Theology
Fear and Loathing in a Liberal Bible Class
The January/February Nine Marks journal on New Liberalism brought back old memories of a particular class I took While in college:
“Bible as Literature.”
That course title was very misleading. Perhaps I was a bit naive.
The course was an elective and since I was a English major and a Christian it would serve two purposes: college credit and religious devotion.
While I got the credit, I didn’t get the devotion. [This was a secular school after all.]
Instead I got a low-grade bender on liberal theology.
A Shock to My System
Understand: I didn’t expect this. I wasn’t prepared for the challenge. Thus, it struck fear in my heart–and probably a handful of other Christians who thought to take the class for the same reasons I did.
[My own experience reminds me a lot of Daniel Wilson's battle with skepticism.]
Soon after the class began I loathed it. All parts of it. The readings before class. The discussions during class. The reeling sense of disappointment following the class.
It was the first time I ever seriously fought for my faith. Not in a public forum. But quietly within my soul.
That fight eventually went in the wrong direction.
Running Rabid and Roughshod over Scripture
Granted, we all have commitments and can never declare strict objectivity in our arguments, but it became quite clear in the first class that the professor wanted nothing more than to dismantle any Christian faith.
She had an agenda.
The classes usually ran like this: Show up to class. Read the text in question. Professor declares what Christians believe. Professor declares why Christians were wrong.
I don’t ever remember reading it as literature.
In fact, I don’t ever remember any serious textual criticism going on or effort root around the historical context.
It was a raw reading and the professors reaction to it. Nothing more.
While it’s not fair to call the professor a liberal [she was an atheist through and through], her approach WAS liberal.
Repulsive and Primitive Doctrines
She liked to pick on those texts that were repugnant to her senses. The wrath of God. Blood atonement. Eternal punishment. Resurrection.
Any feature that sounded primitive and offensive she dismissed. And like the Jesus Seminar she eliminated many of the words of Jesus to mere legends.
But in doing so, she, the Jesus Seminar and any liberal Christian reduced Him to a non-controversial figure instead of the unique Son of God.
If that was the case, why was He crucified if He didn’t offend anyone?
Liberals Love Affair with Man
Back in the early 20th Century, J. Gresham Machen denied that liberalism was Christianity. Whereas Christianity was rooted in supernaturalism, liberalism was rooted in naturalism.
One of the common characteristics of liberalism is an obsession with gaining the world’s approval and admiration–at any cost.
It’s the approval of the culture that counts–not Christ.
“I risk becoming a liberal, because I don’t just love God. I also love the sheep. And I love myself,” Michael Lawrence said. ”And it’s those two loves, wrongly focused, that tempt me down a gospel-denying path.”
Liberalism too often chooses the gospel-denying path.
Liberalism trims God’s Word in favor of the love and esteem of others. This explains why a historically Christian school like Harvard would slip from orthodox to liberalism.
Man has become our measure. Not God.
Liberalisms Motive
Remember liberals operate out of an apologetic motivation. They want to craft something the culture will happily swallow.
What they end up doing is trying to save Christianity from itself. And themselves from academic ridicule.
As Albert Mohler says, “The lesson of theological liberalism is clear—embarrassment is the gateway drug for theological accommodation and denial.”
But Christians are forbidden to court the spirit of the age. We are to cling to the orthodox gospel and all it’s ugly permutations.
One of the main reasons the gospel is such a stumbling block is that it cannot be adapted to suit cultural preferences or alternative worldviews.
Instead, it’s built to confront them all, including the liberal worldview.
Theology Will Keep You from Committing Suicide
A systematic study of what the Bible says about a particular topic is theology proper.
It’s a pursuit every Christian must vigorously and regularly engage…
Because it’s the means by which we answer the hard questions of life.
Questions like who am I? Why are we here? What is God? What happens when I die? Do I have a soul?
Questions no one is immune from. And questions science ultimately can’t answer.
NIH Director Francis Collins put it this way:
Belief in God was for me anyway, a much more defensible, plausible position. Not something I could prove but something that made great sense and also provided a powerful answer to some of the biggest questions we all ask of our selves and that science can’t really help us with. Like why am I here? And what does life mean anyway?
