WHO NEEDS THEOLOGY?<\/p>\n
I was tempted!\u00a0 Into a 10 hour flight to Brazil, I began surfing the media console seeing\u00a0 what movie options I had.\u00a0 There it was – Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter!\u00a0 No, I wouldn\u2019t watch something so stupid, but yet it lured me in with the first line.\u00a0 \u201cHistory prefers legends than men.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, after about five minutes, I repented and changed the channel and ended up watching \u201cBrave\u201d – a fun Disney movie about a princess changing her fate.\u00a0 But that first line stuck and made me think about the book I\u2019ve been reading.<\/p>\n
In \u201cWho Needs Theology\u201d the first paragraph makes a statement, \u201cHappy is the Christian who has never met a theologian.\u201d\u00a0 A bit of truth perhaps, but what does that type of happiness lead to?\u00a0 Why are we afraid of contemplating life\u2019s most basic questions including questions about God – or in other words, thinking about theology?<\/p>\n
Like the phrase in the movie About Lincoln and vampires – that I didn\u2019t finish – we could use a similar phrase and say that \u201cChristians prefer folk theology.\u201d<\/p>\n
Folk theology is un-reflective and non-critical thinking regarding what we believe and how what we believe translates to life and behavior.\u00a0 I want to stay away from that.\u00a0 Folk Theology is reacting to life with trite phrases which although have little validity but presents a neat wrapper around hard questions.\u00a0 Folk Theology is safe, it\u2019s comfortable, but is it a correct way to view life?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Right away, the authors admit that there will be objections when people are encouraged to learn to think critically and learn a little about theology.\u00a0 \u201cTheology takes the life out of Christianity,\u201d or that theology is too divisive many think.\u00a0 Some call it \u201cuseless speculation\u201d and others are convinced that dwelling on theology doesn\u2019t allow a believer to grow in their faith.<\/p>\n
But surprisingly, the reason I feel is most significant for understanding theology, is its unifying quality.\u00a0 The possibility of Christians actually getting along makes the study of theology at the least, worthy of a brief examination.\u00a0 As believers reflect upon their beliefs, examine their way of life and why they live and believe the way they do, a question arise – \u201chow important is that?\u201d<\/p>\n
In this day and age, when three people in a room will have three different opinions on church doctrine and correct actions and behaviors, I am encouraged when a group of believers discover those crucial beliefs (dogma) that can be agreed upon.\u00a0 Theology will help us come together; help us determine those elements that are non-negotiable.<\/p>\n
Theology however can take us further than just defining the essentials.\u00a0 It can help us interface with life in our world.\u00a0 It can actually help us live day to day, as one who understands why and what they believe will live in peace, understanding his or her purpose before God.<\/p>\n
If you want to deepen your belief and grow from a position of believing Folk Theology, to truly understanding the \u201cwhy\u2019s\u201d of life, join me in learning about theology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WHO NEEDS THEOLOGY? I was tempted!\u00a0 Into a 10 hour flight to Brazil, I began surfing the media console seeing\u00a0 what movie options I had.\u00a0 There it was – Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter!\u00a0 No, I wouldn\u2019t watch something so stupid, but yet it lured me in with the first line.\u00a0 \u201cHistory prefers legends than men.\u201d\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2,198],"class_list":["post-1110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dminlgp","tag-grenz","cohort-lgp3"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1110\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}