Tag: theology

Don’t Let Our Labels Divide Us

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date September 4, 2022

May We Be One in Jesus and Ignore What Could Separate Us

We live in a divisive time, with one group opposing another, often in the most zealous of ways, sometimes even with violent outcomes. As a society, we’re quick to put people in a box and label them according to some aspect of their life.

Though these labels are sometimes convenient, and at times even appropriate, more often they divide us and cause unnecessary conflict and needless opposition.

These divisions, however, don’t just appear in secular spaces. They also appear in the religious realm. We put labels on people of faith and use these identifiers to decide who we align with and who we oppose. And to our discredit, we do this in the name of God.

Here are some ways that we let labels divide us as people of faith and followers of Jesus:

Divided by Denomination

First, we divide ourselves by denomination, in both a generic and a specific sense. First, we segregate Christianity into three primary streams: Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant.

Each group knows little about the other, often denigrating them over wrong assumptions and misunderstandings. Yet we all have Jesus in common. This should be enough to unite us and be one in him.

Within Protestantism, we see many more divisions with 42,000 Protestant denominations who distrust each other, criticize one another, and resort to name-calling for no good reason other than to make us feel smugly superior.

This is to our discredit. These manmade divisions take us far from the unity that Jesus prayed for and marginalize our witness for Jesus.

Divided by Theology

Next, we use the labels of our theology to separate us. We elevate our point of view—which we think is correct—and diminish our fellow brothers and sisters—who we perceive as being in error.

With academic vigor, we pursue a right theology. In the process, we overlook the importance of having a right relationship with God. Our connection with the Almighty, through Jesus, is what matters most.

Our theological labels don’t matter. In most cases, our theology wrongly judges one another and causes needless division. It generates suspicion and breeds mistrust. Instead of formulating tenuous theological constructs, we should focus on placing our trust in Jesus.

Divided by Politics

We also let our political views, which carry their own set of labels, influence our theology.

In the United States—and perhaps in the rest of the world too—we see well-meaning followers of Jesus who align with one political party, vilifying their brothers and sisters in Christ who belong to the opposite party.

I’ve heard each side lambaste the other, saying how can someone be a (enter party affiliation) and be a Christian?

Divided by Church Practice

Making an even a finer distinction on our theology, we place labels on our church practices, too, often with fervent passion. Some churches are known as being high churches, which implies the rest are low churches.

There are liturgical churches and non-liturgical churches. Some church gatherings place their focus on the practice of Holy Communion and others emphasizethe sermon.

Then there are musical styles, ranging from traditional to contemporary. We also debate pews versus chairs, women in ministry, and the “proper” way too be saved through Jesus.

Divided by Membership

Beyond that, we divide ourselves by membership status. For some churches—perhaps most—this is an essential consideration. Members are in, and nonmembers are out, be it effectively or legalistically.

But membership in a denomination or local church isn’t biblical. It opposes the Scriptural teaching that as followers of Jesus we are members united in one body, which is the universal church.

The Solution to Labels

It’s time we end our categorization of each other and stop our needless squabbles over secondary issues and disputes that don’t matter to God. Instead it’s time we embrace one another and love one another, just as Jesus told us to do.

We need to live in unity.

Then we can come closer to being united as one, just as Jesus and the Father are one.

It’s time we embrace one another and love one another, just as Jesus told us to do.

Read more about this in Peter’s thought-provoking book, Jesus’s Broken Church, available in e-book, audiobook, paperback, and hardcover.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags church services, denominations, Jesus, membership, theology, unity

Visiting Churches

When Visiting Churches We Must Keep Our Focus on God

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date August 11, 2022

For 52 Churches, my wife and I spent one year visiting a different Christian church every week. What we learned was amazing. Still, I knew the journey wasn’t over.

We had more to do and visited more churches. I shared these new experiences in More Than 52 Churches.

Consider these three discussion questions as we dig deeper into visiting churches.

1. Visiting churches wore us down. Visitors to our churches may share a similar perspective.

What can we do to help weary visitors experience God and enjoy community?

2. Each church’s worship practices varied, and their theology diverged, but the God behind them stands constant.

How can we keep our focus on God and not on our church service and theology?

