Welcome to Gut Theology
This is a blog mainly for those who wish to take intentional steps into the theological arena. All of us have a theology, we like to call it our "Gut" theology. What you think about God, the Church, what it means to be human, all comes from somewhere, but the question is where? Most of us haven't explored theology, nor have we been courageous enough to question our gut instincts and see how they compare to other people's gut instincts. Now, not all of our gut stuff is bad. Some of us have very nice guts, others' extend further than necessary. They all rumble when hungry, and can feel full when we try to take too much in. We are hoping that your hunger for God will be met, but you won't be overwhelmed by all the stuff we attempt to wrap our minds around.
Theologically, the gut has great importance. You may remember stories where people's hearts were hardened, like Pharaoh's of Egypt. The ancient Hebrews believed that the heart is where all sound decisions are to be made because the heart is midway between your gut and your brain. The heart was the place that your reason met your emotions and passion and fused the two into something powerful. So the hardening of the heart means that these two could never meet, rendering one cold and rational, or passionately irrational! Our hope is that a discussion of theology produces passionate ideas and thoughtful Christians who have the guts to live out what they truly believe.
Peace,
Pastor Adam
Theologically, the gut has great importance. You may remember stories where people's hearts were hardened, like Pharaoh's of Egypt. The ancient Hebrews believed that the heart is where all sound decisions are to be made because the heart is midway between your gut and your brain. The heart was the place that your reason met your emotions and passion and fused the two into something powerful. So the hardening of the heart means that these two could never meet, rendering one cold and rational, or passionately irrational! Our hope is that a discussion of theology produces passionate ideas and thoughtful Christians who have the guts to live out what they truly believe.
Peace,
Pastor Adam
Why Talk about Theology?
As we began our study last night each of the co-leaders presented on the question: Why Talk about Theology? Each answer will be posted here soon...
We talk about theology because theology is talking at its core. The word comes from the Greek--theos meaning God, and logos meaning word. So theology is literally: God-talk. The question is what kind of talking are we talking about here? Are we talking about God as if God is distant or absent, are we talking with God as in God being close to us, perhaps we are speaking of God to someone who does not yet know of God, or, quite honestly, sometimes when we do theology we talk around God, because the stuff we are thinking about is too much for us to accept.
Every one of us has a theology, even if we could not articulate it when asked. We call this latent theology or gut instinct theology. You can attempt to understand what your gut theology is by answering the questions, who is God? or who is the Holy Spirit, or why go to church? (Without the help of a book, pastor, or wikipedia!) Whatever you have within you to answer those questions is your latent theology, and, honestly, it is how you think about and act out your faith, whether you like it or not.
Latent theology does not need to remain latent and subconscious, and this is the first reason to talk about theology--to get all this stuff that is within us to the surface so we can examine it, think about it, and decide what to do with it. For some ideas this will be difficult, for others healing, and for others it will be joyfully freeing. At some point everyone who undertakes a study of theology has a crisis of faith, throws the book across the room and storms away furious at how seemingly ignorant other people can be, or (the on the other side of this coin) how seemingly ignorant you were. For this reason talking about theology is not something we teach our young directly, rather theology is for those who have found a level of maturity in their faith and are willing to go deeper into the love and joy of God, even if it requires a bit of struggle along the way.
That is ultimately why we talk about theology, so that our faith becomes even more rich, deep, and (hopefully) joyful. Many will come to theology looking for answers that are complete and finished, tidy and neat little boxes into which we can put God. Most, however, will encounter theology as a study that leads not to simple answers, but wonderful mysteries. Many will find that theology offers not answers to guide one through life, but questions to illumine the path each step of the way. For this reason I like to think of theology as a great mystery novel, you know the kind. The end was a complete surprise, but you feel that you should have seen it coming all along. All the pieces you had been holding on to, wondering how they all connected kept driving you forward in your search deeper and deeper into the mystery. Along the way there is risk, struggle, meeting of new friends and allies, and probably some thrilling adventure, but it is the seeking that keeps you going. Because honestly, we do not know how this story of God and humanity will find its end, completion, and fulfillment, but along the way we have been given clues, glimpses of truth that are intriguing enough that people talk about them for their whole lives.