Without thoughtful, coherent answers to our big questions, life makes no sense at all.
It would be nice if we could simply stop asking those questions. But that’s impossible. We are forever curious. We constantly ask these questions.
We are natural born theologians.
To look for the answers outside of Christ, however, leads to confusion. All other disciplines lead to dead ends. Isolation. Incoherence.
As Gene Fant said at the Evangel blog, “A secularist worldview is hopelessly fractured…. There can be no meaningful interpretive key for knowledge because there is only disintegration and brokenness among the various stakeholders.”
Theology, on the other hand, offers us a relentlessly unified, comprehensive answer to the hard questions: Christ is lord over all.
Listen: If our questions go unanswered, everything remains in the air. Everything becomes unanchored.
Without theology, despair looms. Without theology, suicide knocks at our door.
Heavy prices to pay for not believing in God.
Thus theology leads to relevance. In fact, while regarded as a rather stuffy, arid discipline, it’s the cornerstone on which a Christian must build AND maintain his life.
There is no choice. We must use our minds in this pursuit. Let me know what you think.
Religious Divisions [A Quick-and-Dirty Guide]
There’s certainly no shortage of divisions when it comes to Christianity–or religions in general.
So what’s the difference between Christianity and Islam?
Where does Mormonism fit into our faith?
What about the Amish?
And what makes a Presbyterian different than a Methodist?
All good questions. This little guide will help you hash the answers out.
Denominations
Movements that differ on doctrinal issues but hold to a common core of beliefs about God, Christ and the Bible.
A multiplicity of denominations doesn’t imply a problem. It simply suggests agreement on the essentials and disagreements on non-essentials.
Sects
Movements that agree with denominations on these matters but often place emphasis on certain topics that move them to the fringe of Christianity. Think the Amish’s radical separatism.
Sects only become a problem if the emphasis conflicts with core tenets.
Cults
Movements connected to Christianity in that they use Christian Scripture and appeal to Jesus but they also differ from the traditional faith in core areas–denial of the Trinity, rejection of part or all of the Bible or novel views about Christ.
Cults typically reveal a perversion of the core of a religion due to self-indulgent embellishments. Think Mormons or World Wide Church of God.
World Religions
Historic traditions that include Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism and share very little in common, especially when it comes to core tenets of the faith.
World religions suggest the existence of a native sense of the holy in man. And then we move to explain it. Christianity is the story of the source of that holiness redeeming, adopting and glorifying man.
So, how do you decide whether a religion is compatible with Christianity? Whether it’s a cult, sect or denomination?
Simple: It needs to pass two tests–doctrinal and experiential.
Doctrinal: Is it orthodox on the key issues? Experiential: Does it see a faith encounter with Christ alone as the pathway to being right with God?
How a religion answers these questions will determine whether it falls inside or outside orthodox Christianity.
Let me know what you think.
Do You Have a Simple, Clear Statement of Faith?
In a recent message at the Resolved Conference John Piper encouraged young believers to create a simple, clear statement of faith.
Why? Several reasons.
One, it’s useful to break down complex, sweeping ideas like Christianity into a simple, easy-to-digest concept.
Especially if you are young and forming a worldview.
You need something like Colossians 1:16 to rally around:
“For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.”
Furthermore, you need a “simple, short, crisp, true, solid, ultimate and all-encompassing statement” so that when the pressure is on you don’t have to remember a book or even a creed.
Sure, during a crisis it’d be nice to remember Grudem’s Systematic Theology. Or even recall the Apostle’s Creed.
But you can’t.
In addition, a short, crisp statement is like a compass when tempted to run off course. My statement helps me keep focused on the content of my life, marriage, work and this blog.
In my statement of faith I see my single, solitary purpose in life. And all temptations must filter through that one statement. If the temptation doesn’t pass the test, off to the dust bin.
What is my statement? “Christ and Christ crucified.”
Ridiculously short creed, yes. But in it I see the person I should eye at all times and his work I should never forget.