3. A slight majority of the population are introverts who may struggle more in visiting churches.

Regardless of where we are on the introvert-extrovert scale, what can we do to personally embrace church visitors?

[Read more or start at the beginning of our journey.]

If you feel it’s time to move from the sidelines and get into the game, The More Than 52 Churches Workbook provides the plan to get you there.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags church services, The More Than 52 Churches Workbook, theology

Christian Living

3 Problems Caused by Theology

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date March 9, 2022

An Academic Pursuit of Religious Knowledge Can Cause Much Harm

When I wrote about the dangers of pursuing a right theology, I noted that God doesn’t want us to know about him. He wants us to know him on a personal level. In our pursuit of knowledge, we seek to categorize our understanding of God.

We’ve taken the mystery of who God is and turned him into an academic pursuit. We organize, and we intellectualize. In doing so we risk producing three negative outcomes.

1. Theology Labels

Theologians love to give highfalutin names to murky philosophical constructs in a vain attempt to quantify God and explain who he is. This produces labels for various theological thoughts.

People who study God from an academic perspective will align themselves with viewpoints they like and distance themselves from others.

Using these labels, they determine who is with them and who is against them in their spiritual comprehension of faith (see 1 Corinthians 1:12-13).

People too often try to do this with me. They ask, “Are you a (insert-theological-label)?” They grow irritated when I don’t answer. This is because I can’t.

By intention I’ve not studied the nuances of the doctrine they mentioned. Instead I study God as revealed in the Bible and through the Holy Spirit.

I follow Jesus and strive to be a worthy disciple. That’s all that matters. Seriously. Don’t let theological labels detract from this singular focus that trumps all others.

If we’re all on Team Jesus, everything else becomes a nonissue.

2. Theology Judges

As we put labels on certain theological perspectives, we apply these tags to those who align with them. We judge people based on which camp they reside in according to their set of beliefs.

As a result, we view some people as in and others as out (see Romans 14:10 and James 2:4).

If they agree with the beliefs we hold dear, we accept them. But if they have an alternate view, we judge them as unworthy of our attention and push them aside.

In most cases, the judgments we form by our nuanced theology force many people away. It’s us versus them, even though we all pursue the same God—the God of the Bible.

3. Theology Divides

First, we label. Next, we judge. Then we divide. We see this most pronounced on Sunday morning. We go to church with other people who believe just like we do. And too often we vilify those who believe differently.

This is why Protestantism has divided itself over the centuries to produce 42,000 denominations today. Most of these spring forth from theological disagreement.

Jesus prayed for our unity (John 17:20-21), and we responded by allowing our theological squabbles to divide us. Denominations are the antithesis to Christian unity.

Tool or Distraction?

For some people, an academic quest to understand God is a tool that brings them to him. Yet many more pour themselves into pursuing a right theology as if it is the goal, as if nothing else matters.

They risk having this intellectual path distract them from truly knowing God, from having an intimate relationship with him.

The result is labeling, judgement, and division. This trio harms the church of Jesus, distracting us from becoming all he wants us to be.

Read more about this in Peter’s thought-provoking book, Jesus’s Broken Church, available in e-book, audiobook, paperback, and hardcover.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags church, denominations, Jesus, theology, unity

Christian Living

How Important Is It to Have the Right Theology?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date February 23, 2022

God Doesn’t Want Us to Study Him; He Wants Us to Know Him

When people first learn that I have a PhD and where I did my postgrad work, they assume I’m into theology. Imagine their disappointment to find out I don’t care about the concept or want to pursue a right theology, that I can’t engage in a meaningful discussion about the topic—at least not as they perceive it.

At its most basic level, theology is the study of God. I like that. But as nuances of finding a right theology layer on top of this basic understanding, the subject gets murky.

The result is too many long, multi-syllable words that few people can pronounce and even fewer can comprehend. Turning God into an academic pursuit of the right theology pushes him away and keeps us from truly knowing him.

Relationship Is Key

For many people, their spouse is their most important relationship.

Imagine if I went to my wife and said, “I’m going to devote the rest of my life to studying you.

“I’ll watch you and make notes. I’ll catalog who you are and categorize what you do. Next, I’ll read books to help me better understand you. I’ll also talk with others to gain their insights about who you are. Then I’ll tell others what I’ve learned.”

