amen.  God uses the so-called foolish things of the world to shame the so-called wise.

Wasn't Paul a religious professional?

Acts 26:5 Which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, that after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee. 

Philippians 3:5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, [of] the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; 
Philippians 3:6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. 

Who could be more professional than that?

Paul was also very educated:

Acts 26:24 And as he thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad. 

I want to point out to people that I believe the Apostle Paul held classes because it was in a school setting::

“..he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the *SCHOOL* of one Tyrannus.  And this continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.” (Acts 19:9b-10)

You can only dispute with educated people if you can hold your own.
 
My friend says,“Tell (them) that the Holy Spirit does not work with nothing. If one has not learned something, the Holy Spirit has nothing to work with to be effective. You need to point out to (them) that every writer of the Bible read books. Moses had the equivalent of an advanced doctoral degree. David was a prolific author who was very much aware of his times. Solomon received a better education than David, and wrote over a thousand books himself. Each of the prophets was able to read not only the Law, but also the commentaries on the law by authors from around the known world -- even as far away as India and China - with most of the books found at the Library at Alexandria (Egypt) before it was burned to the ground by heathens. The Bible that the apostles used, the Septuagint, was written there. Matthew was a tax collector who not only understood Aramaic/Hebrew, but also Latin and Greek, too. The same with Mark and John with respect to education. Luke had a doctoral degree in medicine, but through his writings we can see a tremendous influence of learning from other cultures. Paul told Timothy to bring the books along with the parchments.”-my friend

I'm this with

this as well.

I'd rather be a peasant than trapped in a life where everyone's trying to beat me at something.  I have a few skills, and I keep them to myself! !!!! WWJD? 

Matthew 23:2 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: 
Matthew 23:3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, [that] observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. 

The scribes and Pharisees sat in Moses' seat but Jesus still told us to listen to them.  When does math stop being math or when does reading stop being reading just because someone's motives are impure?  Even I have been corrected by pastors who knew meanings even though I felt they were wrong on the bigger picture.

I think training and schooling is important.  Teaching is more than getting up and saying a bunch of facts.  Teaching has an understanding on how people learn and in which order to present the facts and the knowledge on how to get the mind to progress from one point to the next.

Another problem is that unless someone is trained by someone who is trained, the average person in the pew wouldn't know if the pastor was giving us his own ideas or teaching from God's word.

Jesus' disciples didn't have religious training, but to suggest that it's a negative thing is simply foolish.  As already mentioned, Paul was among the best trained Jewish people. The suggestion made by @deepestrecesses, that Paul's training was useless in his ministry to the Gentiles, is incorrect.  A quick survey of his letters shows how much he relies on the Old Testament.  All of the churches he wrote to were mixed - both Jew and Gentile.

In fact, the reason why Jesus rejected the Pharisees is because of the arrogance of their position - something I see in the author of this post.  As much as the Pharisees of Jesus' day may have seen themselves as "better" because of their education, this author seems to think he is "better" because of his or her lack of education.  The reason is different, the arrogance is the same.

In Luke 18, Jesus tells the story of a Pharisee who "looked down on everybody else.  He thanked God that he was not like "other men."  It sure sounds a lot like the author of this post. You say that Jesus wanted ordinary men so he wouldn't have to deal with smug arrogance - yet this article is proof that smug arrogance is not the sole possession of educated religious people.

"I hope I will never become a professional.  I would rather be a peasant who has been with Jesus."

Who is this blogger kidding?  He has a professional website, he has a book, he lists about 23 colleges he has been booked at.  He even has references all at:

http://claytonking.com/booking/

If he wishes to be a peasant then he should give up his booking and take up fishing because we're being played as there are a number of problems with his blog post.

@naphtali_deer@xanga - "YouTOme" has it right, I think Naphtali_Deer says it best.

The Spirit's calling is what sends people into the ministry and the Lord reaps the Harvest. 

@DesArcMusician - i don't think that is quite what the author meant by the word, "professional".

i think it more like, "is Jesus your profession, or your life?" there's a huge difference.

i've worked with & for "professional christians", and they are no fun to be around. you can never measure up, never do enough. there's reason in their minds why we no longer work in their churches....

we were real, not professional.

perhaps that's a better word than professional, but you lose the meaning of what the religious leaders "of the day" were without it.

sounds like you're not a professional at all, actually.