Theology Schmeology

Question:

Our current social/philosophical culture has had a very interesting impact upon theology and the manner in which Christians interact. What do you think has changed between the early church and now that allows for the theological indifference experienced in our age. Is this theological indifference a good or a bad thing? Why?

My attempt at an answer:
The Church, through the reformation, lived in a drastically different world and culture than we do now. The Church was much more united and when one spoke of the Church there was a sense of the one, holy, apostolic and Catholic Church that one was referring to. This Church took great pains to lay out their theological positions in the form of councils, creeds, etc. and these positions were applicable to the whole Church. Those dissenting groups that did not agree with the church’s official position found themselves at best as outcasts or worse as victims of persecution with little opportunity for recourse. Given our current cultural context, it is amazing to think of the profound struggles that have occurred in reaction to peoples passionately held theological beliefs.

We, in contrast, live in a world of theological diversity, ignorance and indifference, even among Christians. Theological distinctives of denominations are not even known among the professing members of some congregations, and furthermore, the denomination of many churches is not even known to many of the attendees. Several of the things which our culture highly esteems set us up for this theological indifference. Consider some of our highly esteemed values such as acceptance and diversity, community and experience, especially over and above propositional truth and the rampant consumerism of our age.

I am not saying that these things are inherently bad, just that we must acknowledge the role they play in the status we afford to theology. When we highly value diversity as a whole, it also affects the particulars, and so we have a wide variety of acceptable theologies. Given our accepting culture, it is hard to not end up in a place where it is not necessary to pin down ones particular theological leanings as long as we know we all share the same basics. In regards to community, the emphasis is placed on faith lived out, not necessarily the details of the theology behind it. Out of sincere love for God and His creation, one can seek to be Jesus hands and feet to the world around them without having to nail down ones eschatology, view on predestination, or any number of theological quandaries. Additionally, most would admit we are in a consumer driven society and the church has been greatly influenced by this. We have the freedom to buy just about anything. We get to choose what we will live in, and what variety of shampoo we desire to use. We are used to having options and to picking that which works best for us, and in general, we are pretty content to let our neighbors buy what works for them. Is it any wonder that we carry this attitude over to theology?

Personally, I think this has potential to be a good thing if we can put it within the guardrails of a church that is heavily into the Word of God. There is certainly room for diversity, acceptance, experience, etc. in the kingdom of God, but if we don’t - across the board - have a high regard for, and knowledge of Scripture then we put ourselves greatly at risk of falling prey to heresy or relativism. I’d love to see more churches that offer opportunities for in-depth study of the Word of God, as well as of theology and I think this could help to provide the guardrails we need.

Anyone else’s answer?

The Starving Baker

Last week, I was apart of an amazing event. We brought together some great leaders and had the opportunity to interact with them for three days. We provided 15 breakout sessions with excellent people who were willing to share what they are experiencing and learning in their settings and then we went on to two full days of general session with great speakers like Donald Miller and Andy Stanley. And yet as I sat and stared at the computer last night and now tonight, I realize that as amazing as I hear the event I was apart of was, I walked away with very little to share about it. I have been so busy working that I haven’t heard anything interesting, read anything interesting, or even thought of anything interesting for weeks. It reminds me of a leadership lesson I read years ago.

In Tim Elmore’s first Habitudes book (www.growingleaders.com) he introduces the image of the starving baker. The story goes something like this….imagine you find a great little bakery and apparently many other people also discover it is a place worth frequenting. You often visit the shop and enjoy the wonderful breads and pastries the baker provides. You come to notice the baker is rapidly losing weight. You take the time to observe what is happening in his life and you notice he is so busy preparing and serving bread to others that he is forgetting to eat himself. Ironically, he is surrounded by nourishment and yet he is starving.

