When I last blogged I was trying to get across one of my main idea I have learned on my journey is that we all have a theology of some sort. I don't see theology as a mere study of (or a defining of)'God” because A] God isn't something easily studied or defined. B] once we do d set out to study or define 'God” we then lessen the mystery of the unknown God. Granted we can try to understand 'God”; in fact, I have a feeling that is part of our reason for being but that is merely my opinion. My contention still remains that any real Theology we employ is not is't what we learn [learned] in Sunday or Sabbath School. If that is the case,and I think it is for many Christians who occupy the pews on a weekly basis,then a lot people have a shallow and unreasonable view of God and that reflects in the choices they make in our daily lives. Because how we think about God is reflected in our life choices. ( I have to point out here that I don't think I have an exclusive hold on the TRUTH or some clever interpretation of Scripture. All I have is a desire to be authentic as a Believer and Christ follower- no more,nothing less. I do have a quibble with those who think they have 'God' figured out.... theologians.... because if you figure 'God' out the you out him/her/them in a box.)
Before we go much further there re some things here you have to understand some thing. These are some ,but not all,of my underlying assumptions about Life,Theology, and God. First off, we – Humans are creations of an all knowing, all powerful God, who we are trying to understand who or what God is. Secondly, because we are created we are really spiritual beings captured in space and time. We know instinctively that we are not meant for just this life but something more.
I don't think I am to afar afield here in saying that because I have noticed that many human beings tend to interpret the world around them on how we where raised, the culture that surrounded us then as well as the one that surrounds us now. Our biases, preconceived notions, coupled with our willingness to grow intellectually or not.(I think we have to at least challenge ourselves in that area. A belief not shared by everyone, I know. Of course if you are reading this then I assume that you are not one of them) Using our words,thoughts,and ideas, symbols and imagery,we make language to share our interpretations of the world around us. Religion is one form of language. It is the presence of,or the lack of it, plays into our interpretations. We humans are at our very core of ourselves spiritual people . What we believe shapes how we act. Our beliefs tend to come through in our politics as well as our attitudes towards other people. We write stories, make art, tell tales, type blogs; all in the hope of expressing our interpretation of the life around us. Life is about interpretation. We interpret things all the time, every day. Our interpretations come from our journey on which we discover the Creator and who or what that is.
This does raise some interesting questions. Like first of who is this GOD person. Is He(or She) a person at all? Or some thing wholly other? Do they even care about us humans? How shall we know? Can we even know? Should we even try to know? So I guess I will begin by laying out some of my assumptions about God and theology,and refer to them as 'God Thoughts” since that is what theology is – what we humans think about God and how Life relates to Him/Her/It.
We seem to have the most difficulty not in our differing beliefs but the differing language we use to try to express our interpretations based on our beliefs. I believe that we ( myself included) all have a valid interpretation about the life we know. We just see things differently. That is what makes relationships interesting. Our differences. If we all thought the same life would be boring, unchallenged, ineffective. For example, what if Copernicus or Columbus just went along in life not questioning the traditional interpretations? We would still think that the Universe revolves around the Earth and the Earth is still flat. ( My apologies to my TEA Party friends- sorry to burst your bubble). We should treasure and value our differences. We human beings are try to break out , as it were,by becoming creators ourselves ( I deliberately used this term with lower case 'c' because I believe, or assume, that is part of our human existence being made in the image of God. We try to be creators our selves through Art, Architecture, Theater, cities.)
Lately I have been thinking about theology and how it touches our lives daily. I have come to understand that theology itself is not some dry academic subject but it is something vital and relevant to our everyday living. It doesn't matter if you are particularly religious or not. Theology is not just a study of a particular interpretation of 'God'. Theology is ,however, our understanding of 'God'. We all use a theology- what we think about 'God'. or We all think about God in some form or fashion so this is for any and all of us who have ever had thoughts about 'God', the existence of' God', the nature of 'God'. Because we have all thought about “God” at one time of the other even if we have chosen to believe that there is no 'God'. We might just believe in the general goodness of humanity or that we are just merely dust motes tossed about by the breeze created by an uncaring, unknowable “God' or that Mickey Mouse is ' God'. We still believe. We believe because we, that is humankind, are at our very core believers. We are hardwired, if you will, to believe in something wecause we can simply not believe. No matter how hard some may try the fact remains that we humans believe are inclined to believe. That is something we cannot change. You may want to argue that you someone who is skeptical about everything . Someone who believes in nothing. But that isn't true for no one can be truly skeptical about everything. Nor can anyone really believe in nothing. That is not possible. The fact still remains that we believe in something. That is just how it is.
I am curious,[ I suspect you are too] about why I am here and for what purpose, if any. I imagine that is what one could call a universal question. Life. It is organic. It grows on you, in you,through you. Maybe that is what is important to me. The realizing that Life is all around me. It is Spiritual,Political,Social all wrapped up like a big tangled ball of string. Life touches us on all sides and we have to choose to live it. An author I admire a lot has written that it is all spiritual, meaning our lives, and I agree with him. You may not and that is OK. Life goes on.
Maybe I have passed the point of being interesting and leaped into just being esoteric. My apologies.I am just trying to provide a framework for further discussion within the TC.
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