In systematic theology you can prove anything. Each theology keeps snowballing. And when it turns into a cohesive heap, you can explain everything and more. You can even prove that Jesus does not love the whole world, you can justify yourself to sin, to not reach out to your neighbors, to get an annulment and destroy a family, to hate your enemies, to let people wander from the truth, to sit comfortably in your life, and so on. For this reason I think there will be no end to it.
People will do this for a number of reasons. Likely for simplicity, the thirst for knowledge or self-justification. But when you see people do this you can see the tangle work. They are caught in constructions grounded on rational deductions and pet theories which have no clear word fashioned from scripture. This I find to be scary. Anybody will believe anything when you position it in a specific God framework.
But it doesn't stop there. Somehow these constructions carry the same currency as scripture. You must compel others to propagate the system. After all, we're talking God here. And so you need to reinforce your convictions by recruiting others to the team. - But that's a game I refuse to play. A spoken word without God's authority will be held to account.
I don't mind taking systematics to task. I find them intriguing and engaging, but I also find them draining. God without a spoken word is nothing. I was going to write a final post about OSAS and blah blah blah. But I lost my motivation. I will finish it. But I don't like to dwell on it too often. I would rather be more positive.
Yet I do see how people just grow into these things without even knowing it. After all, theologies don't just sit on the shelf, they create communities. Ironically, some communities just let their theology sit on the shelf. As sinners every theology is prone to be caged. No theology or church is "safe." For a while now, I've stopped caring about keeping theology tidy. Theology doesn't sit and systematize itself. Theology is muddy. It gets on your shirt, tracks on your floor, it gets everywhere. Theology must get everywhere.
That is why I named this blog "Losing All." It motivates me in losing my pride. It motivates me in losing my idols and everything to which I cling, my possessions and my life. And ultimately it motivates me to lose my systematic theologies. It's about losing it all in order to gain Christ. And looking at it that way, Christ is all theology. All other things at some point will go.
I certainly haven't arrived, but I look forward to the day.
I understand where you are going with this post but be careful not to cast aside any systematic theology after all you know about Jesus based on systematic understanding of Him from the Bible. For example, the way you know He died for your sins is by placing passages with other passages (proof texting) but we build our case for salvation through Jesus Christ from a systematic understanding beginning with the Fall in Genesis 3 and then culminating in the cross that was first promised in Genesis 3:15.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I do think that we need to be humble in our theology. We are mere humans and not infallible as the Bible is. None of us have arrived at perfection though I do seek that (Philippians 3:13-15) and my prayers are for perfection (2 Corinthians 13:9, 11; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24). I want to be like Jesus in all that I say or do because He alone is perfect and He alone is worthy to be praised, adored, and worshiped.