Why Theology Matters

J.S. Mill wrote at the end of the 19th century that, since religious claims cannot be empirically verified, the best public policy option is one of agnosticism and pluralism in public, with piety and conviction being relegated to private life. This has become the prevailing notion in contemporary America.

Alongside Mill's idea has arisen the postmodern idea that truth is relative, and that truth claims are power plays meant to subjugate people. Throughout history, people who claim to know the truth tend to follow Al Capone's famous maxim: "you can get more with a kind word and a gun than you can with just a kind word." Theology, then, on a postmodern account, is just a power play, designed to give an elite class privileged status, or else merely an exposition of one's subjective ideas.

Standing over against this view is the orthodox Christian belief that Truth exists, is knowable, and is communicable. If Truth exists, and if God exists, then Theology is a category of non-fiction; that is, it describes, and attempts to describe accurately, something that actually exists. 

Suppose you were writing a travel guide to a fantasy world. If the world was a product of your own imagination, then by definition whatever you said about it would be true. But if you're describing an actual place, like London, then your descriptions of it are either true or false. The statement "Piccadilly square is painted green" either accurately described Piccadilly square or it doesn't. 

But now suppose that there are no boats capable of bearing us across the Atlantic and so nobody we know has ever been to London. Who can tell us what it's like? 

The book of Job, the earliest book of the Bible, records what mankind has been wondering about God ever since the beginning:

"If only I knew where to find him;
if only I could go to his dwelling!"

"If only there were someone to mediate between us,
someone to bring us together..."

But the gospel of John tell us that even though no one can travel to where God is, there is One who came to tell us everything we need to know:

"No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known."

"No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father."

And in 1 John it all comes together:

"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God...this is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins...no one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them." (1 John 4:7-16) 

Jesus claims to bring a firsthand account of London. Should we believe his claims? What should we make of them if we do?

That's Theology, the Queen of the Sciences. And if you've ever caught yourself wondering, "What's the point?" then nothing could be more relevant, or more timely. 

Getting with the Program

Socrates is on the record as having asserted that "the unexamined life is not worth living." One of the reasons for this is that unrealistic ideas can often survive for far too long if they remain insulated from reality. Sometimes the kindest thing we can do for ourselves and the people around us is to reveal to them, gently, the unrealistic nature of their desires. 

When I was a teenager, I wanted nothing more than to drive a Mazda Miata when I got my license. I was on the soccer team and fairly athletic, but I was also 6'1" and 250 lbs, and the Miata, to put it kindly, was not designed with those particular dimensions in mind.  When my dad commented that he wasn't sure it would be big enough, I didn't listen, and after months of pining away over the smooth lines, canvas convertible top, and racing stripe, he finally took me to the Mazda dealership. The salesman didn't do as well as my dad at hiding his good-natured incredulity, and when I finally climbed in, everything became clear. 

My legs were too long to work the pedals (and I couldn't yet drive a manual, to boot), my shoulders were too broad for me to buckle the seat belt, and when I tried to get out, I suddenly understood why ejector seats in airplanes were rocket powered. We almost needed the jaws of life. Needless to say, my dreams had to adjust to reality. There was a period of mourning, as there always is, but in the end I wound up in a Jeep- which, as any Jeep owner will confirm, is always a good decision. 

So what does old Socrates have to do with any of that, you ask? Well, part of examining your life is assessing how realistic your goals are, certainly. Big dudes and tiny cars don't mix. But how do we keep ourselves from despair when a dearly held dream is dashed by the cold smack of reality?

We've all had it happen, and some of us fare better than others. But Christian believers have resources available to them that keep them from giving up hope. Ephesians 2:10 reads: "For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." 

That's an incredible statement. It means that if we'll submit ourselves and 'get with the program', we become part, not only of a cosmic dance that steps through the centuries and connects us to countless generations of believers, but of the consummation of our own story. 

Ask yourself: why would the One who loves you enough to die for you, who formed your innermost being and knit you together in the depths of the earth, make your life's work something with which you are incompatible, or, what's worse, something you hate? Sure, maybe you're stuck for the moment in something lousy, but it's changing you, in ways you'll only recognize much later, into a creature who is better able to reflect the glory of your Creator. Philippians 2:13-16 reads: 

...for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.”Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.

Whenever you feel the sting of defeat; whenever the sharp crack of a door slamming shut is ringing in your ears- remember the words of Moses in the desert, the horsemen of Pharaoh in hot pursuit: 

"The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."

The same spirit that led the heroes of old will lead us, too, and will use the circumstances of our lives, even wicked betrayals and pitiful disasters, to mold us into what we were always meant to be.

"The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it..." for "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."