Admittedly, some seasons are more intense than others, but I am reminded that it is worth counting the price that will be paid if we allow ourselves to go for a prolonged amount of time without investing in ourselves. Leading up to Catalyst, I tried to admit the reality of life without throwing it all out the window for six weeks. I knew going to the gym five days a week for an hour a day was not going to be realistic so I aimed for three times a week for thirty minutes. The goal was to recognize reality and come up with some realistic expectations that could keep me on the right track. I think sometimes in life we need to do this relationally, spiritually, and in our plans for personal growth. Perhaps it is hard to do because we feel like we are letting ourselves off the hook when we should be working harder to get it all in. We, rightfully, do not want to lower our expectations of ourselves, but on the other hand we do need to accept the reality of a particular, defined, period of time. It can be tricky. We can’t let the current busy season roll into the next busy season and continue to get by only putting in the minimum across the board or we will end up feeling the effects of that.

Tim shares another story in this lesson about the starving baker that really brings it home for me. He talks about two lumberjacks who challenge each other to see who could cut the most trees down in a day. The first lumberjack started his day by “wasting” two hours sharpening his axe while the other lumberjack jumped ahead in the contest by immediately felling trees, but at the end of the day it was the lumberjack who had taken the time to sharpen his axe that had cut the most trees down. By the end of the day the first lumberjacks axe was still sharp while his colleagues axe was dull. The same amount of hard work and strength was being put in by both for the last half of the day, but the one who had prepared himself was able to do his job much more effectively.

I very much understand that we can sit and look at our schedules and not see any time to invest in ourselves, but yet I can also see the folly in that. Knowing the right thing to do is often simple, but following through and actually doing it is often hard. It is my hope that I can keep the image of the starving baker before me when I enter my next season of craziness. It is worth being intentional about investing in ourselves for our long term physical, mental and spiritual health, as well as for the quality of whatever it is we aim to produce for others.

(I will get the cd's of the event so maybe later I can have something to share from it :-)

Turn of Events

Today I read an article about dealing with pivotal circumstances and I loved the practicality of it. The article was written by Reggie Joiner (Turn of Events) and it challenged me to go into my next pivotal circumstance looking for God in the midst of it, and to consider that God wants to build my confidence in Him and my passion for Him through the circumstance. I may have arrived at the circumstance by my own poor decision, or it may be a good circumstance God has allowed to bless me, but either way, I need to look for God in it.

So often we spend so much time trying to control our circumstances. We say we know we are not in control and yet we do everything within our power in hopes that we can sway the circumstances of life in a way we would find desirable. I am not saying that is wrong, I am all for being intentional with every bit of life, but it does make me consider what kind of position that puts us in when we find ourselves in unexpected circumstances. All of a sudden our illusion of control is shattered as we find ourselves facing an unexpected reality. The circumstance can be good or bad, but the fact that it was not on our radar makes it disconcerting and at this point we must look to see what God is up to in our midst.

Sometimes we find ourselves in circumstances we aren’t happy about. It is hard to cheerfully receive that which God has provided us with when what He has provided us with does not match up with what we were planning on. We can get lost in trying to figure out how the circumstance came to be, or we can look for God in the midst of it, and trust Him to correct it if that is what needs to happen. However, correcting the circumstance may not be God’s desire. I’ve heard Ken Boa say many times that God cares more about our holiness than He cares about our happiness. He may have allowed the circumstance to build our confidence in Him, and our pursuit of Him. The situation may work itself out in a way that is favorable to our own cause and so we walk away blessing God for His graciousness to us, or the situation may not come to a successful resolution, but in the process we experience God walking closely with us and so walk away strengthened to the core. God is at work in both cases.

The article suggested we read the passage in Luke 8 where Jesus quells the stormy seas by his spoken word. The disciples present for that pivotal circumstance walked away with a rock solid picture of who Jesus was, and an assurance that they could trust God to be God. In seeing their concern over the storm, Jesus asks them where their faith is. The article challenged the reader to walk into the next pivotal circumstance with a 3x5 card that says “Where is my faith?” I may be caught by surprise by some of the twists and turns of life, but God is bigger than any circumstance and can be trusted to walk with me through all of them.