How would she react? Not well. My singular commitment to focus on her would not win me her appreciation. Instead it would stir up her ire. She would rightfully complain, “Why can’t we hang out instead? I just want you to spend time with me.”

So it is with God. He doesn’t want us to study him. He wants a relationship (Hosea 6:6). Theology keeps God at a distance when what he really wants is for us to know him.

Knowledge Puffs Up

As people pursue theology, they amass a great deal of information. Much of this forms a theoretical construct, turning God into an abstract spiritual entity.

In doing so they gather much knowledge but risk pushing God further away. This knowledge of who God is generates pride. It puffs up. Instead of knowledge, we should pursue love, which builds up (1 Corinthians 8:1).

Education Distracts

The pursuit of higher learning is a noble task, but it’s not the goal. Chasing after a theology of God isn’t the end. It’s the means to the end: to know who God is in an intimate, personal way.

Jesus routinely criticized the Pharisees and Sadducees—who we could equate to ancient theologians. Instead he embraced a simple message when he said “follow me” (John 10:27).

Pursing a Right Theology

Though pursuing a right theology and even having a Bible study aren’t necessarily bad, they can distract us from what’s most important: to follow Jesus and be in relationship with him.

Read more about this in Peter’s thought-provoking book, Jesus’s Broken Church, available in e-book, audiobook, paperback, and hardcover.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags follow Jesus, love, love God, Pharisee, Sadducee, theology

Christian Living

Will You Pray for Us?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date September 15, 2020

The People of Israel Ask Samuel To Intercede for Them

Throughout the Old Testament, the Philistines show up as a recurring nemesis for God’s chosen people, the nation of Israel. The Bible mentions the Philistines 191 times in seventeen of the Old Testament’s books.

In most of these cases the Philistines are doing something to harass the Jewish people.

Today’s passage is one of many such examples.

Pray for Us

The Philistine army advances to attack Israel, and the people fear what will happen. They go to the prophet Samuel and ask him to “pray for us,” to intercede and seek God’s provision for deliverance from their enemy.

“Do not stop crying out to the Lord our God,” they beg, “so that he will rescue us from the Philistines.”

Though the Bible doesn’t specifically say that Samuel prays, we can assume he does. Then Samuel offers a burnt offering to God.

When the enemy army draws near, God produces a mighty thunder and the Philistine army goes into a full-scale panic. In complete disarray, the Israelite army easily routes them, killing many and winning a significant victory.

Then Samuel sets up a stone as a monument to commemorate the event. He calls it Ebenezer, which means “stone of help.” This serves as a reminder to the people of how God worked through nature to bring about a victory for the Israelite army.

Pray for Yourselves

This passage is a tribute to God’s power and of Samuel’s intercession for the people. Yet why did the people need Samuel to pray for them? Why did they need him to be there liaison to God?

They could have sought God directly and personally asked him for deliverance. But they didn’t. It could be that their faith was weak, and they didn’t feel they could approach God.

Another explanation is that their theology was in error, and they didn’t realize they could pray directly to God.

Today, we can go right to God in prayer. Do we do this or ask someone else to pray for us? What does this say about our faith and our theology?

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is 1 Samuel 5-7, and today’s post is on 1 Samuel 7:8.]

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Tags faith, pray, Samuel, theology

Christian Living

What About Spending Time with Christians Who Believe Like Us?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date January 19, 2020

Hanging Out with Those Who Share Our Beliefs May Be Comfortable, But It Isn’t Good

In the post “Can You Be a __ and Still Be a Christian?” we discussed our tendency to judge other Christians and evaluate their faith through the lens of our life and the spiritual decisions we make. But these choices are secondary.

What matters is Jesus. The key, the one essential, is following Jesus. All other concerns dim in importance to this one eternal, all-encompassing truth.

It’s human nature to seek out those who believe like us—just like us. And in our increasingly polarized world, we more than ever seek like-minded people with single-minded fervor, pushing aside those who think, talk, and act differently—even a bit differently.

But when we focus our time only on people who believe exactly as we do, we run the risk of producing misguided beliefs—and then promoting them with unexamined confidence.

I call this spiritual incest, a provocative, yet apt label for an inevitable outcome we should avoid when we congregate only with like-minded people.

