Too Much Theology

[aReformedPatriot]

Does anyone else find it difficult sometimes to dredge through theology. There is just so many differing views on the every little issue that its a mess. How does one really avoid being influenced one way or the other, everybody, rather most people claim: I have prayed over it and I feel this is the truth. If thats the case then God is yanking our chains and truth really is relative :P .

How do you know what you believe is the truth?

[Crazy Liz]

There is an old saying: The rule of faith is the rule of prayer.

Without prayer, "theology" is worthless theory. With prayer, it is a rich treasury of blessing and wisdom.

[Crazy Liz]

BTW, this is why I have often said that if I had gone to seminary in my 20s it would have been "pearls before swine." When I was in my 20s I had something to prove. Now that I am in my 50s, it is of great benefit.

This is not true of everyone, but beware of studying theology when you have something to prove.

[aReformedPatriot]

This is not true of everyone, but beware of studying theology when you have something to prove.
Very Good. :thumbsup:

[ZiSunka]

Does anyone else find it difficult sometimes to dredge through theology. There is just so many differing views on the every little issue that its a mess. How does one really avoid being influenced one way or the other, everybody, rather most people claim: I have prayed over it and I feel this is the truth. If thats the case then God is yanking our chains and truth really is relative :P .

How do you know what you believe is the truth?
In college, I refused to take philosophy because I was afraid it would mess up my mind and ruin my life.

As a Christian, I refuse to study any denomination's theology because I'm afraid it will mess up my faith and ruin my life.

I stick pretty much to studying the Bible, which is pretty much self-explanatory. If I need help, I go to a commentary or two, but I don't study the commentary, just the Bible. I can't go wrong studying the Bible!

[AJ]

I can't go wrong studying the Bible!
AMEN!

I do tend to look into other theology a bit... But don't spend a lot of time studying it, per sa.

[PaladinGirl]

I believe that there are multiple valid views on any one scripture selection. As for whether or not truth is relative, I'm still trying to figure that out. :)

[aReformedPatriot]

I believe that there are multiple valid views on any one scripture selection. As for whether or not truth is relative, I'm still trying to figure that out. :)
Not me. I Find that there are certain things that are really hard to conceive, but the Lord I serve, whose banner I carry is of absoloute truth. That means, Christ died for me. I could say all other god's or faiths ultimatly lead to the same God but then one would have a hard time getting past the absoloute claim of "No one comes to the Father but by me [Jesus]" Also one would have to examine the life of the Pharisee. They read and studied God's word, probably knew it better than a lot of us. However they were completely wrong, it seems if there were multiple valid views of scripture they would have been ok in Jesus' book.

[Sword-In-Hand]

I like the study of theology, but like anything if you dive into it and just study, study, study, you forget why you are studying it, which is to learn more about God. Put theology before God and it becomes more important than Him.

Read the Word, pray, read the Word, pray, read the Word, pray....Do this and probably won't be confused on much.:)

[aReformedPatriot]

Sing this to the theme of Row Row Row your boat

Read God's word each day
sing and smile and pray
you'll be glad you did
its the only way

a lady in church wrote it, its fun to sing.

[Andyman_1970]

I believe that there are multiple valid views on any one scripture selection. As for whether or not truth is relative, I'm still trying to figure that out. :)

The interesting thing is with this statement is that it's very close to how the Jews viewed the Text. The tradition is that the Text is a gem and that as you turn it in the light you get different colors. For us Western/Greek thinkers we think of truth as concrete, where as the Eastern/Hebrew mind thinks of truth as unfolding.................

Anyway, I've got much more to post on this subject of "too much Theology" but I've got to pick up my precious 5 month old son............

[2Timothy2]

Aren't we confusing terms? Theology is the study of God and His revelation. What you all are describing is people's interpretations of that revelation. Everything we do touches on or comes from theology. Even rejecting Christ is a theology, albeit a self-destructive one. Reading the Bible and praying is studying theology. One need not use a textbook by some "scholar".

When you start to get bogged down on "theology", or what people try to push as "the proper interpretation" on some subject, leave it and go back to the top. Study who and what God is. I find this extremely refreshing. Also, we need to be careful to avoid "foolish and unlearned questions". Some things are simply not important or relevant. We need wisdom to see what those are when we come across them. But, theology, the study of God and how the knowledge gained from that study affects our lives shouldn't be a drag. Theology should be only one part of a process, which results in how we live changed lives. If it is simply the pursuit of knowledge, it is vanity of vanities.

[aReformedPatriot]

[QUOTE=2Timothy2]Aren't we confusing terms? Theology is the study of God and His revelation. What you all are describing is people's interpretations of that revelation.[QUOTE]

The 2 are almost inseperable I think. If we are studying God's revelation, that is theology. If we are studying God's revelation but come up with different takes on it, that too is theology mind you misguided.

[2Timothy2]

So, what you are saying is that you are having problems with the interpretations of others? A discussion of these things is a good thing, since we all can come up with some really weird stuff, left on our own. I don't mean we are always wrong, but, certainly we aren't always right either.

Not everyone wants to study systematic theology, I understand that as a fact, just don't know why they don't. :D But, everyone does "do" theology. That was my point.

[aReformedPatriot]

So, what you are saying is that you are having problems with the interpretations of others? A discussion of these things is a good thing, since we all can come up with some really weird stuff, left on our own. I don't mean we are always wrong, but, certainly we aren't always right either.

