Theology

What is it and is it important?  The first thing we need to know is that "theology" in the simplest of terms has two meanings.

Most people have in their own mind some idea about who God is.  Right or wrong that belief or opinion becomes their "theology" or their particular system of religious beliefs and teachings.  They may have no true basis for what they believe, but they believe it anyway.  So the word "theology" can be used to describe what you personally believe about God.

The second meaning of theology that I am going to deal with in greater detail is simply ... the study of God.

Is theology important?  I would say yes, it's ... very important.  If your idea of God is wrong, if you have a misguided understanding of God, let's say especially in the area concerning ... "the plan of salvation" ... then you might be in trouble if you don't get it right.

"The study of God."  What an awesome privilege God has given to us as He allows us to approach Him up close and personal; close enough sometimes to hear His heartbeat or feel His breath upon us as Jesus breathes His Spirit into our personal lives.  That's what I feel like the anointing of the Holy Spirit is ... it's His breath that we feel when He gets real close to us ... sometimes even face to face.

Jesus once breathed on His disciples and said ... "Receive ye the Holy Ghost."  What would that have been like?

How do we approach Him?  One of the best ways is through what is called ... "Systematic Theology."    So what is it?

Systematic means ... "an orderly, organized or series of orderly actions, characterized by order and planning."  In other words, you do not accidentally or unknowingly wake up one day and find that you have been systematically studying the truth of God, who He is, what He does, etc.  You must purposely set out to do it.

Theology is ... "the rational study of God and the nature of religious truth."  You must set your heart and mind to seek, not just knowledge about God, but also the truth of God; things like His grandeur, purpose, and even His conduct concerning His creation ... including us.

An institution of higher learning such as a seminary or Bible college would offer many courses in theology; three examples of study would be ...

Apologetics ... the defense of Christian doctrines.

Eschatology ... concerning such final things as death, judgment, heaven, hell and the end of the world.

Hermeneutics ... the principles of critical Bible interpretation.

The true study of God concerns more than just learning big words and their meanings.  Schools of higher learning and seminaries are great places to learn about God; but the ... theology ... one finds in books is not the end of your theological education.  In fact it's only the beginning.

What we need is ... on the job training ... as we walk with the Lord daily.  We learn systematically, step by step our theology and doctrine as the Lord leads us through life, one small step at a time; sometimes with blessings and at other times with problems, some of which we don't think we can handle.  But in fact, by allowing both good and bad to come our way, God teaches us to walk and live by faith.

One of the first things we need to learn about life is that God is always in control.

Psalm 24:1 ... "The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein."

The whole world belongs to God.  He is the Creator and keeper of the earth, and as such He has the right to do with it as He pleases; and He has an equal right to direct man in any way He so chooses.

Notice this is the same Lord in Psalm 24:1 ... that is spoken of in the preceding 23rd Psalm, where He is shown having the heart and character of a shepherd.

Through theology you begin to understand that your course in life is directed, established, and even ordered by God.

Psalm 37:23 ... "The steps of a man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way."

The Lord takes you one step at a time on an amazing journey as He reveals Himself to you.  Sometimes He uses a mountain top, but then again He may use the valley experience; but He always does so with love, mercy, grace, forgiveness, faithfulness, goodness and patience ... the very same things that motivated Jesus while He was on earth.  And may I add ... still does.

How can I list all the attributes of God?  The one truth I have learned through what little study I have done is this ... the size and scope of all God is and the knowledge of God to be learned ... cannot be exhausted.

But one of the most important things I have learned, not just from theology, the study of God, but honestly from just life in general is this truth ...

"There is a God ... and I'm not Him."


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A Silent World

Today I am going to share something special with you.  It is from my friend Kathy Massey and her blog ... "Musings of a Closeted Geek" ... I hope you enjoy it and find it useful.

Kathy entitled this post ... "A Silent World."


"Falling snow is very peaceful.  I love to sit at a window and watch the flakes come down.  This is one thing I did long ago as a young girl before I knew the world had sound.

I am hearing impaired. My level of hearing loss in both ears is equated to pushing the 'mute' button on the remote control of a television set.  In fact, the latest version of hearing aids have this feature on the remote controls.  I have been known to silently push 'mute' during a particularly long-winded speech (shh! don't tell).

I love that I can control the noise of the world.  When life gets a little overwhelming, I can turn a switch and retreat into my own quiet space.  This is the best way to sleep, too.  I have little difficulty falling asleep and almost never wake up in the night.  It is a gift.

When I was younger, my hearing aids were more prominent, and less effective at hearing the world.  I was often ridiculed and mocked for my funny 'deaf accent' and pronounced loud breathing (that I can't hear).  I often wished that I could wake up some day and not have to put on the hearing aids to hear.

I became a believer at age 19 and was introduced to the charismatic gifts of the Spirit.  I thought God wanted to heal me.  I prayed for healing so many times, and found myself disappointed that He did not heal me.  I thought I didn't have enough faith.  I thought my sins were too great.

Now, I know the hearing loss is God's gift to me.  Even though there are sounds I miss, and movies I have to wait to see when it can be closed-captioned, I would not trade the benefits of peaceful quiet I can have at the click of a button.  I just would like to know how I can use this gift for the purposes of His ministry."


"God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts.  Use them well to serve one another." ... 1st Peter 4:10 (NLT)

              
The following is a comment left on her post ... I thought I should include it as well.

"The Lord says to Moses, 'Who gives speech to mortals? Who makes them mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?'" (Exodus 4:11)

God made us. He can use us. What we think is broken, God can use to show His glory.