Go to Church with People Who Believe Like Us

When we seek a church to attend, we look for a place that aligns with what we’re used to and where we feel comfortable. This makes sense, but embedded in this goal is people who believe like us.

This is what we’re used to and what makes us comfortable.

Yet what we end up with is a spiritual echo chamber that allows us to feel good about ourselves and our choices but fails to produce meaningful, significant spiritual growth.

Instead we should seek a church that will challenge us spiritually to look at our faith, practices, and convictions from different perspectives.

We need spiritual diversity—not uniformity—if we are to thrive and grow into the people God wants us to become.

Don’t seek a church that makes us comfortable—that’s a consumerism mindset.

Instead seek a church that makes us a little bit uncomfortable, that stretches us spiritually, that challenges us to become more than who we are. This is a holistic, spiritual mindset.

Follow People on Social Media Who Believe Like Us

The same holds true for social media. We seek people who believe like us. They support our perspectives and reinforce our choices.

We feel smugly content with their affirmation. Similarly, we push aside those with conflicting ideas because they confront our choices.

We feel uncomfortably unsettled with their divergent ideals. So we ignore them.

I get this. This is my default mode on social media. And I sometimes question if I should be there at all. Yet when I allow myself to truly consider the perspective of someone who believes differently than I do, I grow as a result.

This can produce one of two outcomes. Either I tweak what I thought I knew to produce a more enlightened, inclusive understanding. Or I embrace with greater intellectual honesty what I already believed.

Only now my perspective becomes an examined one and not blindly accepted. Either way I grow.

Read Content from Authors Who Believe Like Us

Continuing this perspective, we tend to only read content from authors who believe like us. We do this for the same reasons we use to select what church we go to and who to follow on social media—of who we hang out with.

However, I doubt that you read my writing because you agree with everything I say. I’ve never met anyone yet who believes exactly as I believe.

I suspect, I hope, I pray that you read my writing because I occasionally challenge you to think of spiritual issues a bit differently, to tweak what you believe to be more spiritually enlightened and inclusive.

And whether you agree with what I write or not, my goal is for you to emerge with a more examined honesty in what you believe and why.

I want to move us more in step with Jesus and who he desires us to become. The goal isn’t to produce uniformity of belief, but to help us grow into the unique disciples he wants each one of us to become.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Tags believe, church attendance, follow Jesus, theology

Christian Living

Do You Hold an Unexamined Theology?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date September 16, 2018

Accepting What We’re Taught Without Scrutiny May Cause Us to Believe Things That Aren’t True

In the book of Acts, Dr. Luke writes about the Jews that lived in the town of Berea. He called them people with a “more noble character.” What did they do to deserve this label of respect? This was due to their reaction to Paul’s teaching.

Each day they listened attentively to what Paul said, and then they studied their scriptures to see if Paul’s teaching aligned with it. They checked to see if Paul spoke truth (Acts 17:11).

We should follow their example.

Seriously.

If we don’t we’re likely to hold an unexamined theology. In fact, we’re likely to hold many of them. Sometimes an unexamined theology will turn out to be sound, but other times it’s incorrect.

That’s why we need to carefully examine everything we’re taught about spiritual matters and make sure we only accept what the Bible backs.

Consider these three examples.

Unexamined Theology about Prayer

My parents and my church taught me three key requisites to prayer. We must close our eyes, fold our hands, and bow our heads before we pray. When young me asked why, I received a logical explanation. By closing my eyes, I shut myself off from distraction.

By folding my hands, I kept them from wayward movement. And by bowing my head, I showed reverence to God. It made sense. I accepted this is truth and obeyed.

Yet I don’t find any of these praying requirements supported in Scripture.

I’ve not found a biblical command to do these things or even a verse that describes people doing them. But I have found verses of people gazing upward into heaven when they pray (such as Jesus in Mark 7:34).

Even though this isn’t a command, it’s more biblical than the three things I was taught.

Closing our eyes, folding our hands, and bowing our head as part of prayer isn’t in the Bible. It’s an unexamined part of our theology.

Unexamined Theology about Christian Life

Have you ever heard someone say that when you become a Christian, all your problems will go away and life will become easy? I have.

I’ve heard it many times over the years, from well-meaning preachers and earnest proselytizers. But this isn’t in the Bible either.

