The Mythology of Theology

As the grave grows nearer, my theology is growing strangely simple, and it begins and ends with Christ as the only Savior of the lost.
~Henry Benjamin Whipple (1822-1901)

I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.  But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.  He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.
~ Jesus, King of The Universe, in John 16

Rather, dear reader, it is a plea.

Listen to Him.  

He speaks into our lives in mighty ways.  He shows us the paths of life.  He makes them straight.  He prepares our works that we might walk in them.  He transforms us by the renewing of our minds. Read it. All of this is in His Word.

This is a plea to quit trying to figure Him out, and simply trust Him.  And then, in learning to trust – begin to obey.  For, it has been truly said that orthodoxy (good theology) without obedience simply does not yield renewal.

Oh yeah, read the Bible (as in a lot; as in a bunch – many times a day).  But when we read it, might we begin to sense that it is Him talking to us and telling us The Truth.  It is not a textbook about Him, filled with truth.  

It is not some text to be put to some test of textual criticism.  Oh by the way, one can do that, and the Book itself will stand up quite well.  The Book itself would be convicted of being true in any court on the planet.  But, that is not the point.  It is not about the Book.  It is about Him.

Our theology must be something that flows from our knowledge of Him, through our relationship with Him.  Theology can not work to get us closer to Him.  He is the One who brings us closer to Himself.

All human theology is but mythology.  It contains (often) great gobs of great truth, but it almost always draws us into two traps.  (1) As we begin to think we actually have a relatively full grasp of Him, the truths we do know tempt us to think we are actually developing some form of righteousness of our own.  We begin to think that – because we know something about Him – He will be more likely to accept us.  (2) Then, the insidious downside of theology is that the evil one will insert seeds of thought along the lines of: “Did He really say?…”, and suddenly our models begin to fall short of the true grandeur of Him (The actual Way, Truth, and Life).  Or worse, our theology drives us off the narrow path altogether.

Get this friends.  Good doctrine is vital.  But, this doctrine cannot be truly learned from a book.  It is His Spirit that teaches us.  He will use His Word.  He might use a book, or a preacher, or a professor, or a song, or a hymn, or a sunrise to teach us – but it is Him doing the illumination of our souls.

Him.