Theology is dead!? Really?
I do think we focus too much on theology in many circles of Christendom though and that's dangerous. Here are a few reasons why.
1. We end up focusing more on the mind than on the heart.
The mind is a wondrous thing which God created and He created it to allow us to think, yet there comes a place where things are a bit too heady and we don't allow the truth to travel to our heart. We can know the Bible, all of the correct doctrines and still live a life untouched by God. The heart is the seat of transformation, not the mind. Even in our own studies we can go so theologically deep, but neglect to allow the Spirit of God to touch us "deep inside" (to use a Sonseed lyric*). If we preach/teach from our mind without the truth of what we're teaching/preaching sparking our own heart, we are missing a key synapse the Holy Spirit desires to fire...and as such I believe our preaching/teaching is less effective.
2. We end up making stuff up
That's right, I truly believe this is true. Look as far back as the Jews of Jesus day. These Pharisees had an extra book in ADDITION to the scriptures, just to ensure they weren't crossing any of the Laws boundaries. They all out made that stuff up. What's worse is that they then started spouting this made up stuff as God's truth...when it was man-made and fabricated. We today in the church have made up rules as well. Sure they're not written down but I'd bet many of you would know them by heart...think for a second about some "rules" you were told. If it's not a Biblical rule it was made up. We get too heady and start trying to connect the cognitive dots on certain Scriptures and in so doing we make stuff up. We are a society obsessed with having all the answers. God just simply didn't give us all the answers...
3. We ostracize people who need the heart message
When we focus too much on the mind, people who think more with their hearts are lost in the fray. I'm sort of a hybrid heart/head guy so I can pretty much fit into either category and play nice both places...but I am not the norm. True some people are very heady so they need reached out to as well, but they (like all of us) need to allow the head knowledge to effect our hearts. With a all out heart person, they do need to understand some things and get those few things "right" but if we go too heady for too long they check out and write almost all of it off. The message of Jesus spoke to both types. He never sacrificed the heart for the head; even when he tried to call the heart out of the heady Pharisees...
4. We end up making too much on religiosity and not enough on relationship
Does the Bible have tenets of religion? Yes. Is Christianity a religion? Yes. Are there certain "rules" in the Bible to follow in order to be a part of this religious group? Yes. When we focus to theologically the relationship gets missed out of the religion. The great story of God is about a Loving Father who desires to rescue His Children. We can't miss this narrative in the midst of the theology, yet too often we trade religion for relationship. True some choose no religiosity for relationship and in so doing miss something as well BUT we are in a relationship with the Father. My firm belief is that when we understand the depth of the Father's love and allow the Spirit to speak to our spirit we are children of God, we will fall in line the majority of the time with the "rules" because our hearts want to...not because we feel obligated by religion.
What are some other things that happen when we are too theological?
* Sonseed is the band that developed the song Jesus is My Friend the song where this lyric comes from
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