Why take courses? Just study the Bible.
It’s not a lot of work if you just plagiarize your dissertation like MLK Jr.
Often, the more educated one is, the more liberal one is.
There comes a point when seeing things from all sides causes one to lose their convictions, it would seem. They “educate away” their soul.
Did it pay off money-wise? Tell me another one.
But there's other things besides money. First, there was a lot of personal satisfaction in getting it. It's a great ego trip. Second, it's a better way to go through your mid-life crisis that the usual alternative, and that certainly pays off money-wise. And emotionally.
Thirdly, it permitted me to make a career change that I had been trying to make for 10 years. I got out of a job that I hated, and into one that I love.
So did it pay off for me?. You betcha. But not money-wise.
They like to call themselves “doctor.”
When I was a kid, our small Southern Baptist church had a pastor with a PHD from Yale. He was sort of retired but was a fine pastor and even better man.
Getting a PhD (learning the original languages, theology, and apologetics, etc.) allows you to tackle a wider range of problems.
Does it pay more? If you are consumed with the money then you wouldnt be in ministry in the first place.
I recommend that Pastors get PhD’s (Post Hole Diggers) only if they are gasoline powered... the hand-operated ones build callouses and don’t dig fast enough.
“I’ve not even opened the tube in which my diploma exists since 1974! I haven’t opened it! It’s in the drawer.”
I’ve never seen mine. It’s been in the tube for years and I have never once taken it out to look at it. I still have two MA degree diplomas sitting in a drawer too. I looked at them once or twice, but I’ve never gotten around to framing them or anything.