Idiotes: updated

Earlier this week I was lecturing on civil participation and used some old lecture material that I written several years ago. I was delighted to see my notes on the origins of the word idiot. According to my notes, the term descends from the classical Greek idiotes (id-ee-o'-tace) which means one who does not vote or take an interest in civic affairs. The Greeks took their politics very seriously and could not abide a citizen who took his civic duty lightly. Citizens were a select group, and citizenship was not a guaranteed right. They understood the value of citizenship, not primarily as a guarantor of personal freedoms, but as a duty necessary to preserve the freedom of the state. Anyone who didn't take their duty seriously was an idiot. Americans have the opportunity to go to the polls on the 1st Tuesday after the 1st Monday of November (November 7). The Greeks would argue that the many millions who do not vote on that day, "idiotes." I will leave it to them to say it. I will make no judgments.

During my lecture, a couple of students thought I was making up my entire account of idiotes. Looking at my old, handwritten notes, I realized that I didn't have a source and couldn't remember where I got the information. I told them I would check my source and get back to them. As soon as class was over, I Googled the term. My search took me here. The definition on the website is one for New Testament days, hundreds of years after Athenian Greek, and does not exactly match mine. At this point in my research and discouraged at not getting immediate satisfaction, I got distracted by the features of the site and started browsing around until I got here.

If you are too busy to click over and back again, let me summarize. This section of the website is the "Sermon Jazzers" section. It provides free topical quotes and "illustrations" (essentially comedy routines). The free jazzers are, of course, given away in hopes that the high quality of jazzing will lead one to buy the entire book, "101 Humorous Sermon Illustrations." You can also click on a link for a free preview of "Sunday's Sermon." I find this very sad.

I am not so naive as to believe that pastors have never used aids and resources to assist in crafting sermons. In fact, I was quite young when I realized that the "I was on my way to the seminary when..." or the "My precious little one looked up as me and asked 'Why did Jesus' let Snowball die?'..." or the "A preacher friend of mine told me that one of his flock was going through a tough time when...." or the "...That's when he turned around and the hitchhiker had disappeared..." stories were most likely made up or heavily edited to fit the day's topic. I began to assume that every joke, anecdote, and personal story told by a preacher was faux. I guessed that they rationalized it by arguing that one of Jesus' strategies was parable so they should follow His example.

Sadly, this has been one of the things that has turned me off of most churches. The disingenuous calculation of pastors who pass off purchased stories as their own or the knowledge of others as their own really bothered me and continues to bother me. I have caught preachers quoting a famous thinker because the quote fit the sermon when I am sure that the pastors had no idea of the philosophies that that thinker actually espoused. If he had known that he was quoting an atheist he probably would have had to find another quote. Increasingly, I am distraught when I enter a church to hear a sermon opening that consists of a long, humorous story connected to the sermon itself only by the fact that the chief character in each is the preacher himself. The pattern has become as predictable as Atlanta gridlock: Get 'em laughing, then a short devotional.

I believe that a sermon should instruct, convict, inspire, and edify. It does not need to entertain. If I wanted to laugh, I could stay home and watch re-runs of the Daily Show or the Colbert Report. If I wanted to see made-up stories of personal tribulation and triumph, I could watch C-SPAN or the Lifetime Network. Preaching Truth does not require "jazzers". This type of preaching is making us all idiots. Rationalizing using comedy shtick as a way to reach unbelievers only serves to water down the Gospel and presumes that weekly Sunday services will never serve to instruct the believers in the benches.

Teacher: Instruct me. Please.

UPDATE: Wikipedia confirms my definition of idiotes.: "Idiot" was originally used in ancient Greek city-states to refer to people who were overly concerned with their own self-interest and ignored the needs of the community. Declining to take part in public life, such as (semi-)democratic government of the polis (city state), such as the Athenian democracy, was considered dishonorable. "Idiots" were seen as having bad judgment in public and political matters. Over time, the term "idiot" shifted away from its original connotation of selfishness and came to refer to individuals with overall bad judgment–individuals who are "stupid". No, I did not personally edit Wikipedia to confirm my definition (though I could have).

Peace