Letters from Theophilus

" A Blog About Practical Theology. "

10.25.2009

More Amazing Quotes...


­­“An idol is whatever you look at and say, in your heart of hearts, “If I have that, then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I’ll know I have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure.” – Tim Keller
“When we cannot see God’s hand, we must trust God’s heart.”
"The branch of the vine does not worry, and toil, and rush here to seek for sunshine, and there to find rain. No; it rests in union and communion with the vine; and at the right time, and in the right way, is the right fruit found on it. Let us so abide in the Lord Jesus.” –Hudson Taylor
"We are the Bibles the world is reading; We are the creeds the world is needing; We are the sermons the world is heeding." –Billy Graham
"Though the light shines on things unclean, yet it is not thereby defiled." –Augustine
"Our love to God is measured by our everyday fellowship with others and the love it displays." –Andrew Murray
"The greater perfection a soul aspires after, the more dependent it is upon divine grace." –Brother Lawrence
"Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell." –C.T. Stud
"Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come for miles to watch you burn." –Charles Wesley
"By perseverance the snail reached the ark." –Charles Spurgeon
"If I leave behind me 10 (pounds), you and all mankind bear witness against that I lived and died a thief and a robber" –John Wesley
"Nobody seriously believes the universe was made by God without being persuaded that He takes care of His works." –John Calvin
"God cannot be comprehended by us, except as far as he accommodates himself to our standard." –John Calvin
"Salvation is from our side a choice; from the divine side it is a seizing upon, an apprehending, a conquest by the Most High God. Our accepting and willing are reactions rather than actions." –A.W. Tozer
"The devil is a better theologian than any of us and is a devil still." –A.W. Tozer
"We must meet the uncertainties of this world with the certainty of the world to come." –A.W. Tozer
"They gave our Master a crown of thorns. Why do we hope for a crown of roses?" –Martin Luther
"When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die." –Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.” –Augustine
“An atheist staring from his attic window is often nearer to God than a believer caught up in his own false image of God.” -Martin Buber

10.21.2009

Sanctification

A Garden filled with provision, and a creator filled with manifest love was not enough for them. A simple choice in the form of two trees was placed in the center of that garden: they could choose His way or theirs. A promise of life was all around them - they experienced it, touched it and tasted it daily. A promise of death was also spoken - if they chose to leave this life of perfect provision and go their own way.

Ever since Adam and Eve lost their faith in God, He has been busy drawing people back into faith-full relationships with Him. This faith is not some abstract reality… some truth we profess once to obtain a reward -not of our earning- in some world far away. No, this faith may possess some of these elements, but it is so much more. 

This faith is a relational trust that is lived out in our everyday decisions. It is a choosing within the garden of our hearts: His way or ours. We are Adam and Eve… and as we blame them for the destruction we see around us in our world, we must equally blame ourselves. It was you and I back in that garden just as it was you and I, earlier this week, making the same choice at another tree.

His way or ours?

In my relationships, when struggles arise and arguments surface....when I’m tempted to use force or manipulation to have…my way.

In my needs, when I struggle to keep from stepping back into that habitual failure that has me captivated by it’s alluring beauty, because it offers something -I believe at the time- that He does not…

In my self-image, when I struggle to maintain first impressions and replay countless conversations in my mind kicking myself for saying that one thing…or I find myself soaring in the clouds because of someone’s appraisal or plummeting to the depths of Hades because of someone’s disdain instead of finding my identity in His eyes and through His grace…

In my moments of trial, when I struggle to believe that anything good could come of this situation and anxiety wreaks havoc upon my soul, when my loss of sleep is affecting my functionality because of the perplexities of my plight and peace seems like a distant impossible reality because I don’t believe He’s truly in control…

When I'm not trusting His Provision or His Character...

When I'm blinding myself to His Glory and Grace...
When I'm busy worshiping at the idol of some lesser god in the form of materialism, individualism, consumerism or any other -ism...
When I choose my way and not His way...
  
I may attest to all the right beliefs and think I hold them in my heart, but in these moments, and countless more like them, what good are my beliefs doing me? Am I really believing? Am I really walking in relational trust? Do I really have faith in God? No! I do not! Not in this area of struggle! And in these moments and countless others like them I hear Him calling us back to this simple faith… this simple choice: His way or ours?

10.19.2009

Waxing Poetic...