We talk about theology because it helps us understand and find peace with life’s big questions remaining as big questions. And yet we find that we are not alone in asking the questions anyway, for faith seeks understanding, and we have a great number of faith-full traveling companions with whom to talk along the way.
Peace,
Adam
We talk about theology because theology is talking at its core. The word comes from the Greek--theos meaning God, and logos meaning word. So theology is literally: God-talk. The question is what kind of talking are we talking about here? Are we talking about God as if God is distant or absent, are we talking with God as in God being close to us, perhaps we are speaking of God to someone who does not yet know of God, or, quite honestly, sometimes when we do theology we talk around God, because the stuff we are thinking about is too much for us to accept.
Every one of us has a theology, even if we could not articulate it when asked. We call this latent theology or gut instinct theology. You can attempt to understand what your gut theology is by answering the questions, who is God? or who is the Holy Spirit, or why go to church? (Without the help of a book, pastor, or wikipedia!) Whatever you have within you to answer those questions is your latent theology, and, honestly, it is how you think about and act out your faith, whether you like it or not.
Latent theology does not need to remain latent and subconscious, and this is the first reason to talk about theology--to get all this stuff that is within us to the surface so we can examine it, think about it, and decide what to do with it. For some ideas this will be difficult, for others healing, and for others it will be joyfully freeing. At some point everyone who undertakes a study of theology has a crisis of faith, throws the book across the room and storms away furious at how seemingly ignorant other people can be, or (the on the other side of this coin) how seemingly ignorant you were. For this reason talking about theology is not something we teach our young directly, rather theology is for those who have found a level of maturity in their faith and are willing to go deeper into the love and joy of God, even if it requires a bit of struggle along the way.
That is ultimately why we talk about theology, so that our faith becomes even more rich, deep, and (hopefully) joyful. Many will come to theology looking for answers that are complete and finished, tidy and neat little boxes into which we can put God. Most, however, will encounter theology as a study that leads not to simple answers, but wonderful mysteries. Many will find that theology offers not answers to guide one through life, but questions to illumine the path each step of the way. For this reason I like to think of theology as a great mystery novel, you know the kind. The end was a complete surprise, but you feel that you should have seen it coming all along. All the pieces you had been holding on to, wondering how they all connected kept driving you forward in your search deeper and deeper into the mystery. Along the way there is risk, struggle, meeting of new friends and allies, and probably some thrilling adventure, but it is the seeking that keeps you going. Because honestly, we do not know how this story of God and humanity will find its end, completion, and fulfillment, but along the way we have been given clues, glimpses of truth that are intriguing enough that people talk about them for their whole lives.
We talk about theology because it helps us understand and find peace with life’s big questions remaining as big questions. And yet we find that we are not alone in asking the questions anyway, for faith seeks understanding, and we have a great number of faith-full traveling companions with whom to talk along the way.
Peace,
Adam
Why Discuss Theology?
The word “theology” literally means “God” (Theo) “Talk” (logy) or “God-words,” and I remember getting to a point in my life (somewhere in the middle of graduate school) when I was completely fed up with talking about God. I was just plain sick of talking about faith, church, grace, humanity, creation, salvation, sin, sanctification, Spirit, God, Jesus—I had had enough. Sure, it used to be interesting, but hadn’t we covered it already? Hadn’t we used enough words? Was it possible that we were talking about the relationship between humanity and God again? Wasn’t there something better we could be doing with our time?
Now, as a pastor, I probably think and talk about these subjects more than most people, but in spite of this little fact, I think that two questions beg to be answered.
Why was I so tired of talking about theology?
Why is it important to discuss it at all? Why does it matter?
