Theology: Whether you like it or not!

This is really just a brief challenge to people who shy away from theology.

I think theology is best defined as 'understanding God'. Good theology is entirely biblical, saying only of God what it finds or logically deduces from the pages of the bible.

I'm saying this because I think there's a dangerous trend among Christians to think of theology as dry or impractical. I've heard two main arguments which I'll answer now.

1. 'God is impossible to understand, our minds are too small' - This is a statement which with the addition of one word becomes true. 'God is impossible to understand entirely, our minds are too small'.
The reality is that God has revealed himself to us in the bible and he expects us to use it! There are issues that are difficult to understand, there are complex theological arguments to look at for yourself and determine your personal convictions on, but they're not impossible! Some of the greatest truths about God are the hardest to understand... but the most rewarding to know. They take some mental work, some deep thought, but God is worth it! Theology tries to know God as completely as it can from his word. Don't shy away from knowing God on a deeper level just because it takes work and for you to stir your brain into action!

2. 'I don't want to waste my time with theology, I want to be reaching people with the gospel!' - The passion is great but the truth of it is not. By the gospel, we are trying to introduce people to God... but without theology, we don't know God at all. We are trying to introduce someone we don't know properly ourselves. To evangelise well, we should know God thoroughly! That's not to say we shouldn't give it our all in the meantime, seizing every opportunity with the truth that we have, but we should certainly aim to have a good enough knowledge of what scripture says about God to answer the questions that those we evangelise to will inevitably ask.
The more we know God, the more focused and effective our evangelism will be, even better, the more we know God, the more passionate we will be about his glory, and that is what really convinces people of his worthiness!
Proverbs 19:2 sums this up really well: 'Enthusiasm without knowledge is no good; haste makes mistakes.'
When it comes to evangelism, it's not about quantity but quality. There's a very human pressure to evangelise; theology provides both the ammunition for evangelism but also the fuel that will set you on fire and make that evangelism as natural as breathing!

So how do we 'do theology' then? What does that entail? Systematic Theologies are a good place to start. A pastor or author decides to put down everything they believe about all areas of Christian belief and, with scriptures, states the foundations of their views. As you can imagine, these books are usually pretty big but that's only because they're jam-packed full! That's your material for study!
Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology is a fantastic one and get this... you don't have to agree with it all! You can use the theologies to teach yourself but you can also use your disagreement with them to fuel your own study, in fact Grudem's even contains other options along with why he believes them to be untrue! He doesn't try to hide other opinions although he does say why he doesn't share them.
There are some great internet resources too - Mars Hill Church has done a series of sermons called 'Doctrine' which you can find on their website. You can actually watch the series! Have a bible at the ready and read along, pause it to look for yourself.

Another great way to 'do theology' is to sit round with a group of friends and talk about it. Ask people! Challenge people! If someone says something, ask them to back it up biblically, ask them why they believe it. This is really great for areas where there's disagreement or debate such as creation or the end times. Friends are sometimes the best to help you form your opinions. Every Christian you know is a theologist because they believe something about God.

To conclude on a personal level, I think that we tend to see theology as only engaging our brains but this is the truth - some of the most emotionally moving experiences I've had of God have been looking at theology. There are wonders and truths that will bring you to your knees in awe and worship. Theology has a heart and it will touch yours - there is no way you can expose yourself to the word of God in the deep study of it and reference to it that good theological study requires and not be shaken up by it!
Theology is essential and it forms a stable backbone for our Christian lives.