Basis of Theology - Biblical? Philosophical? Or. . ?

[KR Wordgazer]

I'm honored that you have shared so much of yourself with us, Runamok. And I absolutely believe God meets us in the place where we each need Him to. The crucified God as the crux of the justice/injustic dilemma-- that's a beautiful revelation.

I think that ultimately, our theology has to be based on what our deepest gut instinct tells us is true and beautiful. That goes beyond either "bible-based" theology or "philosophy-based" theology. And it's the crux of what Metacrock has been talking about when he says we "realize" God, and that apologetics and arguments for God's existence must take a back seat to this.

[met]

runamok, i often think your posts are often brilliant and that last one rocked. I too feel that deep alienation. Like - wtf? - what am i doin' here??? But maybe I'm even worse since, to me, peeps often come across like some kind of aggressive pack-animal-predator - like we're really just hyenas or something!

I can't figure humanity out sometimes. We're almost enough to make u believe in 'total depravity' - but (it seems) no matter how hard the task is, the task still is what it is . . ..


Anyway, in the kingdom of God, its often - maybe even usually - the outsiders, the loners, the misfits, the misunderstood and unnoticed ones who speak with the loudest voices. So don't stop posting (i hope!) . Take the risks . . . AFAIC, U are one of the best posters around here. . .

[Gwarlroge]

We're almost enough to make u believe in 'total depravity'

YESSSS!

[Gwarlroge]

I think that ultimately, our theology has to be based on what our deepest gut instinct tells us is true and beautiful. That goes beyond either "bible-based" theology or "philosophy-based" theology. And it's the crux of what Metacrock has been talking about when he says we "realize" God, and that apologetics and arguments for God's existence must take a back seat to this.

WE AGREE!

[Gwarlroge]

...With some qualifications. Our deepest gut instincts about truth and beauty could sometimes be wrong, of course--at least we could be wrong in how we think about them. But in a C.S. Lewis kind of way, I think you're right. We want to be happy. We want to see beauty and "taste" it. We want to look at mountains and thunderclouds and wonder at them; and we want to do this because we're made to love and worship God, who is ultimately wonderful.

So in a sense this is Bible-based: we are made to know and love one God, the only God. Apart from the Bible, we couldn't guess which God it was. Without God's help, we couldn't see Jesus Christ as beautiful. We would suppress the truth in unrighteousness and refuse to acknowledge God.

So we can't just say, "Well, it appears that Paul had X, Y, and Z beliefs, and that therefore ...." Nor can we worship a deistic god who just happens to be eternal, invisible, and so forth. We need all of that and divine revelation of the Triune God. The interesting thing is that all of these "bases" for theology seem to go together.

K.R., have you ever read Jonathan Edwards? C.S. Lewis is great on this stuff, too.

[runamokmonk]

hi, thank you, I don't know what else to say at the moment. I'm not sure you want to encourage me though....ha-ha

[runamokmonk]

hi, thank you, I don't know what else to say at the moment. I'm not sure you want to encourage me though....ha-ha

I was joking about that last part. I understood what you meant.

[Metacrock]

I figured.

[runamokmonk]

I also want to say that there's some things about the spectrum I like a lot. I actually often feel good about since it seems I can relate to them somewhat. I saw this guy the other day and he's treating/talking to me as if I am on the autistic spectrum (I still have my doubts though). The first time I talked to him about my hyper-focus and some ideas of mine he eventually seemed to say out of the blue, "sometimes you have to feed the machine". I was almost terrified, I thought, why was he so nice to me before, is he messing with my mind? Feed the machine? Feed the machine? what the hell? Feed what to the machine??? After me going silent he then said, "err, by that I mean your body". I like what he calls preseverating and says I can get better at certain things if I "feed the machine", focus more on details. The first time I saw him I said I don't believe or understand authority and won't do anything that doesn't make sense to me and if you just tell me to do something just because of the position someone is in, I won't do it. But if it makes sense to me, I will. So he's in a position to make everything he tells me make sense. I don't trust social workers or mental health people...ha

[Metacrock]

I also want to say that there's some things about the spectrum I like a lot. I actually often feel good about since it seems I can relate to them somewhat. I saw this guy the other day and he's treating/talking to me as if I am on the autistic spectrum (I still have my doubts though). The first time I talked to him about my hyper-focus and some ideas of mine he eventually seemed to say out of the blue, "sometimes you have to feed the machine". I was almost terrified, I thought, why was he so nice to me before, is he messing with my mind? Feed the machine? Feed the machine? what the hell? Feed what to the machine??? After me going silent he then said, "err, by that I mean your body". I like what he calls preseverating and says I can get better at certain things if I "feed the machine", focus more on details. The first time I saw him I said I don't believe or understand authority and won't do anything that doesn't make sense to me and if you just tell me to do something just because of the position someone is in, I won't do it. But if it makes sense to me, I will. So he's in a position to make everything he tells me make sense. I don't trust social workers or mental health people...ha

I think I'm missing something.I don't quite understand.