What about you: Do you have a simple, clear statement of faith? Please share.
Everyone’s a Theologian: What Kind Are You?
Yes, every one’s a theologian. Even atheists like Sam Harris and Hemant Metah.
You’re a theologian if you think, talk, study, debate or argue about God…
Even if you’re arguing that God doesn’t exist.
Naturally, atheists don’t have a mandate to understand God. Christians, on the other hand, do. In that sense, all Christians need to study theology.
What Is Theology?
Anselm of Canterbury said theology is “credo ut intelligam.” Faith seeking understanding.
Christians are people who have faith. Thus, our next step is to understand that faith. And the moment you start to understand that faith, you’re constructing a theology.
But how you construct that theology is very important. There are good ways to do it. And their are bad ways. Dyck and Rhom, in their Introduction to Theology program, do a great job of showing what this looks. Let’s take a look at the bad ways first.
3 Ways to Be a Bad Theologian
Tabloid Theologian: A tabloid theologian constructs his theology on wild, sensational stories. Might be cutting edge, original, but normally fanatical and unfounded. Jason Westerfield is a good example.
So is a story I heard about an Icee machine in Mexico never running out of ice…even though hundreds of people used it. People’s legs growing miraculously and angels rescuing you from a burning car fall into this category, too.
Here’s the problem: The tabloid theologian uncritically accepts everything he hears. His whole belief in God is based on these sensational stories. Only problem is, when God doesn’t give him an extra 40 pounds of Icees or stretch his short leg, he gets disillusioned, falls into despair or may even leave the faith.
Folk Theologian: A folk theologian uncritically and without reflection constructs his theology on tradition and folk lore. Normally, very dogmatic, passionate and emotional about his beliefs.
Folk theology includes St. Peter at the Pearly gates, angel wings, the image of Satan with a pitch fork, Sylvester and Tweety’s view of hell, personalized guardian angels. Even good-works salvation falls into this category. There is no basis in the Bible for any of these beliefs, but it’s part of us. Handed down for generations.
Here’s the problem: Folk theology distracts you from biblical truth. More importantly, you have to reconstruct something you’ve invested your life into when shown your theology is faulty. Or get violent.
Academic Theologian: This is a professional theologian who constructs his theology in an overly speculative and critical spirit. Everything they think, say or do is colored by the presupposition that Christ couldn’t be raised from the dead. Miracles are nonsense. Think ivory tower. Jesus Seminar.
Here’s the problem: The academic theologian won’t let anything religoius or spiritual into his life, no matter how much credential it has. When it comes to the supernatural, gates closed and the is key thrown away. In reality, he isn’t a Christian. He’s an atheist.
Now, let’s look at three acceptable ways to be a theologian.
3 Ways to Be a Good Theologian
Lay Theologian: The lay theologian, unlike the folk or tabloid, is more reflective and likely to formulate a theology that distinguishes between essetianls and non-essentials. He’s yypically critical about unfounded traditions and glamorous stories. He uses study tools and doesn’t rely solely on his mind.
Ministerial Theologian: Educated in theological methodology, he’s able to use study tools and resoucres critically and effectively. But his intent is less reading, more reflection and integration. He wants theological ideas to change his life and others. But being a ministerial theologian doesn’t mean you’re a professional minister.
Professional Theologian: One who contsturst his theology and makes a living doing it. Usually teaches, conducts original research and critically evaluates folk traditions and common theological trends. Think seminary professors who love the Lord, Bible and what they are doing and love to teach others.
What Do You Think?
Let me close with this: Whether you’re a seasoned or fresh-off-the-truck Christian, your spiritual gates should be closed at all times until you are compelled to open them. Your spiritual life is one of the most powerful things in your life.
Now, I didn’t create any problems for the good ways to be a theologian. I wanted to leave that for you. I wanted to see what you thought. I have my own views. But I want to hear from you. So have at it. Be brutal.
Highly Recommended: If you’ve got an mp3 player, download The Theology Program. Sixty course from Hermeneutics to Eschatology. All free.
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