Not everyone wants to study systematic theology, I understand that as a fact, just don't know why they don't. :D But, everyone does "do" theology. That was my point.
Oh ok I gotcha :D. And we do come up with weird things. My main beef is I dont want to be influenced by someone elses screwed up interpretation. I want to know what the text says, not what does this mean to you? We tend to believe the first thing we hear that sounds right and go with it. After that point its very hard to let go of it because we dont want to be wrong.

[Carrye]

If we are studying God's revelation, that is theology.
What would you include under the heading of "revelation"?

[2Timothy2]

Oh ok I gotcha . And we do come up with weird things. My main beef is I dont want to be influenced by someone elses screwed up interpretation. I want to know what the text says, not what does this mean to you? We tend to believe the first thing we hear that sounds right and go with it. After that point its very hard to let go of it because we dont want to be wrong.
I guess that is where discernment comes in, and of course, reliance on the Holy Spirit for enlightenment.

"what does this passage mean to you?" I really dislike that approach to Bible study.

[Andyman_1970]

Sometimes I think we get so in to the study of Theology that we tend to loose our awe and respect for the Holy Mysterious YHWH, in a sense we get an attitude of "I've got God all figured out" instead of, "YHWH is God and I am not".............instead of trying to figure everything out. I believe somethings are a mystery for a reason and God intended them to be that way.

Anyway, that's my 2 shekels worth..................

[aReformedPatriot]

What would you include under the heading of "revelation"?
The Revelation of John: Book of Mass Confusion. :thumbsup:

[daveleau]

Does anyone else find it difficult sometimes to dredge through theology. There is just so many differing views on the every little issue that its a mess. How does one really avoid being influenced one way or the other, everybody, rather most people claim: I have prayed over it and I feel this is the truth. If thats the case then God is yanking our chains and truth really is relative :P .

How do you know what you believe is the truth?

Study it all and prove what is true through exegesis. It makes a person a much better apologetic and a much better evangelist. I thought as you did before I started my recent class in Systematic Theology. I drudged through a bunch of philosophy and theology in the course and disliked it to begin with. But, after getting through the first half, I can see the extreme benefit. It's not for everyone, but...

If you look at Arminianism or Calvinism or any other theology, you will find flaws. In most of them, you will find severe flaws. The right thing to do is not to study and grab hold to one theology, but to find what is right in each one and hold true to that ideal. For instance, I am a 3 part Calvinist and a 2 part Arminian. Calvin didn't have a monopoly on the truth. Neither did the Arminian believers or anyone else other than Jesus.

God bless,
Dave

[Unnamed Servant]

The deeper you dig into the word of God, the more and more you see you will never fully understand God, but the more you will see your need for him, his supremacy, and all he has to offer.

"Say you were standing on the shore in new york city. You look out and see the statue of liberty, it is massive, but you can see the whole thing, and appears somewhat simple.

You decide to learn more about and study the statue of liberty. The closer and closer you get to it, the more and more you see that the statue is not as simple as you thought.

You finally reach the statue and are a foot away from it. You can see the different things put into it to make it up, and the wear and tare it has accumulated over the years. What you once saw at the beginning of as simple, you now see as something that is bigger than you will ever understand and be able to know. But this add's to its wonder and beauty."

[BlackSab]

The deeper you dig into the word of God, the more and more you see you will never fully understand God, but the more you will see your need for him, his supremacy, and all he has to offer.

"Say you were standing on the shore in new york city. You look out and see the statue of liberty, it is massive, but you can see the whole thing, and appears somewhat simple.

You decide to learn more about and study the statue of liberty. The closer and closer you get to it, the more and more you see that the statue is not as simple as you thought.

You finally reach the statue and are a foot away from it. You can see the different things put into it to make it up, and the wear and tare it has accumulated over the years. What you once saw at the beginning of as simple, you now see as something that is bigger than you will ever understand and be able to know. But this add's to its wonder and beauty."
I truly understand your dilemma for I've been there myself! It can drive you mad.

I was raised Catholic, then my family converted into Pentecostalism. I now attend a Baptist church, and my wife was raised a Seventh Day Adventist!

So you can imagine the racking of my brain trying to figure every issue out. 10 people all pray and fast about a certain issue, all 10 "hear" from God, and yet they are all different, from the one God.

You just have to pray and as the Bible states, "work out your salvation", meaning work out and decipher your walk with God and what God wants you to do.

Bear in mind, that also different things present stumbling blocks to people, so we can't all have the same rules about issues. Many people stumble over alcohol and so they shouldn't drink or go into a club. I personally have never had that problem. But then I had to give up WWII movies, because of the strong anti-semitism I had all my life, and the equally strong pro-Nazi bias.

See? We are all different with different weaknesses. So don't worry about finding solutions to every issue because there may not be the same one between someone else and God.

Remember in the Gospels, when Jesus appears to Peter? He says to Peter to come with him, and then Peter says of the "disciple Jesus loved", "what about him?" How did Jesus respond? It is none of your concern what I wish to do with that disciple, but you concentrate on what I want to do with you.

There is your answer.

[SumTinWong]

I

Remember in the Gospels, when Jesus appears to Peter? He says to Peter to come with him, and then Peter says of the "disciple Jesus loved", "what about him?" How did Jesus respond? It is none of your concern what I wish to do with that disciple, but you concentrate on what I want to do with you.

There is your answer. That was a great answer! AMEN!