QUESTION: Shouldn't we respect the education of our many "Drs." in the 
          issue of the Bible?

ANSWER: Yes. IF there is any education associated with their degree.

EXPLANATION: Today's Christianity proliferates with "Doctors." It has 
often been joked that,''There are so many Doctors that you'd think God 
was sick."

There are only two types of Doctor's degrees Ä Earned and B Honorary.

An earned doctorate is an educational degree. It is bestowed on a 
graduate by his college or university upon his fulfillment of that 
school's requirements for such a degree. This involves certain 
academic achievements and acknowledges the graduate's mastery of a 
broad field of knowledge. Some common earned degrees are:

   M.D. Doctor of Medicine

   Ph.D. Doctor of Philosophy

   Th.D. Doctor of Theology

   Ed.D. Doctor of Education

An honorary doctorate is just that. It is bestowed upon the recipient 
by some college or university as a way of honoring him or her for some 
outstanding merit, or service to that school. It must be remembered 
though that an honorary degree cannot bestow an "instant'' expertise 
in the area named, any more than bestowing a degree on Dorothy's 
"Scare Crow" gave him a brain. The recipient of an honorary degree 
would know no more about Bible manuscripts after he received his 
degree than before he did. It is an honor only, not an academic 
degree. (No one would wish to be operated on by a surgeon with an 
"honorary" degree.) Their opinion on Bible questions certainly 
wouldn't outweigh the findings of an earned degree, or even of someone 
who holds no degree but has thoroughly investigated all of the 
available evidence. Academically, an honorary doctorate is like an 
"honorary black belt" in karate. Wear it around the house, but don't 
try to use it or you'll get killed!

Some common honorary degrees are:

D.D. Doctor of Divinity 

D.Mus. Doctor of Music 

D.Sc. Doctor of Science 

L.H.D. Doctor of Human Letters 

Lit.D. Doctor of Literature (or D.Lit.) 

L.L.D. Doctor of Laws 

Litt.D. Doctor of Letters

Both types of degrees have their place. The honorary degree is very 
much a badge of merit, and should be respected as just thatÄan honor 
bestowed upon the individual for his meritorious deeds performed for 
Christ or his school.

The earned degree is an academic title and stands on the merit of the 
education that it represents.

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