Opinions the study of God and life and death

Fact verses fiction, truth verses lies, and then there is theology. Theology is the study of God, the nature of God and religious beliefs. It can also be described as the knowledge and belief we have about God. Those of us who have taken more than a few moments to look at theology have come to understand that there are vast arrays of opinions which have been inserted into this study. These opinions are often loosely attached to a scripture or even worse simply attached to another opinion. And still we live and die by our position on theology.

Please do not get me wrong I love the scripture and I believe it, both the Old Testament and the New. Theology is very important but I believe that all knowledge should be based on scripture not my opinion of what I desire God to be. When I come across a scripture I do not like I can either believe I do not understand the passage because “My God would never say that”, or I can seek to understand just what God is saying. It is very plausible that an all knowing God might have set His standards higher than I have set my own. It is also possible that this same God might have a better understanding of human nature than I do and as a result set as a standard, something that as of yet I do not have a handle on why. The greatest reality of theology is this, there is a God and I am not Him.

I expect that there is no way to remove opinions from the study of God. Our own desires will enter into our perceptions and color our readings and influence our studies. Since this is inevitable I would ask that we as a whole might give those who have a different opinion than the one we hold a little grace. The chance that our opinion has colored our conclusions is just as great as theirs. Together we have a greater chance to at least look at the scripture from a perspective that could permit us to see just a little more into the amazing truths taught by scripture. God is so vast it is more than just a little arrogant to believe that we have all the truth and have come to a complete understanding on how God has revealed Himself.

May we all be blessed with the grace to grant others the right to disagree with us and still be loved by the same God we love.

Blessings.