Dear Reader,

Everyman, in his own mind is Bonhoeffer, Luther and Paul. I see myself in them…in their writings; in the leaving of the old and searching of the new, in the forsaking of tradition for tradition’s sake, and the pursuit of a higher calling; in the rejection by their religious groups and in the acceptance by God alone, by faith. These were men who were hated in their time by many, yet from their time to now, they have become a light to so many more. They cannot be judged by any man; God alone is their sovereign. Our only view of them should be their motives... not their mistakes. When we see through actions and mistakes and catch a glimpse of the heart of someone, we are less apt to judge them. This is a lesson to be learned.

I would that I could leave behind a legacy such as these. What accomplishment of mine will I be remembered for? Eloquent words? Passionate pursuits or revivalist revolutions? A well-examined faith that has discipled untold millions? No. Not for me. I will accomplish no significant thing lest it be by God’s hand. When I hold the pen, my fingers tremble. When I’m given a choice, my ideals crumble. When I’m faced with life, my faith waivers. There is nothing to ground me and steady my aim, save the gospel. There is no good in me, save this cracked imago dei that helplessly wants to do good, only to be overthrown, time and again, by evil. There is no hope for greatness! No, not in myself. If I look elsewhere, I see great men who have shaped history, but they were scoundrels in their own right and fell shorter than any of us like to imagine possible for our heroes. So if hope is not to be found within or without me, what then is left? Where is greatness to be achieved? Where is love to be practiced? Where is perfection to be reached? Nowhere else... save Christ.

This is the good news, that Christ uses the imperfect to bring about His perfection. He works His reconciliation through those of us who are not yet fully reconciled. He brings His message of salvation through those who are still being saved. Just as He loved us when we were unlovable and had mercy upon us when we deserved His righteous wrath, He now chooses us to be His representatives of reconciliation. Oh mystery of mysteries! To what do we owe this great privilege? Christ! And what then do we owe Him? All! Then the weakest and most beggarly of us join humbly in the ranks of Bonhoeffer and Luther and Paul. For He sees us through the cross as loving, perfect, honorable and righteous, and it is in that power that we may stand happily in His presence, and by His power alone, work out His will in this sphere. If we receive any honor it rightly goes to Him, for all we have gained has been by His power alone.

So If I stand in His presence, may it be by His power alone. If I write, may it be His hand that steadies mine. As I face life, with its decisions and struggles, may it be by His grace alone that I am left standing in my faith. And in that glorious day, all our great works will turn into dust in the light of His grace, and I will be no different from Bonhoeffer and Luther and Paul, as we all - the strong, the tempted, and the weak - stand as one in Christ, vindicated by his earthly rejection, forgiven by His horrific suffering, and made alive by His glorious resurrection!

In His Grip,
Theophilus

10.16.2009

Amazing Quotes

Here are some amazing quotes from my reading so far this year...
"The blessing of mission is ours while the burden of mission is God’s." -Jonathon Dodson
The Four G's : -Tim Chester

1. God is great – so we don’t have to be in control
2. God is glorious – so we don’t have to fear others
3. God is good – so we don’t have to look elsewhere
4. God is gracious – so we don’t have to prove ourselves
"All of us are living out the story of our lives and to often we do that unconnected to the meta narrative of our Creator God who has brought us into relationship with Himself through Jesus, and is redeeming his creation even now." -Rick McKinley

"Jesus: the One exposed, ravaged, ruined and resurrected for us." -Tullian Tchividjian
 "An idol is when we turn a good thing into an ultimate thing." -Caesar Kalinowski
 "To be a person of truth is to live before God in the reality He created rather than to settle for illusions, even those of our own making" -Lael Arrington
"God is the expression of the very thing we seek in each other... What we have sought, what we have tasted in part with our earthly lovers, we will come face-to-face with in our True Love. The incompleteness we seek to relieve in the deep embrace of our earthly love is never fully healed." -John Eldridge
 "The Kingdom is to be in the midst of your enemies. And he who will not suffer this does not want to be of the Kingdom of Christ; he wants to be among friends, to sit among roses and lilies, not with the bad people but the devout people. O you blasphemers and betrayers of Christ! If Christ had done what you are doing who would ever have been spared?" -Martin Luther
"It is in the ordinary duties and labors of life that the Christian can and should develop his spiritual union with God." -Thomas Merton  
"He who loves his dream of community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter" -Dietrich Bonhoeffer
"Are we responding to the love of Jesus concretely and consistently in our love for one another?" -Brennan Manning
"Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love." -Martin Luther King Jr.
"Our static, self-centered structures are "heretical structures" because they embody a heretical doctrine of the church. If our structure has become an end in itself, not a means of saving the world it is a heretical structure." -John Stott
"In reality the only call in the Bible is the call to the way of the cross, the way of service, sacrificial love and suffering." -Tim Chester
"We ought not to grow tired of doing little things for the love of God, who regards not the greatness of the work, but the love with which it is performed." -Brother Lawrence
"I want to prepare like an evangelical; preach like a Pentecostal; pray like a mystic; do the spiritual disciplines like a Desert Father; art like a Catholic; and social justice like a liberal." -Mark Driscoll
"The god of whom no dogmas are believed is a mere shadow.  He will not produce that fear of the Lord in which wisdom begins and therefore will not produce that love in which it is consumated….There is in the minimal religion nothing that can convince, convert, or (in the higher sense) console; nothing therefore which can restore vitality to our civilisation.  It is not costly enough.  It can never be a controller or even a rival to our natural sloth and greed." -C.S. Lewis  





