Conquering Fear
There is a sure fire way to make sure no one shows up for a new class being offered at church, just put the word Theology in the class description. You would think believers would desire to study the nature of God but I think most of us are afraid.
Stanley Grenz and Roger Olson in their book Who Needs Theology? An Invitation to the Study of God, do a great job articulating how we are all theologians. Grenz and Olson say “anyone who reflects on life’s ultimate questions-including questions about God and our relationship with God-is a theologian.[1]” While I appreciate Grenz and Olson elevating my title to now include “theologian,” more importantly I wish believers would take this new “theologian” title seriously and actually start thinking about what they think about God.
This book has a great connection to Paul and Elder’s The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking we studied last week. Grenz and Olson say, “we use our minds to organize our thoughts and beliefs, bring them into coherence with one another by attempting to identify and expunge blatant contradictions, and make sure that there are good reasons for interpreting Christian faith in the way we do. Reflection, then, involves a certain amount of critical thinking – questioning the ways we think and why we believe and behave the way we do.[2]” As students we are again challenged! Do we just inherit other peoples beliefs or do we examine them and come to our own conclusions? No one would refute that “Theology is not easy[3]” yet when it comes to God, the most important truth in our existence, we take a lazy approach to our thinking and usually let others think for us.
There is a real fear when it comes to thinking about God. We leave ourselves vulnerable when we ask questions about God, and if our thinking about God happens to change then it means a paradigm shift might occur in the way one lives. This makes for an understandable fear, but if we really want to know and understand God then we should desire to be vulnerable and willing to risk everything.
During the Cape Town advance I really enjoyed talking with Michael Badriaki and hearing his thoughts on ministry in Uganda. However, because of my ministry in Uganda I entered the conversation with him defensive. I wanted to hear his thoughts on how God is working in Uganda but I really wanted his thoughts to go along with the work I am already doing over there. Michael was patient with me and ultimately my defensive wall went down. We were able to have a real conversation about who God is, how He views Uganda, and what God is doing over there. It challenged me and has caused me to think of my work over there differently. That conversation has caused more work for me but ultimately I believe it is more centered on who God is and will eventually be more effective.
I understand why we fear those kinds of conversations but if we truly desire to know God then we should welcome them.
[1] Stanley J. Grenz & Roger E. Olson, Who Needs Theology? an Invitation to the Study of God (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 13.
[2] Ibid., 25
[3] Ibid., 138
About the Author
Nick Martineau
Nick is a pastor at Hope Community Church in Andover, KS, founder of ILoveOrphans.com, and part of the LGP5 cohort.9 responses to “Conquering Fear”
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Nick,
Thanks for sharing about your conversations with Michael.
Your bring up a great point; we must always be aware that people are afraid. There is great fear in learning that we may be wrong about a belief that we hold dear. If we are wrong, then what do we do? What will people think of us if we change our mind about something or embrace a different belief from the rest of our group? This fear keeps us small and keeps our concept of God in a box.
Quick question: After your conversations with Michael, how do you view your work in Uganda differently?
Good question Brian but not a quick answer. In the most basic sense I will be working hard with teams that travel over to carry a spirit of learning, instead of helping. And we will be starting more vocation training and sustainability projects. It’s easy to get comfortable with our current system instead of continuing to empower the Ugandans (and pressuring them) to do more on their own.
Nick,
Let’s also consider the context of fear, specifically has it been the lack of “permission”, or “curiosity” that has kept a lid on theological thinking? Sure our folks will “fear” theology and “fear” critical conversations because they have little experience with such dialogue in the church. I’m pointing the finger at myself Nick, but it sounds like you might have a similar environment. Thanks for setting an example of have uncomfortable but ultimately fruitful conversations.
Dave, Being free and secure myself to ask questions and explore gives others permission to do the same. I know this starts with myself and is something I can already see developing through this program.
Nick and Dave. This brings me back full-circle to my thoughts that most Christians are so uncertain of their beliefs that they are afraid of any conversation that might cast a shadow of questioning across their cobbled together belief system. They don’t know why they believe what they believe and if a person could somehow convince them that one or two tenets of their faith were a little bit off, their whole doctrinal enterprise might fall into a heap. So, better to just avoid any hard conversations…
Nick, Fear wouldn’t be the first word I think of when I think of not engaging in theological conversation, but I think it is the right word. I think as Christians especially we are unwilling to have a lot of conversations and do not let a bunch of conversations take place because of the fear of what you experienced with Michael. If I am reading this right, your conversation with Michael caused you the “change.” I wonder what conversations am I not allowing and avoiding because of the same reason. I also wonder, although my first label for those conversations would not be theological, if they are theological because my presuppositions going into that or causing me to avoid that conversation are rooted in who and how I think God is and ultimately I am afraid of having to change that. Thanks for the thought provoking post!
Thanks Phil…In many ways your comment articulated what I was going for better then I did.
If my “doing” is really an outcome of my “believing” then there can be real fear in coming to know God in a new way.
God bless you Nick,
I took to heart some of those exact concepts from the book. Like we should love the Lord with all are heart, soul and mind. The mind is important in loving God too. Its not preached a lot because just like the book said a lot of people don’t think that using your mind is important (in my words). But we must think to understand God or at least come up with conclusions to things. I praise God that you are opening up to some of the things Michael talked about Uganda. I was really moved by the way he said a lot of Ugandans view missions in Uganda. It is important for me too trying to partner with pastors in Africa. When i used the word i want to “help” to Patrick he told me to use the word “partner”. So thank God he has blessed us to know what they think about our way of thinking. God bless you Nick
Nick – I resonate with your words about the fear of the paradigm changing. It’s almost like we become more attached or worship an idol of what we’ve created to believe rather than really believing what God has offered us. We are very vulnerable in that state, and yet look at how someone like yourself changed as a result of being vulnerable with a fellow follower of Christ who sees things differently than you? I appreciate your humility as I observed in you a real desire to be cultural sensitive, yet here you express your own self-reflection of becoming even more so. Your words convict me to realize we are always growing in that arena, just as we are always on this road of becoming better theologians.