Instead, Jesus tells us to count the cost and be willing to give up everything to follow him (Luke 14:33). This doesn’t sound like an easy life but a hard one.

Another time Jesus says that we should expect trouble (John 16:33). And James talks about us facing trials, as if it were normal. He tells us to accept these with joy and to persevere (James 1:2-4, 12).

Believing that following Jesus will erase our problems and produce an easy life is another unexamined theology.

Unexamined Theology about God’s Provision

Have you ever heard the phrase, “God helps those who help themselves” or perhaps stated a bit differently, as “the Good Lord helps them who helps themselves.”?

Though it sounds biblical and even offers comfort, it’s not in the Bible either. Yet many people, perhaps most people, think it is.

Though this message of self-sufficiency may play well with the “pick yourself up by your bootstraps” culture of the United States, it’s not a biblically sound concept. Instead we’re supposed to seek God first (Matthew 6:33).

Unexamined Theology about Becoming a Christian

Having an unexamined theology about the proper way to pray is of no damaging consequence. However, holding unexamined theologies about Christian living and God’s provision is more significant.

But the most damaging—perhaps damning—is what people teach about how to become a Christian. Many things loudly proclaimed from the pulpit aren’t in the Bible. These include asking Jesus into our heart or saying the sinner’s prayer.

True, these things may be loosely based on biblical teaching, but they aren’t the requirement many people make them out to be.

Jesus never said these things, but what he did often say is “follow me.” (I cover this in detail in my book How Big is Your Tent?).

Yet I never heard a preacher teach that all we need to do to become a Christian is to follow Jesus.

How much of our theology do we blindly accept as fact when there is no biblical basis for it?

We will do well to follow the example of the Bereans who accepted what they were taught with eagerness but then studied the Scriptures to make sure it was true.

When we do this, it will help us from embracing an unexamined theology that is in error.

Read more in How Big is Your Tent? A Call for Christian Unity, Tolerance, and Love and discover what the Bible says about following Jesus. Available in e-book and paperback.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags Christianity, James, Jesus, Luke, prayer, theology

Christian Living

What’s More Important, a Strong Theology or a Childlike Faith?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date August 5, 2018
2 Comments on What’s More Important, a Strong Theology or a Childlike Faith?

When We Focus on Theology We Miss the Point of Following Jesus

A lot of people today work hard to form a correct theology. Almost every church has a theology, be it formal or implicit. They use theology to determine who’s in and who’s out. Every seminary has its own theology as well.

If you agree with their beliefs, you have a chance to graduate. But if you take issue with it, you open yourself up for criticism, condemnation, and even rejection.

Most people and religious institutions use theology as a weapon. They leverage their beliefs to divide Jesus’s followers. They claim there’s right theology and wrong theology. Unfortunately theology is in the eye of the beholder. And everyone has their own.

The word theology, of course, doesn’t appear in the Bible. Faith does. Faith shows up several hundred times, from Genesis to Revelation and most of the books in between.

A Childlike Faith

Though the disciples shoo them away, Jesus embraces little children and blesses them. He says his kingdom belongs to them (Matthew 19:13-15).

Another time Jesus says that unless we become like children we can’t enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:2-4).

This is where we get the idea of having a childlike faith, the faith of a little child.

Jesus doesn’t say, “You have to get your theology right for me to accept you into my kingdom.” Instead, he says, “Come to me like a little child.” To Jesus our theology doesn’t matter as much as our faith, the faith of a child.

Yet we persist in pursuing a right theology, a systematic theology. Yet if a systematic theology was important, you think it would be in the Bible.

Paul would’ve been a good person to write it. Instead Paul talks about faith. He talks about faith a lot, mentioning it about one hundred times.

Our faith, not our theology, is important to Jesus. And our faith is also important to Paul, or he wouldn’t have written about it so much.

Over the centuries, especially the last five, people argued much about theology. They fought over it and even killed for it. Each time they did, they divided the church of Jesus.

Instead of being one, as Jesus prayed, we formed denominations—42,000 of them.

We’ve majored in theology and minored in faith.

