively interpreted, be the filter that governs what I soak up in my quest… ([Location 2022](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002OTKENI&location=2022))
- learn this lesson. After all, the only group of people whom Jesus could not and would not tolerate were the self-righteous and know-it-all Pharisees. Even Jesus, God-in-the-flesh, could not enlighten them and expose to them their extreme and distorted beliefs. Their authoritarian attitude prevented him from penetrating their minds with the facts. Fed up with their foolish know-it-all attitude, Jesus told them outright that they had discarded knowledge. They had locked up the room where real learning takes place, and thrown away the key. And both they and their followers were on the outside of that room. They had closed their minds to learning because they already “knew… ([Location 2030](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002OTKENI&location=2030))
- They’re all battling with something, and they all think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. They’re battling with their marriages, or with their lovers, or their self-image, or their finances, or with the law, or with drugs or alcohol; the list goes on and on. There are as many different types of battles as there are people. Nobody is exempt, Jason. Money, good looks, success, and moral freedom can never lift anyone above life’s tough circumstances.” ([Location 2216](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002OTKENI&location=2216))
- The thought struck him: Here he was, a middle-aged man, bearded, slouchily dressed, cruising along on a motorcycle on a European resort island, doing nothing but enjoying life—while back in his native Bible Belt culture he would quickly be condemned for not conforming to the expected image of a pastor. My poor Christian peers, he thought. He could not help but give God thanks for his freedom. ([Location 2389](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002OTKENI&location=2389))
- We are learning that the diversity of nationality, the diversity of culture, and the diversity of background in the same church is good. Diversity makes you think. On the other hand, uniformity in a church destroys one’s need for thinking. Diversity forces you to ask questions. Uniformity lets you harden in your wrong beliefs.” ([Location 3249](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002OTKENI&location=3249))
- “Did not Jesus know,” Yoma asked, “that to put these twelve men together would be an almost unbearable test for everyone involved? Yes—of course he knew,” Yoma said excitedly. “And God used those strong individual differences as a tool to sharpen and define each of them into a well-balanced, insightful, effective church-planting missionary. They needed the push and pull of each other’s differences. Their differences rubbed them like sandpaper until each of them finally shone like polished steel.” ([Location 3256](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002OTKENI&location=3256))
- As they stood at the door, Yoma said, “Here is a new entry for Jason’s Wisdom Book.” “I’m listening,” Jason smiled. “Life Reviewing versus Life Regretting.” Jason got the message. He mentally filed it away for his book’s eighth entry. ([Location 3355](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002OTKENI&location=3355))
- “Yes,” he finally said. “I understand now why Jason has nearly been blown away so many times. It’s because his feelings have been stronger than his beliefs. His beliefs about God’s love and God’s mercy and God’s providence have been too weak and too uncertain.” ([Location 3758](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002OTKENI&location=3758))
- Jason must once and for all decide what he believes about God’s love, decide what he believes about God’s mercy, decide what he believes about the misfortunes God allows in his life. Jason must know with certainty what he believes, so that his future will not be destroyed by the many strong winds of negative feelings.” ([Location 3762](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002OTKENI&location=3762))
- “In light of his life, I can’t help feeling that our twentieth-century churches have failed. At some strategic point they have failed to produce a generation of wise old men like Yoma, godly people who are indisputably wise in their Christianity and who know how to articulate that wisdom, people who selflessly take the younger Christians under their wings and teach them the beauty and power of unadulterated Christianity. ([Location 3898](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002OTKENI&location=3898))
- “The essence of the Christian life is to behave contrary to human nature.” ([Location 4589](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002OTKENI&location=4589))
- “People who have been—not just hurt, but actually broken by their afflictions, will always tend to be more sensitive to the hurts of others. That’s why, if you never lose your heart for God, you’re going to be one of those rare and sensitive people too. You’ll be far more effective at loving people than I’ve ever been.” ([Location 4708](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002OTKENI&location=4708))
- “Let God have your life, let wisdom guide your life, and let people be your life.” ([Location 4958](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B002OTKENI&location=4958))