The Idol of Theology
Man's measurements and God's measurements do not equate.
What is highly valued among man is detestable to God. (Luke 16:15b)
All Christian traditions measure the orthodoxy of their faith and actions by various differing strands of theology.
Man conforms God to mans' own desired religious patterns. This is the purpose of theology; the buttressing of personal positions.
BUT theology proves opposites. For instance theology supports:
- homosexuality is legitimate or is immoral,
- women are permitted to preach or not at all, and
- Genesis 1-11 is fiction or Genesis 1-11 is fact.
And so this list can continue ad infinitum (only limited by the scholars' imaginations), for the study of theology is a construct of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil. That is why there will always be two sides - the 'good' side and the 'evil' side.
Theology is like statistics - it can be tortured to confess to anything, but righteousness cannot.
There is only one righteous and straight path, but there are countless fine and also twisted paths to theology.
There are so many theological rabbit holes that never lead to the manifest presence of God. ~ A. W. Tozer
We learn theology and we think we gain holiness, but righteousness is the reward of the humble, the broken, the meek and the poor in spirit - not necessarily the student or the academic.
God measures lives by the rule of righteousness. He seeks a disciple's closest familiarity with it.
Sound theology made many a good man an even better fault finder.
Theology has become the arbiter of truth when it cannot be the guarantor of truth.
From ignorance theology is elevated as the Bible's/Christian's measure to life - but it is not God's and neither should it be His disciples'. (N.B. - Theology is never to be placed above the Bible for the exploration of truth.)
Righteousness will be the sceptre of your kingdom. (Hebrews 1:8b)
God is now calling for a new generation of disciples to seek His righteousness alone; to measure their lives by it. This is the Divine hand pointing towards Spiritual Ambition. It is the journey of the heart and not a matter of the head.
Today's Soul Snippet:
"We fashion ourselves into the image of those we seek approval from." ~ Michael Cartwright
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