To be honest, I was tired and looking for easy answers—brief paragraphs that could describe who God was, what it meant to be a person of faith, and how to be church together. I wanted something simple to define, and even easier to apply. Now, I was right about one thing—our discussions of theology should be applied. If our words and all our talk about God and faith do not find some kind of concrete, lived-out reality, then all our words—no matter how beautiful and deep—are actually empty. They ring hollow in our lives. But God is infinite. God is a mystery. God’s reality and ways of doing things are beyond us, and no matter how much we try or talk or think, we will never fully understand or wrap our minds around God. We will never get to the end of our words about God. Which means that there will never be easy answers; amidst the glimpses of truth we see, there will always be some paradox and some ambiguity and a few unanswered questions that caused blurred vision. There will always have more questions, and we will always have more God-talk.
So why discuss it at all, especially if there’s no end in sight?
Because when we talk about God, we are not hamsters running on a wheel—working hard, but never getting anywhere. We are not running around in endless circles. Instead, it’s much more like a spiral—and every time we come around to talking about God or faith or the church or what it means to be human or the bible, it’s not so much that the core of what those things are have changed, but we have. In each season of our lives, we come back around to theology, and discover something new, something more. We have met new people, developed new relationships, found ourselves in different places, learned new things, experienced hardship or anxiety or loss, joy or deep satisfaction. And all these things have changed us—for good and for ill. If we don’t talk about God in the midst of it, then all those important changes in our lives do not have any bearing on our relationship with God; God is left out of our real lives, and we are left without any real foundation on which to measure these changes. That’s why it matters. That’s why we continue to come back around to talk about God (and all the other related topics)—what it means to be saved, or how we grow in our faith, or what sin is, or what it means to “do justice, and love mercy, and walk humbly with our God” (Micah 6:8). Because God is the source of our life, and the measure by which we find meaning in it.
- Amy
“All our steps are ordered by the Lord; how then can we understand our own ways?... the human spirit is the lamp of the Lord, searching every innermost part.” – Proverbs 20:24, 27.
Now, as a pastor, I probably think and talk about these subjects more than most people, but in spite of this little fact, I think that two questions beg to be answered.
Why was I so tired of talking about theology?
Why is it important to discuss it at all? Why does it matter?
To be honest, I was tired and looking for easy answers—brief paragraphs that could describe who God was, what it meant to be a person of faith, and how to be church together. I wanted something simple to define, and even easier to apply. Now, I was right about one thing—our discussions of theology should be applied. If our words and all our talk about God and faith do not find some kind of concrete, lived-out reality, then all our words—no matter how beautiful and deep—are actually empty. They ring hollow in our lives. But God is infinite. God is a mystery. God’s reality and ways of doing things are beyond us, and no matter how much we try or talk or think, we will never fully understand or wrap our minds around God. We will never get to the end of our words about God. Which means that there will never be easy answers; amidst the glimpses of truth we see, there will always be some paradox and some ambiguity and a few unanswered questions that caused blurred vision. There will always have more questions, and we will always have more God-talk.
So why discuss it at all, especially if there’s no end in sight?
Because when we talk about God, we are not hamsters running on a wheel—working hard, but never getting anywhere. We are not running around in endless circles. Instead, it’s much more like a spiral—and every time we come around to talking about God or faith or the church or what it means to be human or the bible, it’s not so much that the core of what those things are have changed, but we have. In each season of our lives, we come back around to theology, and discover something new, something more. We have met new people, developed new relationships, found ourselves in different places, learned new things, experienced hardship or anxiety or loss, joy or deep satisfaction. And all these things have changed us—for good and for ill. If we don’t talk about God in the midst of it, then all those important changes in our lives do not have any bearing on our relationship with God; God is left out of our real lives, and we are left without any real foundation on which to measure these changes. That’s why it matters. That’s why we continue to come back around to talk about God (and all the other related topics)—what it means to be saved, or how we grow in our faith, or what sin is, or what it means to “do justice, and love mercy, and walk humbly with our God” (Micah 6:8). Because God is the source of our life, and the measure by which we find meaning in it.
- Amy
“All our steps are ordered by the Lord; how then can we understand our own ways?... the human spirit is the lamp of the Lord, searching every innermost part.” – Proverbs 20:24, 27.
Why should we talk about theology?
There is little difference between what we call theology, philosophy, or worldview—each of us has our own perspective, and even if we don’t have a systematic, multivolume, detailed position, the way we live can indicate how we think God and the world operate. Of course, there are many different theologies: Jewish, Muslim, a-theology, etc. So what is Christian theology?
