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New to the site, not sure on whether to put this in theology forum or this one--anyway. My friend is learning about God, I had given him a bible as he did not have one in his home to his knowledge. His mother took them to church a handful of times when he was a child but that ended rather abruptly and she has issues with the church due to personal experiences, so they're not exactly religious people. He wasn't taught about the Word of God, in summation. Since he and I have grown closer, he would ask about God knowing that I am a Christian. He has become interested in the idea of God. He is, I can thankfully say, a former atheist as he does now believe in some kind of supreme creator, God, but I don't think he follows Christian doctrine as his belief, in that he doesn't identify as a Christian, as he is still learning and making value judgements. We read the bible together occasionally, and I try to answer his questions. He might not like the answers I give or I lack the theological background to answer him extensively, or at all. This leads to him becoming frustrated so he doesn't quite want to read together so much, which I can understand. Well my purpose for writing this post is that I am concerned about his belief he is ascertaining from reading the bible. His belief is that our lives are information, or divine truth (Logos). He doesn't believe that God is some entity that, and sees no need to pray as he believes God already knows what he needs. I tried to tell him that God wants a relationship with him but he wasn't taking to that idea. He reasons that we as people, together form an informational cluster, metacorporeal and that we are to seek truth above all else, as that is the father. I don't want to dissuade him from reading the bible, as he rarely does so on his own accord. I do believe that God is ultimate truth, but he is more than just that one thing alone. Is there something I can do or say to help steer him in the right direction to having a relationship with Christ and God?

Do you think leaders in the church ( Pastors, Apostles, Prophets, Elders, Bishops and Deacons ) should be required to get college training in theology? I saw this brought up in another thread. I was wondering how other believers felt about this. Should it be a requirement? If you don't believe that Apostles or Prophets are for today that's fine. I'm not looking to debate that here, please just ignore those 2. Just curious how other Christians are wanting their Church leadership qualified . Can God qualify someone on his own without college training in theology? Is there a concern that college training in theology is just getting the doctrine of men and/or the approval of man? God bless Firestormx