I overheard some ladies at the Chinese restaurant where I picked up lunch yesterday, grumbling about how the men in their Bible study were just so obsessed with the little details of the Bible that they missed the big picture. "It's just all that... theology. Ugh."
I felt very pleased with my self-control that I managed to keep my wails of dismay to myself, and very pleased indeed that I also held back the lecture on the fact that everyone has a theology, it's just either a good one or a bad one, that theology just means "the study or knowledge of GOD," for crying out loud, and everyone on the PLANET possesses beliefs about God (even atheists!) and if you think theology is about arguing over whether Martha and Lazarus were half-siblings or if the punctiliar emphatic aorist in the Greek indicates a completed action, YOU NEED HELP! AUGH!!! But I didn't say it. Nope! Self control, right there.
So I'm just saving THAT rant for my students. HA.
In the words of a wise friend: "You [ought to] study theology the right way, where truth moves your heart to joy and praise. If more of us would do it this way, maybe it wouldn't have such a bad rap in some circles. Theology should not intimidate the uninitiated, but cause them to want more of it, like a thirsty man who finds water in the desert. "
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6 comments:
Dorothy Sayers says something rather similar in "Creed or Chaos", on why the exact wording of the Creeds is important.
I remember a conversation with a friend several years ago in which I had to challenge a bumper sticker slogan he was touting to the effect of "Doctrine divides." I stopped him right there, and said, "Doctrine does not divide, divisive people use doctrine to divide." He had to stop for a minute and concede the point. I hardly ever say the right thing at the right time in a clever way, so I blame it on the Holy Spirit!
Jacob, just to be a smart-aleck, I could say that doctrine is meant to divide in some ways -- to divide the believer from the unbeliever, or at least to aid in the discernment of such a division! :)
I did think of that caveat while writing my first comment, and I will, of course, concede the point (with qualification, of course). I always reserve the right to qualification....
Somebody is becoming almost as delinquent with blogging as I am...
Yes Jacob I agree. Laura, my unmet friend, if you don't pick up the blogging I will be forced to think-about-taking-you-off-my-blog's-blogroll. What do you make of *that* huh huh!
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