Interesting thoughts. I'd not thought about the idioms "I'm no... (fill in the blank)" much before. They are not exactly the same, but could this be in the same vein as Jesus telling us to let our yes be yes? We don't need to qualify our yes with swearing some kind of oath. Similarly, you're saying, we don't need a qualifier before giving our opinion. It has an air of humility to admit your lack of credentials, but often what comes after that statement is anything but humble. If humility is the goal, it might be better to be clear. "I have not studied this thoroughly, so there are gaps in my knowledge, but here's what I've come to believe and why."
For sure! Yeah, honestly I've seen this more often in the church than outside it. I've had quite a few folks tell me, "I'm no theologian, but it seems to me that..." And I want to be like "Dude, you're just using that phrase as an excuse. There is NOTHING stopping you from looking this up and doing some digging!" I think the biggest posture that can help is humility. Humility to say that while we have an opinion about something (which is fine), we don't know all there is to know about the subject and are willing to learn. We'll always be forming and reforming our thoughts as more education happens.
Interesting thoughts. I'd not thought about the idioms "I'm no... (fill in the blank)" much before. They are not exactly the same, but could this be in the same vein as Jesus telling us to let our yes be yes? We don't need to qualify our yes with swearing some kind of oath. Similarly, you're saying, we don't need a qualifier before giving our opinion. It has an air of humility to admit your lack of credentials, but often what comes after that statement is anything but humble. If humility is the goal, it might be better to be clear. "I have not studied this thoroughly, so there are gaps in my knowledge, but here's what I've come to believe and why."
For sure! Yeah, honestly I've seen this more often in the church than outside it. I've had quite a few folks tell me, "I'm no theologian, but it seems to me that..." And I want to be like "Dude, you're just using that phrase as an excuse. There is NOTHING stopping you from looking this up and doing some digging!" I think the biggest posture that can help is humility. Humility to say that while we have an opinion about something (which is fine), we don't know all there is to know about the subject and are willing to learn. We'll always be forming and reforming our thoughts as more education happens.