Friday, January 09, 2015
Time With God
Reformation Theology reprints Calvinist hero Richard Baxter on "How to Spend the Day With God." Good reading that, but I was struck by how much it reads like Brother Lawrence's "Practice The Presence of God." Brother Lawrence - decided Roman Catholic and Richard Baxter, early American Calvinist and therefore presumably anti-Catholic, and yet both men sound remarkably similar when it comes to the daily life of being God's man.
It sets me to wondering why our theological and even polity leanings leave us so deeply divided. The result we seek is the same.
In wood working, if I wish to make a dado cut, there are dozens of ways to do so. I can use hand tools. I can use a router. I can use a table saw and if I use a table saw there are several kinds of blades or blade sets I can use. I have in the last several years done many of them and I have found that each has advantages and disadvantages. I have found it best to look at the particular wood working situation I have before me and use the technique best suited to the job.
What if we treated theology that way? If we are honest we must know that no theology is completely correct, if it were we would not be the creation, we would be the creator. Therefore, why cling to one as if it were TRUTH?
I wonder if we focus on time with God rather than theology about God things might not be radically different, and better.
presence theology what matters
It sets me to wondering why our theological and even polity leanings leave us so deeply divided. The result we seek is the same.
In wood working, if I wish to make a dado cut, there are dozens of ways to do so. I can use hand tools. I can use a router. I can use a table saw and if I use a table saw there are several kinds of blades or blade sets I can use. I have in the last several years done many of them and I have found that each has advantages and disadvantages. I have found it best to look at the particular wood working situation I have before me and use the technique best suited to the job.
What if we treated theology that way? If we are honest we must know that no theology is completely correct, if it were we would not be the creation, we would be the creator. Therefore, why cling to one as if it were TRUTH?
I wonder if we focus on time with God rather than theology about God things might not be radically different, and better.
presence theology what matters