10.04.2009

Integrative Theology: Our Need For ORTHOPATHY

Dear Reader,


The term "Theology" literally means the study of God, deriving from the Greek word theos, meaning 'God', and the suffix -ology from the Greek word logos meaning "the character of one who speaks or treats of [a certain subject]", or simply "the study of a certain subject". Saint Augustine defined theology as "reasoning or discussion concerning the Deity."


There are a number of different perspectives on theology and many diverse doctrinal stances held by many different and sincere Christ-followers around the world. The Bible says to "...speak the Truth in Love..." We must strive to understand good theology and truth as God reveals it to us. Sometimes, though, people hold the truth in pride, arrogance, and unloving attitudes ("Our way is right... yours is not..."). This creates "classism" within the Body of Christ. It creates a "Who's in, who's out" mentality. This is neither healthy, nor in alignment with God's heart. Conversely you may have a heart of gold and love people, yet have a warped understanding of truth. We need both Truth and Love... together they are powerful and attract people to Christ.


Throughout time, Theology has been studied and engaged in various ways. In ancient times, the stories and ideas of who God was were passed down and preserved in narrative (story) form. The stories were discussed among teachers and people, along with their meanings and life-applications. Today, many people attend seminaries to pursue degrees in Theology as a form of education. In these settings Theology is often studied in a systematic way within sterile, classroom environments. Where the ancient Eastern mind would explain God through stories, poems and art, our modern Western explanations often break down the whole of theology into finer pieces (called doctrines) to study. Where a Western mind looks for lists, "bullet-points," and definitions to understand theology, the Eastern mind would look for pictures and applicable illustrations pulled from life. Both of these approaches to theology have their benefits.

What I am seeking to understand, teach, and live out an "Integrative" or "Practical" Theology.


I call this "Integrative" for 3 reasons:

1) Theology should be both Systematic and Narrative, integrated together seamlessly

2) Theology should be integrated with our lives... not just a system of beliefs we have agreed to in our minds, but beliefs that have been fully accepted at a heart level and begun to work themselves into our daily lives (Orthodoxy > Orthopathy> Orthopraxy)

3) Theology should be integrated with the whole of Scripture (a balanced perspective, where the doctrines are all in alignment with one another... we must learn to view any doctrine in light of all scripture)


Before we go on, let us define 3 words:

Orthodoxy - "Right Beliefs, sound doctrine, comprehending the truth about God... occurs in your head/ mind"

Orthopraxy - "Right Practices, good behavior, living out the ways of God... Occurs in your hands/ mouth/ body"

Orthopathy - "Right Feelings, pure emotions, having a heart after God... Occurs in your heart/ soul/ emotions"


The Bible requires not only that we speak truly about God (orthodoxy) and obey Him (orthopraxy), but that we love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Doctrine is never an end in itself. The purpose of doctrine is to teach us to love God rightly. Obedience is never an end in itself. Obedience is always the overflow of a heart that finds its satisfaction in God rather than idols. In this way of looking at things, orthopathy is just as fundamental as orthodoxy and orthopraxy.


There are Christians who are all "head-knowledge." Though they may understand deep truths, their lives produce little fruit. Their heart is not 100% after God and their relationship is anemic. They see Christianity as a series of logical propositions and agree to these by mental assent.

There are Christians who are all "heart." They mean well and pursue God with all they are. However, they are easily misguided by false teaching which can lead to a loss of the strong affection they have for God. They also live out of their beliefs, but those beliefs may be as easily pulled off track even though their intentions are pure.


