As I sat down to dinner with my family the other night, a strange discussion came up. The question was this: ultimately, what is the point of believing the right thing? What is the end goal of having correct doctrine?
My answer used to be this: the more you know and understand who God is, the more you love him. Stands to reason that since I wanted to deepen my relationship with God, I should find out more about him, right? But I'm not sure that's the case anymore. I may know that my wife has brown hair, and I know that she loves chocolate and hates tomatoes, and I know that she drives a green car (they say geniuses pick green...), but that doesn't make me love her, or make my relationship with her any deeper. (Well, other than knowing to avoid cooking any dishes that include tomatoes!) What helps develop my relationship with my wife, and with God, is time together. So if my studying theology doesn't deepen my relationship with God, what's the point? After all, he can't possibly love me more. Or less, for that matter.
It's not simply to acquire knowledge. As Paul in 1 Corinthians points out: "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." Taking the metaphor a step further, imagine your relationship with God is a house...and that house can be built on a foundation of balloons or a foundation of cinderblocks. Which would you choose? Knowledge is great, and can be helpful, but if it is knowledge for knowledge's sake, it's worthless.
The author of 2 Timothy states that the teaching of the Bible is "profitable for training in righteousness, so that the follower of God may be equipped for every good work." Here, it's clear: the point of studying scripture is the application of scripture. If you believe something that's true about God, but it doesn't inspire you to act on that, then what have you gained? If your theology is attested and vetted by the world's greatest biblical scholars, but it stops there, hasn't your life become eerily similar to clanging gongs and crashing cymbals? Instead, let your theology be like a road map that you follow as you walk your path.
To sum it up: I don't wish to imply that having a strong theology is unimportant. I would encourage you to test what you believe and be confident in it. However, by all means, don't let it stop there! Let your desire to believe what is right feed your desire to do what is right.
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Ahhh….. Dr. as usual you are right on the nose. I think the point is oneness, remember Jesus said in John 17 “this is eternal life… to know the Father” the word for know here is the relational, experiential knowledge. The idea is to move toward relationship because of what I know, and who I know; it is not simply head knowledge. And didn’t Jesus challenge the Pharisees saying they studied the Scriptures but they did not know the Father. Our knowledge needs to be more than just information we know but also it must impact t our heart. I believe Gods desire is to have a people he can be in relationship with, a people who know Him… and to love Him…
ReplyDeleteLove the Blog! I am in!