First of all, the study of scripture should not be relegated to the realm of Pious Trivial Pursuit or some sort of parler trick where someone congratulates themselves for memorization or being familiar with translations, commentaries or bible study tools ... that's the kind of sanctimonious nerd bullshit that really wrankles and the arrogance of implying a special understanding of what God thinks is a big part of why non-Christians find Christians so detestable ... because Christians ARE detestable and oh-so-judgeable whenever they judge.
Study scripture in order to PONDER ... to contemplate ... allow for critique and debate. Resist lapsing into Pharisaical scripture-quoting to judge. Eschew the shameful hypocrisy of having ANY authority whatsoever of having the faintest idea of knowing what God wants.
PONDER THE QUESTIONS.
Pondering the QUESTIONS, rather than merely reciting the answers are how catechisms actually do work to rewire the subconscious brains of thousands or millions in movements that are built entirely on the humility of PONDERING.
It's NOT the pride-filled televangelists trying out a full-throated oratory to lead the parade ... but RATHER the strength is in humility and entire body of true believers not knowing, but pondering the questions humbly and living out the questions in the laboratories of their lives.
It's all about the PONDERING ... and the value of that is all about the future, ie what comes after all of us are long gone ... it's not about settled, pickled science that are sealed in the vaults of sacred casks ... PRACTICAL faith and optimism is about the PONDERING.
The questions of the Heidelberg Catechism matter for the pondering ... the answers are nothing but attempts to providing a starting point begin from.
We cannot emphasize enough that all of our OLD answers are not remotely close to being perfect ... but they are good place to start from. The answers are for those who understand that the journey's not close to being over and will still in progress as far as anyone can ... EXCEPT for those who have wrongly chosen to worship the calcified idolatry of worshipping our ability to memorize canonaical answers ... there's no journey for those who insist on looking back -- the role for those who refuse to look forward is as calcified pillars of salt.
The INTENTION of studying the Classics or studying something like Heidelberg Catechism is not to look back, but it's about honoring the highest and best intentions of the humility of one's elders by looking at the future ahead of us ... when we ponder old questions and think about what the answers might be, it's not about ancestor worship, it's about a tradition of humbly searching, of not really know, but moving forward ... to try to be a more genuine Christian ... rather than being an overly pious, conformity-demanding churchgoer.
So to my Christian friends, I implore you to stop just telling people that you are a Christian ... the real tell, as the expression is used in playing poker or bluffing, is that phony christians are still need to preach to others ... that's the TELL ... ALL Christians are still phony to a large degree, if they are even partly honest with themselves, because they evangelically realize WHY the preaching is for themselves, since they are not yet good enough enough examples of Christianity YET.
Rather than just preach, it is necessary to commit to working daily on the discipline of personally BEING a better Christian ... the preaching TO OURSELVES is a form of repetitive, self-hypnotic suggestion, but people follow the EXAMPLE ... the person who learns the most in any classroom is the teacher attempting to instruct the students; students often do not REALLY learn a concept until they have to tutor someone else and be responsible for that person actually getting it.
So I'm preaching to myself ... but you can listen to my little introspective pep talk monologue if you want ... but you really don't have to, because this pep talk is about my PERSONAL attempt to remind myself to work harder on my discipline. That's all.
The old habits of being myself get in the way of pondering and contemplation ... I try remind myself to:
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Stop being a wishy-washy candy-ass ... people are disgusted by the faux, half-ass, goody two shoes, sunday school kiddie song, form of PRETEND christianity.
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Stop thinking of heaven as a post-death retirement community where you get to hang out with your favorite people.
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If you want to BE a Christian, then you have BE a better Christian than you are right now.
I especially try to remind myself that I need to work harder, from right now onward at changing me.
I really need to OWN and improve my discipline game. EVERY. SINGLE. MOMENT. OF. EVERY. DAY. ... of course, I knew this before, but I was so much more senile than than then, I am younger than that now