I was trying to think of an analogy for this, and tried to come up with a few examples.
I grew up in church culture. I was thoroughly steeped in it. I went to Christian schools, along with church every Sunday, plus Sunday school, plus vacation Bible school, Christian summer camp, all church events and potlucks, Catechism, Bible classes, small groups, etc. I also spent about 15 years in the exact opposite Christian belief system, the Assemblies of God, which was all about miraculous healings, casting out demons, praying in tongues (which the Lutherans pretty much saw as demon possession,) and involvement to the point where I was spending almost every day at the church.
Does this make me more spiritual? Absolutely not. But what it did was make me see was a lot of the two-sidedness behind the Christian culture. The church events where people were gossiping about the lone single mother in my class (back when I went to Lutheran school, it was rare to have a single mother in our church -- and not exactly welcome.)
I saw how girls who got pregnant suddenly "disappeared" from my Lutheran high school because they were asked to leave behind closed doors (having unmarried, pregnant teen girls walking down your halls isn't a good spiritual look for your organization, not to mention your business.) So much for God's love, compassion, and forgiveness. I can't remember, but I think the fathers were still allowed to attend.
I could go on and on. And I got to the point where I wanted nothing to do with it.
I have been around people who talk Scripture 24/7 all my life, and criticize me heavily because I'm not one of them. And all that time, there are things going on behind their closed doors that eventually tumble out. I'd rather just be able to be myself and be around people I'm comfortable enough to keep my doors open with.
It's like a doctor, business person, or teacher who only talks their own professional lingo all day, every day, then looks down on anyone who talks about anything else, or talks about it in a different way.
And we've all been around the brilliant doctor, the successful business man, the ground-breaking teacher -- who had absolutely no concept of how to talk to everyday people. And, rather than seeing this great disparity as their own approach, they blame on other people, thinking they are too lowly, too flighty and not concerned enough about intellectual things, or just too plain stupid to understand their obvious genius.
I had a biology teacher in college whom I have no doubt was immensely intelligent. But he was terrible at explaining concepts, then wrote quizzes and tests all designed in his own "language," which no one could understand. He was lecturing about gene mutation one day and I could tell none of us were quite understanding.
I raised my hand, tried to summarize what he was teaching using circles, squares, and triangles as an example, and he said, yes, that's it. The whole class clapped. I wasn't trying to mock what he was saying, I was trying to break it down into something everyday people can comprehend. And that's what I've tried to do my entire life -- break down what the intellectual and spiritual elites want to keep complicated in order to look down at normal, everyday people whom they think are too "worldly" or "not spiritual enough" to understand.
And then, if people won't engage with them, they will then talk about how people's hearts are hardened, and God will judge them for not receiving the word they are trying to give.
I understand that.
But it's like going to visit a new country or culture. Each person has their own individual life, history, and "language". If one wants to be effective at reaching people, they have to be willing to "stoop down to that person's level" to "learn" the other person's "language" with compassion, not condescension, if they want to reach that person. You can't blame it entirely on the other person -- you have to work hard at your approach.
God usually has me in situations where I get to know people over long periods of time -- work, church, a class, etc. I start out by talking to them about life, which yes, might mean food, sports, hobbies -- and then more about their life, if they're comfortable.
It often progresses into people pouring out their hearts over past abuse and complex histories involving their families, friends, and even those who call themselves Christians.
In my experience, if you get to this level with a person, this is when they're more open to talking about spiritual things in depth. When you get to a point where you ask about their children by name and offer to pray for them, it almost always softens people's hearts to talking about God and how much He loves them.
But that's just me, and I know we are all called differently.
So no, I'm not the person who will be talking about the Scriptures 24/7, then breaking them down into the original translations, and debating every possible way they have been presented. But I admire the people who can, and who do, and are still able to talk to us simple, common-variety sheep in a way that edifies, rather than cutting us down for not being spiritual enough.
All this to just say again,
@MicaelOhagan, I would like to strongly encourage you again to check out the Bible Discussion Forum.
I like to go there to read along and follow a few favorite posters whom I admire.
The BDF is also filled with people who have your perspective, and I think you'd fit right in there.
You said that people probably wouldn't want to talk about the dangers of the tongue -- I guarantee you, it's been talked about over there, and probably dozens of times.
Just do a search for the topic in the search function and it will find threads talking about the tongue, or, better yet, start a new, fresh thread about the topic over there yourself.
I can almost guarantee that people there will answer.
