I do know what you mean! I fight the "sit-tights" too. "We've never done it like THAT!" People tend to be content with what they've been told their whole lives and I honestly think that it must be painful for some folks to think on their own or to even consider something new. It is real easy to read into scripture something that tends to agree with opinions which own you already!

Just look what Christ was up against! No one in authority wanted to hear what he had to say because it challenged the AUTHORITY which they held so dear: not the love of God! Paul admoninished his young protege' Timothy, to "rightly divide the Word" which I take to mean, "Let the Word speak to you and don't try to impress your own ideas upon it."

I find that the study of history helps me to understand the life-situation and culture in which the ancients interacted. It is kind of like an Edmund Husserl "thought experiment" in phenomenology. You try and step outside of your own thinking and any modern insight and see the questions and problems as the ancients saw and understood them. That's a good- take off point for a more realistic understanding.