Theology is a fancy word meaning the study of the nature of
God and religious belief. This study
leads us to our hundreds of religions, to our thousands of denominations and
our millions of personal beliefs. I have
to tread very carefully as I dive into this thought process and/or rant. The first thing I want to acknowledge before
anything else is I believe in absolute truth as in I believe it exists and is
discoverable (the discoverable part is tricky, but I believe God is capable of
revealing what He wants, and I can’t deny certain things like Love
existing). Let’s tell a story to help
you understand the intent of this blog entry.
When I was just a young boy and beginning to find myself
interested in young women I did everything I could to be a good, loving
boy. I wrote love letters, I bought
jewelry, I sang (which I would never ever, ever do now), and I poured my heart
into pursuing a young woman I found myself fascinated by. I was taught by movies, and television what
the pursuit of love looked like and I was hooked. The boy was always the hero, or a jerk that
got his hard-heart changed by some damsel in distress or a woman who knew how
to break through his walls. Then a girl
lead to me church and my idea about what love was dramatically changed. I was told how a man is to be willing to die
for his love, must be head over her and expect her to submit to him. Uh oh.
Women submitting. I knew what
this looked like; it looked like a beaten mother who spoke up to a husband who
wanted to beat his children. The third
place I learned about love was home. My
father told me one evening that he knew I was going to have premarital sex,
and tossed a pack of condoms towards me.
Safe sex was love. Then as a man
I was studying love and came across 1st Corinthians 13 which
describes love as: Love
is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or
rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
it does not rejoice at
wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes
all things, endures all things.
So, what the hell is love then?!
Exactly.
Theology is bit like this story. You get told that grace (which is God’s
indescribable love and mercy and kindness towards us that he would save when we
deserve not an ounce of saving) through faith in Jesus saves you. Then you get told that in order to be saved
you must repent (turn away from all your sin) and follow Jesus to the death of
all you are and become a robot filled with some mystical God spirit. Then you’re told that you must be baptized
through water, spirit, and fire (which this one is rarely actually used) in
order to be saved. Next you’re told what
marriage is, that the bible says one man, one woman (which not one time in the
bible does God say “I ordain a marriage as only being between a man and a woman”).
You’re told that you must register
republican, not cuss, not drink, not vote for Obama and watch Duck Dynasty. You’re told in one sentence that ALL your
money is God’s, and to give it back to God (Wait, if it’s His, then how do you
give back??). Giving back to God is so
well known to mean “give to the church” no one reads that and thinks anything
else…sad? You’re told it’s easy and to
come as you are to receive God’s free gift, and then you’re told you must pay
the ultimate price and sacrifice your whole life to be a Christian (so who’s
life is it that is sacrificed again? Mine? Or did Jesus already take care of
it?). Next you’re told that scriptures
are all 100% truth and that you must obey them to the T, or else you’re a
terrible, terrible heretic. Oh, and you
must believe that the way your local church translates and understands the
bible is the right way, and that everyone else is entirely bonkers and
wrong. Your head hurt yet? This barely covers the hundreds of
theological debates.
This is enough to break someone to the
core. I mean I absolutely feel shattered
to my core when I try to understand all these directions I’m pulled and I’ve
been at this for a long time now. There
is truth. There is a perfect theology,
and if you’re like me you’re thinking it’s time for a revolution. A radical change like Jesus intended is in
order.
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