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Your religion is nothing more than man’s failed attempt to turn faith into a science

Dan — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 08:30:53 +0000

“Your religion is nothing more than man’s failed attempt to turn faith into a science.” I actually said these words to a theology professor in 2003 shortly before my complete disillusionment with Christianity. I was tired of being fed dead, theological answers to life’s living, breathing problems and experiences. Don’t get me wrong, theology is immensely valuable to us when it comes to defending against heresy and combating error. When properly understood, it can also be helpful in grappling with the problem of evil. But when theology simply becomes a dead system of concepts and loses touch with people’s hearts and souls, we’re in the danger zone. I’ll call this academic theology for the purposes of the blog post, but keep in mind that I am NOT saying all academic theology is bad. I will simply use this term to refer to theology devoid of any practical application to people’s lives.

I recently came across a great article entitled “The Bible is About God’s Character, Not Concepts.” The article got me thinking about some of my own experiences and thought journeys. Here’s some highlights from the article:

“[The Bible is] not about ideas, it’s about people,” … “Ideas were not made in God’s image, people were.” Christians should not imagine that faith is merely about theological description….

People are tempted to pursue a conceptual understanding even of God because it gives them a sense of control amid a world full of uncertainty. But assurance for Christians does not come by way of their ability to describe unchanging truth…. They are secure in the knowledge of God’s character.

Christian confidence lies in a God who came to mankind in Jesus Christ, who loved, died and resurrected for them….

Making a science out of an attempt to understand God may give people a sense of power. Yet, like science, which it resembles, theology as it is done today cannot give insight into human meaning and ethics….

Philosophy cannot address the deepest needs of humankind. That is because human beings are not just thinkers. In contrast, writers of the Bible had a better understanding of what it means to be human. Human life revolves around the story and history….

[For example,] “How do you get to know somebody?

It is not by asking them about their weight or DNA composition. “You ask questions about their history….” That will offer a glimpse into the underlying person.

… People get to know others by observing them in different situations. Knowing people is about knowing their character, which is revealed through their behavior.

In the same way, “we get to know Jesus because we see Him in a whole range of different situations….”

The Gospels, stories about Jesus relating what He said and did, record His encounters with an adulterous woman and chief tax collector, among others. The “bias” of His disciples who wrote the accounts of His life and ministry is not an issue, contrary to contention in some academic circles. That is because every history is an interpretation….

This is so very true. I don’t believe in Jesus as a theological statement, I believe in Jesus because He was a real man who walked the earth, died for my sins, and rose from the dead, demonstrating His power over sin, death and Satan. I love Him because I have had the opportunity to get to know Him as the Word, where I also learn about Him (John 1:1, 14).

Do you think academic theology at times simply masks our desire to control our destiny? Do you think academic theology can obscure human meaning more than aid in its understanding? What are the positive benchmarks of academic theology? What has academic theology got right, and what can we learn from it?

Weekly Wisdom

Dan — Thu, 21 May 2009 23:53:58 +0000

“The Bible’s purpose is not so much to show you how to live a good life. The Bible’s purpose is to show you how God’s grace breaks into your life against your will and saves you from the sin and brokenness otherwise you would never be able to overcome… religion is ‘if you obey, then you will be accepted’. But the Gospel is, ‘if you are absolutely accepted, and sure you’re accepted, only then will you ever begin to obey’. Those are two utterly different things. Every page of the Bible shows the difference.”
~Tim Keller

"Be a heretic"

Dan — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 19:22:45 +0000

That’s the message from Seth Godin in his book Tribes. But not in the sense of choosing to err, but rather the colloquial usage, acting like a leader and ‘standing out’ from the rest. I just read a great blog post over at backyardmissionary.com about this. Some notable quotes from his post (which are from Tribes):

“Faith is critical to all innovation. Without faith its suicidal to be a leader, to act like a heretic. Religion on the other hand, represents a strict set of rules that our felow humans have laid on top of our faith. Religion supports the status quo and encourages us to fit in, not stand out.” p. 68

“Challenge religion and people wonder if you’re challenging their faith. Heretics challenge a given religion (he is using the word broadly to speak of systems and not specifically about ’spirituality’) but do it from a very strong foundation of faith”. In order to lead you must challenge the status quo of the religion you are living under” p. 70

I’d encourage you to check out backyardmissionary.com’s post. One last thought from Tribes:

When you fall in love with the system you lose the ability to grow” p.71

Christ Follower vs. Christian

Dan — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 07:23:09 +0000

Apple launched an advertising campaign you may be familiar with called Mac vs. PC. I stumbled across a parody of these videos called “Christ Follower vs. Christian” that I thought was pretty entertaining. Don’t worry, this is not becoming a video log (vlog), I will still be writing more great content, but some things are best communicated visually, and I want to give everyone at least one more day to digest the “Great Tensions of our Faith” post. These videos are all relatively short, but thought-provoking. Please note I am not trying to bash using the term ‘Christian’ or advocate an ulterior movement, I just think this is hilarious and accurately reflects stereotypes that my generation holds of ‘Christians’ today. As you watch, ask yourself if they appear to be justified stereotypes or not. For more of my thoughts concerning the terms “Christ Follower” and “Christian,” see my post entitled Nonreligious Christian Spirituality.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

It helps to see the original Mac vs. PC ads to grasp the full humor behind this. . . .

For more of my thoughts concerning the terms “Christ Follower” and “Christian,” see my post entitled Nonreligious Christian Spirituality.