Theology is important because we cannot separate it from life—theology shapes how we live and talk, but at the same time our experiences shape our theology. If I read from the Bible that Jesus cared about social justice (which clearly he did), that will influence my actions. If I suffer from traumatic experiences, that could influence how I view the nature of God.
While the questions asked in theology might stay the same (
The Idea of Revelation
Where one begins a discussion of theology is an interesting question in and of itself. Should one perhaps begin with God? After all God does precede everything, perhaps we should go in chronological order! As Christians we might like to begin with Jesus and from him work our way to discussions of God, the church, and salvation. Still others might like to be creative and begin with eschatology (the study of the last things) because once we know where we are heading we understand some of the reasons for why things are the way they are now. We, however, decided to begin with revelation: how we know God. This seemed an appropriate place to start because we needed to first have a discussion about how we can know that there is a God out there to talk about. So here it goes. What follows is a brief introduction to the idea of revelation and then we will break it down a little bit more. --peace, Adam
Okay, so if there is a God and we say there is a God, how do we know what we are saying is true? How do you know there is a God in the first place? Were we born knowing a God and then as we get older some of us succumb to amnesia? Or do we come to realize there is a God sometime over our lives? How is it that I am so convinced that God exists and others are so convinced that God does NOT exist? How is it that people can believe in the same God and have completely different ideas about that God and differing (even sometimes conflicting) experiences of God?
When it comes to talking about how we know God we usually begin with two basic routes: Revelation and apologetics. One is the top down model and the other is from the bottom up. Apologetics is when humans defend the existence of God, or defend some aspect of our faith in God. It begins with us humans down here and is designed to convince someone of a God up there. Revelation begins with God and descends to humanity. It is God initiated communication. The problem with the idea of revelation is that sometimes you have real and true communication from God, and other times you have crazy people saying they have heard God speak (or completely normal people claiming they have heard God speak in order to manipulate you into doing what they want—this happens all the time and we call it the Holy Spirit Trump card). When someone claims that God told them to do something, or that God wants them to deliver a message how do we know it was truly God who was speaking and not some ulterior motive?
Also, when God reveals Godself, who/what is it that God reveals? When Moses asked what God’s name was, God said, “I am who I am,” which does not satisfy our longing for simple answers. Does God reveal specific knowledge, or is God’s revelation perhaps a general awareness that God does exist? Does God’s revelation, reveal something that we didn’t previously know, or does it simply clear up that which was before confusing? Perhaps the revelation of God is simply God saying “I am here with you.” revealing the presence of God. Or maybe God reveals to us that we cannot fully know God, that what is revealed to us is that God is ultimately a mystery, and that, at least for now, we see only in part.
Finally, when God reveals something, why does God do so? It seems obvious to us that God reveals some things, but not everything. The problem of evil is a classic example. Why would God allow evil things to happen to good people? Of all the people, Job is the one who had the right to demand such an answer from God on this topic, but God chose not to reveal to him an answer. Yet, the classic text John 3:16 is about the desire for God to reveal Godself and provides us with a pretty good reason why: For God so loved the world that he sent his only Son, that whoever believed in him shall not die but have eternal life. So God loves us and because of that wants to be known by us.
When it comes to the idea of revelation we can attempt to have a discussion about it from five different perspectives: Natural revelation, Scripture, Reason, Tradition, and Religious Experience. Depending on your own upbringing and religious education, you may have had one or more of these emphasized over the other. Within each is both general revelation and specific revelation. General revelation, as you might guess, simply reveals, generally, that there is a God. Specific revelation reveals something specific about God.
We shall begin with a brief discussion of Natural Revelation...
Okay, so if there is a God and we say there is a God, how do we know what we are saying is true? How do you know there is a God in the first place? Were we born knowing a God and then as we get older some of us succumb to amnesia? Or do we come to realize there is a God sometime over our lives? How is it that I am so convinced that God exists and others are so convinced that God does NOT exist? How is it that people can believe in the same God and have completely different ideas about that God and differing (even sometimes conflicting) experiences of God?
