Theology – Why Bother?

What is theology and why bother with it?

One of the reasons that theology has had bad press and is often shunned and ignored is because many Christians believe ‘you should just believe with your heart’ and that’s it. If you start thinking about God then you’ll limit Him and that the Christian faith is the religion of feeling, emotion and the heart. That faith does not need to be articulated and thought about rationally. However, there is so much to disagree with that as i hope to show you:

Jesus commands us to love God with all of our heart…Matthew 22:37

But there is a problem, because the lord tells Jeremiah not to trust only the heart because it is deceitful above all things, desperately wicked and who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

Therefore the Lord Jesus commands us to love God with all our heart, MIND and soul (HMS is an easy way to remember this). The Apostle Peter exhorts us to be ready to give a reason and defence of what we believe and the hope that is in us (1 peter 3:15).

Another problem, how can we love God with our mind, surely we can only think with our mind. Well it makes a great start if we have the right idea of God in the first place. When i was a Hindu, I had the wrong idea of god and could not love him truly. However when i learnt of the one true God, Yahweh, I learnt more about Him, my understanding of Him grew and i learnt of Him. Therefore this put me in a better position to be able to love Him more and more.

Theology helps us get rid of all the false and wrong ideas we may have of God. It helps us know what GOD and the Christian faith is, and at the same time affirming what it is certainly is NOT.

As a Christian I want to know what i believe in. i want to understand the trinity as far as God would have me understand it. I want to understand the nature of sin and why God hates it so much. I want to look into why Jesus had to be crucified and why God turned His face away from the Son. I want to know Christ and what pertains to true biblical salvation so that i can discern through the Spirit and understanding when a false Christ is presented to me.

I am still trying to grasp my favourite scripture, Philippians 3:10. Paul has met the risen Lord and heard His voice. That for most Christians would be enough to see them through this side of eternity. Not for paul, Philippians was the last epistle he wrote towards the end of his journey and still he feels the need to know Christ. He says ‘that i may know (knowledge) Him…’ Philippians 3:10

Theology is the pursuit of just that. I would highly recommend C.S. Lewis’ book ‘Mere Christianity’ to anyone who would like to further study theology. He dedicates a whole chapter to theology in book 4 chapter 1 ‘making and begetting’ and goes onto explain what theology is and its significance.

Finally I would like to end this first of many topics with a quote from one Bruce L.Shelly of what I think is the best description in layman’s terms of theology:

“Theology comes from two Greek words: theos meaning God, and logos meaning word or rational thought. So theology is rational thought about God. It is not identical or to be confused with religion. Religion is our belief in God and our effort to live by that belief. Therefore, theology is the attempt to give a rational explanation of our belief, it is thinking about our religion. When we err in our thinking we call it heresy, bad theology or wrong/false doctrine. Good theology we call orthodox”

I agree with what Brother Paul Washer says about those who have a shady opinion of theology. When someone says I don’t like theology he is literally saying “I don’t like reading/studying about God and what the Bible teaches about a particular subject.”

Don’t despise theology. Read my post on “The Glory of God in Imputation” then see how you feel about Biblical Theology. I would also recommend you to pour out your life studying the theology laid out by the Aposlte Paul in the book of Romans. I submit to you that nothing compares to this most systematic theological treatise. I would also recommend Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology which is another good text book from a man who believes in the inerrancy of Scripture. Now there’s something you don’t find common amongst many backslidden and liberal theologians.

Tags: Theologian, Theology

Category: FAQs, Theological Reflections