Theological debates on fine points of doctrine seem pointless to me when the church as a whole has forgotten how to “love one another.”
The majority of young believes I meet these days don’t even realize how radical Christ’s definition of love was.
Discussion
They don’t even love God. My devotional this morning called what has become of the church “an insurance policy against hell”. I thought that was such a perfect description.
And for the record, I am guilty of this too. I am no saint.
Me either. Just wising up to the fact we may be discussing the wrong things entirely.
I like that phrase too. It does seem apt. Hell was never my motive for being a believer. I wonder how that affects the rest of one’s beliefs.
I agree with you. I actually had this conversation with a Catholic priest when I had to justify why I should be allowed to be married in a Catholic church as a Protestant. I just said to him, “We both believe that Jesus Christ is our savior. The rest of it is just how you acknowledge that according to scripture.” He went completely silent for about 5 seconds and then said, “Clearly you have a faith based background.” We argue over the dumbest stuff.
🤣😂🤣😂
I love priests.
It’s true. I also believe the amount of schism in the church (little c for a Catholic) is a sin. I don’t expect full reconciliation between churches, but we have the same mission! The poor, the shut in, and the prisoner don’t care what denomination it is that feeds and visits them! We should be cooperating in every way we can, which is many!
Amen brotha.
Jesus was anti-theological debate. He was a decentralist that hated centralized ideologies like religions and governments.
He spent most of his time telling individuals they didn’t need those organizations, that they were fine on their own as they were.
You can believe whatever you want about him, few people have empowered individuals against the corruption of centralized organizations and have been radically anti-religious and anti-establishment as Jesus of Nazareth.
Love (sacrifice) can only exist on the individual level, organizations are incapable of morality.
It would’ve been slightly ironic to argue theology with Jesus. 🤣
I don’t know how far I’d carry the idea of Jesus as a decentralist - but I wouldn’t base my opinion solely on the words we know he spoke. I accept the entirely of the scriptural canon accepted by the church.
But that all veers towards debates that I think are better had once we learn to love properly. I whole heartedly agree that it is an individual thing. Organizations are just collections of people. Morality has to come from those people - the organization offers nothing that is not in the people cooperating inside of it.
Lol that’s exactly what they argued with him, all day every day.
We come from very different sources but can end at the same conclusion. I’m not religious and think the Bible is a history book written by humans, but nothing special.
However I’m a student of history and if what was written about him is true then he was certainly one of the most rebellious individuals I’ve ever read.
Love or sacrifice is antithetical to human biology, we are built with a self preservation mechanism and most people act on that self-centered impulse and not towards others benefit.
Asking someone to love is like asking a fish to fly, which is quite revolutionary.
Theological errors can lead to a distorted view of God that can harm a person's relationship to God, and a proper approach to theology can enhance a person's love for God. However, there are people for whom theological knowledge becomes a source of pride, and theological fighting can become a substitute for prayer and growth in love. Sadly, there are accomplished professional theologians who appear to have no actual faith in God, but there are also great saints who were brilliant theologians.
I whole heartedly agree that when the basics are in place, then a deep understanding of scripture and theology is essential for living a well ordered life. I am 110% with you.
But when the foundational values and faith are lacking, it becomes straining at gnats to swallow flies.
It reminds me a bit of that book, “Everything I Needed to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten.”
I disagree that it’s everything we need to know, and I am far from believing that we should remain on milk, as Paul said (1 Cor 3:2) but the milk must be consumed and digested and made a part of us before we grow to truly understand the meat.