When it comes to talking about how we know God we usually begin with two basic routes: Revelation and apologetics. One is the top down model and the other is from the bottom up. Apologetics is when humans defend the existence of God, or defend some aspect of our faith in God. It begins with us humans down here and is designed to convince someone of a God up there. Revelation begins with God and descends to humanity. It is God initiated communication. The problem with the idea of revelation is that sometimes you have real and true communication from God, and other times you have crazy people saying they have heard God speak (or completely normal people claiming they have heard God speak in order to manipulate you into doing what they want—this happens all the time and we call it the Holy Spirit Trump card). When someone claims that God told them to do something, or that God wants them to deliver a message how do we know it was truly God who was speaking and not some ulterior motive?
Also, when God reveals Godself, who/what is it that God reveals? When Moses asked what God’s name was, God said, “I am who I am,” which does not satisfy our longing for simple answers. Does God reveal specific knowledge, or is God’s revelation perhaps a general awareness that God does exist? Does God’s revelation, reveal something that we didn’t previously know, or does it simply clear up that which was before confusing? Perhaps the revelation of God is simply God saying “I am here with you.” revealing the presence of God. Or maybe God reveals to us that we cannot fully know God, that what is revealed to us is that God is ultimately a mystery, and that, at least for now, we see only in part.
Finally, when God reveals something, why does God do so? It seems obvious to us that God reveals some things, but not everything. The problem of evil is a classic example. Why would God allow evil things to happen to good people? Of all the people, Job is the one who had the right to demand such an answer from God on this topic, but God chose not to reveal to him an answer. Yet, the classic text John 3:16 is about the desire for God to reveal Godself and provides us with a pretty good reason why: For God so loved the world that he sent his only Son, that whoever believed in him shall not die but have eternal life. So God loves us and because of that wants to be known by us.
When it comes to the idea of revelation we can attempt to have a discussion about it from five different perspectives: Natural revelation, Scripture, Reason, Tradition, and Religious Experience. Depending on your own upbringing and religious education, you may have had one or more of these emphasized over the other. Within each is both general revelation and specific revelation. General revelation, as you might guess, simply reveals, generally, that there is a God. Specific revelation reveals something specific about God.
We shall begin with a brief discussion of Natural Revelation...
Natural Revelation
When you stand on a mountain top, feel the force of a thunderstorm, or perhaps find yourself gazing out over the endless sea, you may simply know somewhere deep inside of you that there is a God. To quote the hymn, you see the stars and hear the rolling thunder, and think, “My God how great thou art!” The idea of natural revelation is that God is revealed through God’s creation. After all, since God created the world wouldn’t it be natural for the world to bear the marks of divine handiwork? Just like each artist has their own distinct style for those with discerning eyes, those with the eyes to see God’s creative flair see it in the masterpiece of creation.
But to reveal that there is an artist, does not necessarily mean you know anything about that artist without studying the art in depth. While you may not get to speak to the artist directly, studying their art offers you a glimpse into their lives, hearts, personalities, and beliefs. Yet, getting to know someone in this indirect way never offers a full picture of who that person is, and the same is true about God. Nature or creation only reveals God in part. So what might it reveal?
A good starting place is the beauty of nature. There seems to be something within many of us that responds to the beauty of flowers, the peace of a breeze, or the awe-inspiring storm on a sea. It is this beauty that we find ourselves immersed in that we attempt to name as only possible if it came from a beautiful source. After all, the world could be ugly, desolate, and grey. Yet it is full of color, life, mystery, power, and grandeur. It is beautiful, and while we may have lengthy conversations on what “beauty” is, nonetheless many of us would call much of creation beautiful.
Furthermore, creation seems to have some kind of integrity and order behind it and undergirding it. Somehow it all works together and doesn’t unravel into complete chaos. Scientists have found great ways of describing the orderly way in which the cosmos works and how ants work. And the more science progresses the more it realizes how well thought out and brilliant the design is.
