The gift of the Father by sending his Son to die on the cross revealed that at the center of God's being is self-gift. God responded to human violence and sin by absorbing it nonviolently, through love on the cross.
Therefore as imitators of God's own character, we should respond to violence the same way. Yes?
Sunday, November 21, 2004
Friday, November 05, 2004
Theology
Theology. What the heck is it? Why bother studying it?
First I'll admit this blog topic is probably not interesting to half of you and that it is more for my own benefit, to get things clear in my head.
Theology is the study of God for our enjoyment and holiness. We are called to serve God in many ways. One of those ways is to learn about God.
It always amazes me how many Christians give so little time to contemplating God and his works. I will be the first to admit my own deficiences in that area. But there are some Christians who actually believe it is a waste of time to think about God! WHAT IN THE WORLD DO YOU THIINK HEAVEN WILL BE????? Heaven is seeing God face to face, KNOWING Him! If you think heaven is about social programs or nice songs, or little rituals, get off this website right now (just kidding). It is about knowing the living God and being in relationship with him.
Theology is just a chance to get a head start on heaven. Now, I know that many people are put off by theology because it is too dry and complicated. Yes theology is too dry. Theology is a human undertaking and sometimes it sucks. Theology is first and foremost a faithfulness to divine revelation. The theologians goal should be to display revelation in all it's clarity and beauty for the church and the world.
The next objection that I get a little angry about is the "simple faith" theory. Okay, I understand that not everyone needs to be interested in Schleiermacher's reaction to Kant's Categorial Imperative and the influence of the Englightenment on Christian Protestantism. But give me a break here! If your Christian faith doesn't involve difficult thinking, you aren't thinking Chrisitanly! Think about how many times the disciples were confused. Think about what they called Jesus....TEACHER. Learning is at the heart of the Christian faith and if you think that having "simple faith" means never learning more about the God you adore, then you don't adore him at all. You want him for a security blanket and you don't want to bother yourself with the extra effort it takes to learn about him. "Simple faith" is often just a smokescreen for apathy and laziness.
The third excuse I often hear is that "we can't know everything about God anyway. He's mysterious and we will never be able to find out answers on a lot of the topics discussed in theology". This objection is embedded deely in the pragmatic and scientific view we have in society. First off, the pragmatic object is that, "you can't get any useful answers out of theology. It's all too brainy and not enough of real life. Just live a good life and that's all it takes." Theology is not about solving problems and coming to definitive consesus on every issue. Theology is about realizing how big God is. Think of each unanswered question as a pointer to how God evades our little minds. You want results? Think about God's attributes for an hour each day and see how humble you become. Theology is a way of life. It is not just figuring things out. It cultivates an attitude and it gives us REASONS to act holy. You think you can just be a good person without reasons behind it? You are wrong. The Bible says that everything that is done without faith is sin. Faith is your reasons for acting the way you do.
Sorry, this is a really long rant. But I just get a little fired up when people think that they can be Christian without being theologians.
First I'll admit this blog topic is probably not interesting to half of you and that it is more for my own benefit, to get things clear in my head.
Theology is the study of God for our enjoyment and holiness. We are called to serve God in many ways. One of those ways is to learn about God.
It always amazes me how many Christians give so little time to contemplating God and his works. I will be the first to admit my own deficiences in that area. But there are some Christians who actually believe it is a waste of time to think about God! WHAT IN THE WORLD DO YOU THIINK HEAVEN WILL BE????? Heaven is seeing God face to face, KNOWING Him! If you think heaven is about social programs or nice songs, or little rituals, get off this website right now (just kidding). It is about knowing the living God and being in relationship with him.
Theology is just a chance to get a head start on heaven. Now, I know that many people are put off by theology because it is too dry and complicated. Yes theology is too dry. Theology is a human undertaking and sometimes it sucks. Theology is first and foremost a faithfulness to divine revelation. The theologians goal should be to display revelation in all it's clarity and beauty for the church and the world.
The next objection that I get a little angry about is the "simple faith" theory. Okay, I understand that not everyone needs to be interested in Schleiermacher's reaction to Kant's Categorial Imperative and the influence of the Englightenment on Christian Protestantism. But give me a break here! If your Christian faith doesn't involve difficult thinking, you aren't thinking Chrisitanly! Think about how many times the disciples were confused. Think about what they called Jesus....TEACHER. Learning is at the heart of the Christian faith and if you think that having "simple faith" means never learning more about the God you adore, then you don't adore him at all. You want him for a security blanket and you don't want to bother yourself with the extra effort it takes to learn about him. "Simple faith" is often just a smokescreen for apathy and laziness.
The third excuse I often hear is that "we can't know everything about God anyway. He's mysterious and we will never be able to find out answers on a lot of the topics discussed in theology". This objection is embedded deely in the pragmatic and scientific view we have in society. First off, the pragmatic object is that, "you can't get any useful answers out of theology. It's all too brainy and not enough of real life. Just live a good life and that's all it takes." Theology is not about solving problems and coming to definitive consesus on every issue. Theology is about realizing how big God is. Think of each unanswered question as a pointer to how God evades our little minds. You want results? Think about God's attributes for an hour each day and see how humble you become. Theology is a way of life. It is not just figuring things out. It cultivates an attitude and it gives us REASONS to act holy. You think you can just be a good person without reasons behind it? You are wrong. The Bible says that everything that is done without faith is sin. Faith is your reasons for acting the way you do.
Sorry, this is a really long rant. But I just get a little fired up when people think that they can be Christian without being theologians.
Monday, November 01, 2004
Politics
Happy All-Saints Day everyone.
I carved pumpkins last night with Katie. My pumpkin was a skeleton-pirate with a bandana on his head. I'm going over to her house tonight to finish watching Van Helsing.
I have to get up early tomorrow and do my "patriotic duty" and vote for the lesser of two evils. It's amazing that in a society that values consumerism, we still only have two options when it comes to voting: Flippy Floppy botox guy or Texas Alamo, Go-at-it-alone guy.
I wish Laura Bush could be president. She is pretty.
I think that the Subaru Outback is so hot right now.
It's weird to have a blog again. It's like, who is really listening? Who really cares? I'm not eloquent, I"m not raging about something, and I'm not funny.
I listened to a book on tape by Noam Chomsky. It was called Hegenonomy or Survival and it was about how America needs to start thinking a little more clearly about the selfish and bullying foreign policies it is creating because soon we will all go cablooey. You know, I wonder if we will see USA fall in our lifetime. Pride comes before a fall.
I carved pumpkins last night with Katie. My pumpkin was a skeleton-pirate with a bandana on his head. I'm going over to her house tonight to finish watching Van Helsing.
I have to get up early tomorrow and do my "patriotic duty" and vote for the lesser of two evils. It's amazing that in a society that values consumerism, we still only have two options when it comes to voting: Flippy Floppy botox guy or Texas Alamo, Go-at-it-alone guy.
I wish Laura Bush could be president. She is pretty.
I think that the Subaru Outback is so hot right now.
It's weird to have a blog again. It's like, who is really listening? Who really cares? I'm not eloquent, I"m not raging about something, and I'm not funny.
I listened to a book on tape by Noam Chomsky. It was called Hegenonomy or Survival and it was about how America needs to start thinking a little more clearly about the selfish and bullying foreign policies it is creating because soon we will all go cablooey. You know, I wonder if we will see USA fall in our lifetime. Pride comes before a fall.
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