We got it wrong, and we need to fix it. We need to stop our preoccupation with theology and simply come to Jesus in faith, just like a child. Then we will enter the kingdom of heaven.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags denominations, faith, theology

Christian Living

Bearing Fruit is Key; Having a Right Theology Isn’t

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date October 8, 2017

In matters of faith, it’s not what we believe, it’s what we do

One of the promises during the modern era was that through the Age of Enlightenment (Age of Reason) we could pursue truth and it would eventually converge on a single understanding of reality. This didn’t happen.

Instead of converging to reach consensus, we diverged to produce disagreement.

Though this is true in all facets of our life, it is perhaps most pronounced in the area of spirituality. Protestantism is a prime example, with our 42,000 denominations disagreeing with one another.

We fight about theology. Then we separate ourselves from those who don’t agree with us.

The sad thing about pursuing a right theology is the inevitable conclusion that everyone who doesn’t agree with us is wrong and headed down a misguided path. Then we separate ourselves and cause more division.

At a most basic level, theology is the study of God. I think about him a great deal. I contemplate my relationship with him. I wonder how that should inform the way I interact with others.

Yes, I think a lot about theology (God), not as an intellectual pursuit but as a matter of spiritual imperative.

To be painfully honest, I must admit a sense of pleasure over the results of my spiritual musings. I hope a degree of humility can replace this hint of pride.

Although I think my deliberations in spirituality are correct and produce meaningful insights, I hold my views loosely. After all I could be wrong.

The reality is that the details of how we understand God don’t matter as much as how this understanding affects the way we live. God doesn’t care about our theology nearly as much as he does our actions.

We need to produce fruit. Jesus says that bearing fruit glorifies God (John 15:8).

This means we need to put our faith in action. The Bible tells us to. James discusses this (James 2:14-26). He ends this passage by saying faith without action is dead (James 2:14, CEB).

What we believe doesn’t matter nearly as much as what we do. May we never forget that.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Tags denominations, faith, humility, pride, theology

Christian Living

Can You Love God and Hate Theology?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date January 22, 2017

Debates Over Theology Cause Needless Distractions and Actually Keep Us from God

My theology is an enigma to most people. It’s an enigma to me, too, but I’m okay with that because I don’t much care about theology, at least not how most folks pursue it today. In some respects, I hate theology.

Theological Discussions

People often want to engage me in theological discussions, but I’m only good for about ten seconds. Though I can talk about God, faith, and the Bible all day, don’t turn the conversation into an intangible abstraction.

God is real, the Bible is alive, and faith is active. So let’s not bog down our discussions in theoretical constructs.

The reason people try to figure out my theological stance is understandable. It’s human nature to want to categorize people. They want to place me in a theological box.

The Downside of Labels

Once I’m in a box I’m easier to comprehend, and then they can choose to accept me or shun me. But I don’t fit into their neat packages, the ones that carry convenient labels.

As they ask probing questions, I can see their heads about explode because my answers transcend the various theological perspectives they seek to insert me into.

They can’t figure me out or how to catalog my beliefs. Do I align with their views? Or am I one of those other people? You see, I don’t fit nicely into any theological camp. I bounce around a lot.

Common Questions That Are Irrelevant to Me

Consider some of their common questions and my impertinent but seriously sincere answers:

Q: What’s your view on baptism?
A: We should probably do it.

Q: Are you pre-trib or post-trib?
A: It doesn’t matter. What happens will happen.

Q: How do you understand the creation account in the Bible?
A: God made us. The details aren’t relevant to the fact that I’m here.

Q: Do we have free will or are we predestined?
A: Yes.

Q: Are you Reformed, Arminian, Calvinist, Baptist…?
A: Isn’t Jesus the point?

Q: Well, are you Mainline, Evangelical, or Charismatic?
A: I’m a little bit of each. Hopefully the best parts.

Q: What’s the best translation of the Bible?
A: The one that we actually read.

Q: What are the essential elements of your faith, the non-negotiables?
A: Just one: follow Jesus.

Q: But what about _______ ?
A: It doesn’t matter.

Study God, Not Theology

I hate theology. I don’t study it. I study God, which is the most basic definition of theology anyway. But I don’t study God to stuff my brain with facts and theories.

I seek God so that I can better know him, more fully follow him, and live in community with him.

Perhaps that’s my theology.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Tags follow Jesus, read the Bible, theology