I leave you with the link to her site ...

http://musingsofaclosetedgeek.blogspot.com

A Short Followup

Sorry ... I've been thinking again about our "free will" that God has bestowed on each of us.  This relates to my last post concerning the fact that free will ... if it is truly free ... will always have a twin brother accompanying it.  Choice.

Consider all the things you have done in your past.  They were choices you made.  Some good and some not so good.  And God watched you make every one of them, even the sinful choices you made.  He may have tried to talk you out of committing the sinful ones ... but He "could not" stop you from committing even one of them ... but only because He "would not" change your free will.

God has given you that ... "right" ... no matter what.  He has determined, that is something He can not and will not interfere with.  If He did ... it wouldn't be your will.

In my last post I asked this question ... "Can a Christian walk away from God and loose his salvation?"

The argument usually given by those who believe in ... "once saved, always saved" is emphatically ... no.  So I answered my own question with this ...

"When you first hear the Gospel you have a choice; you can choose salvation and accept Jesus or you can choose to walk away.  If you had that right of choice then, don't you think you still have that same right to walk away from God anytime you choose?  If you don't still have that right … when did you lose it?"

Okay ... let's look at what is going on here.  I'm still speaking about your ... choice. 

I want you to tell me how many times in your life when you made a decision to do something ... God stepped in and removed your free will choice ... and did not allow you the right to go ahead and follow through with it?

I would say ... never.  He allows you to make mistakes.

So ... if God didn't remove your choice or choices in everyday life, even sinful choices we know He wouldn't want you to make ... how can you believe that God takes away your own free will choice to continue on ... "in the faith" or to leave it.

But if, by chance He did that ... when did He do it?

Again ... when did you lose that right?

I leave you with the words of God on this subject ...

"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord ..."  (Isaiah 1:18)


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When Did You Lose It

It has been said that sin causes a separation between God and man.

If sin separates us from God, does that mean that when Christians sin, (and they do) ... God's Holy Spirit leaves us?  Does the Holy Spirit ... step outside of our soul, heart or whatever part of our spiritual being He dwells in ... until we repent of that sin?  Does He stand beside us and wait for our repentance so He can once again abide inside of us?

Recently I was engaged in a discussion about ... "Eternal Security" ... or as some people call this subject or doctrine ... "once saved, always saved."

This brought to my attention a story that a former pastor mentioned once about a young man studying for the ministry in a Bible College.  He had been invited to speak to the students at this preacher factory and then have a follow-up question and answer session.  A question posed to him from one student was something along the lines of ...

"Just how close to the edge of sin can you live and yet not sin?"  The visiting pastor responded back ... "My question to you young man is, why would you even want to know?"

Was this student planning on, or did he desire to live on the edge as close to sin as he could?  The discussion about the doctrine of ... "once saved, always saved" ... seems to me to be very similar to the question above.  It's almost as if this doctrine gives a license for weak believers who continually sin not to worry about their lifestyle ... believing they can never be lost.

We are supposed to be saved from our sin, not in our sin.

If I really believed that I could never be lost, no matter what I did, would I have fought as hard against the sinful nature in my flesh as I did, training my soul to overcome these temptations?  Or would I have said to myself ... "Oh well, it doesn't matter, go ahead and enjoy these few chosen sins ... God won't disown me, I'm secure in Jesus."

And we are ... but not without continual repentance.  (1st John 1:9)  "If we confess our sins, He (Jesus) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  This was written to believers.

For me personally ... I believe we should live a life of repentance, submission and obedience.  Not that I always do ... but I try.

After you receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, your lifestyle should change.  And if you don't change?  Now here is where the "apologists" ... those who argue doctrine like to say ... "Well, if a person still lives in sin after receiving Jesus, they were never saved in the first place."

What a cop out!  They aren't facing the real problem.  The problem is that it takes some time to teach the unsaved flesh (our natural bodies) to follow how the newly regenerated spirit and soul wants to live ... and that is, to overcome sin.

Some even teach that sin in a believers life doesn't matter, because God just covers you with more grace.  Really?  If you adhere to that doctrine, read what Paul said ...

Romans 6:1-2 ... "What shall we say?  Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?  God forbid.  How shall we, that are dead to sin, (born-again) live any longer therein?"

Galatians 5:13 ... "Brethren, you are called unto liberty, (freedom) only don't use this liberty for an occasion to the flesh (to sin) ..."

 Let me dig a little deeper and ask this question ...

What happens to the believer who seemingly returns to his sin?  Are you still saved?

2nd Peter 2:20-22 ... "For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through  the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, (salvation) they are entangled therein, and overcome, (habitual sin) the latter end is worse with them than in the beginning.

For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, (they choose) to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.

But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, (in Rabbinical writings) 'The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.' "

I cannot judge such a person that becomes entangled again and overcome because I don't know their heart.  I don't know what pain or attack they may have been under.  I've seen people just give up and choose the old lifestyle once again.

No one is immune from falling.  In fact, 1st Timothy 4:1 states, "... that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith ..."

What do these words mean?  To depart from something means you ... "leave."  So how can you leave the faith if you are not really in it?  The word depart in the original Greek means ... "to remove self or desert."   You cannot desert the army unless you are in the army.  Once saved, always saved?  Not if you choose to remove yourself. 

This then leads to the big question.  Can a Christian walk away from God and loose his salvation?  Let me answer that question with this question.

"When you first hear the Gospel you have a choice; you can choose salvation and accept Jesus or you can choose to walk away.  If you had that right of choice then, don't you think you still have that same right to walk away from God anytime you choose?  If you don't still have that right … when did you lose it?"

Choice ... your free will ... is something God will never take from you.



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