Finally, creation seems to offer up a multitude of lessons for living life. Jesus used natural examples such as consider the lilies of the field and the birds of the air. The Psalmist describes the Lord as our shepherd, meaning we have something to learn about faith from sheep! Isaiah even describes a time in which the lion will lay down with the lamb pointing to a natural lesson on reconciliation. And there are many many more. We can talk about the life of faith as a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, or describe the Holy Trinity using a three-leaf clover. We can even try to understand infinity by delving into the number pi, or studying the endless unique fractals that fall every winter in the form of snowflake.
Questions arise: Does creation actually reveal a God or an artist behind it all, or is it simply human imagination projecting something on to creation that does not actually exist? Why is it that some can see a storm and experience God and others see it simply as a source of fear? Is a caterpillar really an inspiration for the life of faith or is it simply an animal acting according to its instincts that have been passed down to it genetically for generations? Does it have to be one or the other?
And, natural revelation has been used to harm others. Many have claimed that the order creation seems to have proves a superiority of some over others (often this argument is made by those wanting to maintain their power and superiority). Some interpretations of the natural order of creation have been used to make false and oppressive arguments about women being the lesser sex, white people being the best, or humans as a whole being able to use the non-human creation to whatever ends they desire in the name of God. It seems that creation can reveal something to us, but we must thoughtfully think through what it is we are receiving and discern if it is from God.
Natural revelation cannot stand on its own, it points us in the direction of God, but we need other sources of revelation to help us understand what we are experiencing in nature. And so we turn to reason and ask how it might reveal to us even more about God.
But to reveal that there is an artist, does not necessarily mean you know anything about that artist without studying the art in depth. While you may not get to speak to the artist directly, studying their art offers you a glimpse into their lives, hearts, personalities, and beliefs. Yet, getting to know someone in this indirect way never offers a full picture of who that person is, and the same is true about God. Nature or creation only reveals God in part. So what might it reveal?
A good starting place is the beauty of nature. There seems to be something within many of us that responds to the beauty of flowers, the peace of a breeze, or the awe-inspiring storm on a sea. It is this beauty that we find ourselves immersed in that we attempt to name as only possible if it came from a beautiful source. After all, the world could be ugly, desolate, and grey. Yet it is full of color, life, mystery, power, and grandeur. It is beautiful, and while we may have lengthy conversations on what “beauty” is, nonetheless many of us would call much of creation beautiful.
Furthermore, creation seems to have some kind of integrity and order behind it and undergirding it. Somehow it all works together and doesn’t unravel into complete chaos. Scientists have found great ways of describing the orderly way in which the cosmos works and how ants work. And the more science progresses the more it realizes how well thought out and brilliant the design is.
Finally, creation seems to offer up a multitude of lessons for living life. Jesus used natural examples such as consider the lilies of the field and the birds of the air. The Psalmist describes the Lord as our shepherd, meaning we have something to learn about faith from sheep! Isaiah even describes a time in which the lion will lay down with the lamb pointing to a natural lesson on reconciliation. And there are many many more. We can talk about the life of faith as a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, or describe the Holy Trinity using a three-leaf clover. We can even try to understand infinity by delving into the number pi, or studying the endless unique fractals that fall every winter in the form of snowflake.
Questions arise: Does creation actually reveal a God or an artist behind it all, or is it simply human imagination projecting something on to creation that does not actually exist? Why is it that some can see a storm and experience God and others see it simply as a source of fear? Is a caterpillar really an inspiration for the life of faith or is it simply an animal acting according to its instincts that have been passed down to it genetically for generations? Does it have to be one or the other?
And, natural revelation has been used to harm others. Many have claimed that the order creation seems to have proves a superiority of some over others (often this argument is made by those wanting to maintain their power and superiority). Some interpretations of the natural order of creation have been used to make false and oppressive arguments about women being the lesser sex, white people being the best, or humans as a whole being able to use the non-human creation to whatever ends they desire in the name of God. It seems that creation can reveal something to us, but we must thoughtfully think through what it is we are receiving and discern if it is from God.
Natural revelation cannot stand on its own, it points us in the direction of God, but we need other sources of revelation to help us understand what we are experiencing in nature. And so we turn to reason and ask how it might reveal to us even more about God.
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