When Christians Love Theology More Than People

[Marilyn C]

1 hour ago, shel said:

The thing is... love isn't stupid. It's sin that makes people stupid. Love delights in sound doctrine.

Hi shel,

As Patriot said "I totally agree." You made a very good statement,  short, sharp & to the point & one to remember.

Marilyn.

[shel]

1 hour ago, The_Patriot2016 said:

I totally agree, but that is a lot of the reason churches compromise where they shouldn't, with a misconception of what true love is, and a want to not come across as "judgemental"

I hear ya!

[nebula]

For clarification, I do not see the author as challenging "original sin," the death and resurrection of Jesus, and the like theology in the mix of things he spoke of.

And you will notice he did say, "We should never give up on theology, academic study, or the pursuit of understanding God, the Bible, and the history and traditions of the church,...."

But when you consider how many times Jesus spoke of "doing," how much do pastors and teachers focus on the "doing" - beyond theologizing about it? How many churches care for those in need in their congregation? Things like that.

[The_Patriot21]

3 minutes ago, nebula said:

For clarification, I do not see the author as challenging "original sin," the death and resurrection of Jesus, and the like theology in the mix of things he spoke of.

And you will notice he did say, "We should never give up on theology, academic study, or the pursuit of understanding God, the Bible, and the history and traditions of the church,...."

But when you consider how many times Jesus spoke of "doing," how much do pastors and teachers focus on the "doing" - beyond theologizing about it? How many churches care for those in need in their congregation? Things like that.

Oh I know, I apologize if you thought I was going after the article! It was, over all well written and he made some excellent points. I was just commenting that we need to make sure we don't let the pendulum swing from legalism to political correctness is all.

[missmuffet]

God come first and foremost. Above anything else on this earth.

[zoel]

I'm beginning to think that the only thing that's relevant in our lives is what God makes real to us. It's like the same circumstances different place different time. Learning the lesson well is the one thing that's going to help me move on or give me the opportunity to let others gain anything from me. The theory has to apply but it's like 2 cor 13, without love it's just a clanging bell.

[Guest shiloh357]

I have never met anyone who loves theology more than people and I am always in an academic environment.    The author raises a point that might apply to some weird individuals out there, but most academic theologians don't "love" theology anymore than a surgeon "loves"  brain surgery.

What often bothers people the most about sound theology is that it provides boundaries.  Those boundaries serve as a barrier to the entrance of false doctrine.   False teachers are generally the most offended by theology and theologians because false doctrines preys on the most vulnerable members of the Body of Christ.  Several years ago, Benny Hinn joined the Assemblies of God denomination.   About the time he joined the AoG, he published a book about the blood of Jesus and in that book he claimed direct revelation from God that each member of the Trinity was a "trinity."  According to him, God the Father is three persons, God the Son is three persons and God the Holy Spirit is three persons.   He states that there are really nine members of the Godhead, not just three.   He didn't get that from the Bible.   He got that from what he claimed was direct revelation from God.

Hinn was confronted about that from the leadership of the AoG and was forced to correct his error.  The book was pulled from the shelves and replaced with corrected versions.    Needless to say, Hinn was not happy about the doctrinal and theological boundaries he had to face, and he severed his ties with the AoG.  Evidently, they were correcting him about some other wacky ideas he had about God.

Sound doctrine and theology is guard against every person who shows up saying, "The Lord told me...."   Anytime someone is claiming to get direct revelation from God, especially if it isn't in the Bible, that should send up a red flag of danger.   False teaching will follow after that.

False teachers manipulate and control and they appeal to love and unity and they pull at your emotional heart strings.   But that's why they hate theology and those who adhere to it.   Theology can't be manipulated, it isn't emotional and good theologians cannot be controlled by false teachers. 

Another good example of why we need sound theology as a guard is the book, "Jesus Calling" by Sarah Young.   In it, she claims to get direct messages from Jesus which she then transmits to her readers in a book that is meant to be used as a devotional.  It is really designed for women and it is very emotional.   What many might not know is that Sarah Young's inspiration for "Jesus Calling"  was a book entitled "God Calling"  and it was written decades ago by two English New Age "spiritualists"  who claimed that they were channeling, "the living Christ."  In New Age speak, "Christ" is not Jesus.  It is a spirit or a consciousness. 

In the introduction to her book, Sarah Young cites "God Calling" as her inspiration for "Jesus Calling."  But when people found out what "God Calling" was, the publisher, removed all references to "God Calling" from the  introduction starting 2011.   But "Jesus Calling" is still a number one selling devotional because of its emotional appeal.  That takes precedence over truth and sound doctrine.   Theology is important because we live in a postmodern culture that values emotion over truth.  Something is right or wrong based on how it makes people feel, nowadays.  

 

 

[Guest shiloh357]

There is a popular church in my city that caters to the 18-25 year-old demographic.  They mix secular pop music in with the praise music.  They allow unsaved musicians to perform with the "praise band."   They also allow unsaved people to serve in positions in the church such as ushers and greeters.   They use Domino's Breadsticks and Welch's Grape soda for communion.   A few years ago, they blasted ACDC's "Highway to Hell" at Sunday Morning service on the Sunday before Halloween.    On Easter one Sunday, they had a guy dressed up in a coat and top hat doing a monologue as Satan.

That is why we NEED  sound theology.  We need to love people, but our love needs to theologically correct.  Otherwise you end up with crazy nonsense like that "church."

[OneLight]

4 hours ago, shiloh357 said:

False teachers manipulate and control and they appeal to love and unity and they pull at your emotional heart strings.   But that's why they hate theology and those who adhere to it.   Theology can't be manipulated, it isn't emotional and good theologians cannot be controlled by false teachers. 

I whole heatedly agree with all but this one statement, that theology is not emotional.  It is humanly impossible to remove emotions from our theology since we are not computers, but humans.  Emotions do play part of our "stage of truth" and properly so.  We Love the Lord, which is a emotion, and is part of our theology.  I do strongly agree that emotions should not be a leading factor at all, but to deny they play any part of our theology, or claim it has no part of theology, is incorrect.  Humans cannot separate ourselves from our emotions.

[Guest shiloh357]

11 minutes ago, OneLight said:

I whole heatedly agree with all but this one statement, that theology is not emotional.  It is humanly impossible to remove emotions from our theology since we are not computers, but humans. 

Theology is objective, emotions are subjective and thus change with whatever situation we are in.   Theology isn't emotionally based.  It is fact/truth based.

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Emotions do play part of our "stage of truth" and properly so.  We Love the Lord, which is a emotion, and is part of our theology.

That is not how our theology is formed.   You are speaking to how it is applied, which is a different issue. 
 

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I do strongly agree that emotions should not be a leading factor at all, but to deny they play any part of our theology, or claim it has no part of theology, is incorrect.  Humans cannot separate ourselves from our emotions.

 

They play a part in how we live out theology, but not in how we arrive at theological conclusions.