There are Christians who are all "hands." They do many great things for the kingdom, but they often feel they are justified by works. Some of them have very little doctrine. Many of them do their works out of wrong motivations (someone's approval, working for salvation..etc).

We need to be integrated Christians who study the word of God diligently with our heads, believe it with pure motives and an overwhelming, passionate love for God in our hearts, and live out of those realities everyday with our lives.


Many Christians find themselves believing all the right things and trying to do all the right things and still feeling miserable. It is a heart condition. When your heart is overflowing with love towards God, obedience and discipleship flow easily from our heart to our hands because our motives are pure and our hearts are right. When you accept the truth about God (doctrine) in your heart (not only your head) and choose to believe it as more than a simple abstract logical truth, but as an applied emotional belief, it becomes transformational instead of just informational. In other words, it is important for your head, hands and heart to be right... and all 3 support one another.


I would love to hear what you think...


In His Grip,

Theophilus

8.26.2009

Random Thoughts...

Dear Reader,

Here are some life-changing thoughts:

Relationship
...

I AM MY BELOVED'S,
AND HIS DESIRE IS FOR ME.
(Song of Solomon 7:10)

Over the past thirty years I have prayed that passage in soaring 747's, monasteries, caves, retreat centers, and deserted places. I believe His desire for you and me can best be described as a furious longing. If you don't get anything else out of this, I hope you begin to pray that passage. When you take those words personally, I mean very personally, a number of beautiful things come to pass:

  • The drumbeats of doom in your head will be replaced by the song in your heart, which could lead to a twinkle in your eye.
  • You will not be dependent on the company of others to ease your loneliness, for He is Emmanuel - God with us.
  • The praise of others will not send your spirit soaring, nor will their criticism plunge you into the pit. Their rejection may make you sick, but it will not be a sickness unto death.
  • In a significant interior development, you will move from I should pray to I must pray.
  • You will live with an awareness that the Father not only loves you, but likes you.
  • You will stop comparing yourself with others. In the same way, you will not trumpet your own importance, boast about your victories in the vineyard, or feel superior to anyone.
  • You will read Zephaniah 3:17-18 and see God dancing for joy because of you.
  • Off and on throughout the day, you will just know that you are being seen by Jesus with a gaze of infinite tenderness
I am a witness to these truths.

-Brennan Manning
('The Furious Longing of God')


Gospel Intentionality
...

‘A good question to explore as a group is, “how can we make sacred our everyday ordinary tasks?” How can cleaning be made holy? Shopping? Work? Meeting for lunch? Study? And so on. You’ll be surprised at the interesting and meaningful suggestions people will discover simply by dreaming and brainstorming together. Here are a couple of examples: “How can we hallow our eating?” Eat with thankfulness, respect, generosity, and moderation. Eat with those beyond the faith, your neighbors, friends, the lonely, the poor, and so on. “How can we hallow our recreation?” Use the time and context to connect with people, to serve others, to be refreshed, to reflected on God, to connect with creation.’

‘As a faith community, evaluate everything you do – all your programs, gatherings, ministries, and so on. Ask whether you think this is what Jesus would be doing if he were in your context, Is this how Jesus would go about incarnating the kingdom in your area?

-Alan Hirsch
('The Forgotten Ways')


Spirituality...


I hear a lot of people saying they are 'Spiritual.' What does that mean? It has been helpful to me recently, to begin defining 'Spirituality' as 'Faith in Action.' Not just some abstract idea or some quasi-mystical existence or a system of beliefs... but It is when we take our Beliefs and the Word of God and Incarnate them. Yes, It's when were feeding the needy or visiting the prisoners, but it's much more involved than that. Spirituality is how I hold my conversations - How I handle disagreements with my wife - How I choose what to buy at the store - Where I choose to give the time I've been entrusted by God with - What I do when I'm alone - How I model for and train my children.

My Faith is shown through my life - every word & action. What are my words and actions saying about my faith? Am I a truly spiritual person? As I lived out the last day, did my life reflect my beliefs in every way? What areas did your actions not line up with your faith? What areas of my life are inconsistent with my beliefs and God's Word? This is an area for spiritual growth. This is an area of disconnect between your head & your hands; between your faith and your life; between your beliefs & actions. To be a spiritual person is to live before God in the reality He created rather than to settle for illusions, even those of our own making. What is most real is eternal life. Jesus said, 'Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent' (John 17:3).

Spirituality is the path of how we know God (relationship), know eternal life (reality - free from illusions) and know ourselves (recovery...becoming a person of faith... a spiritual person). Spirituality is learning to live a "single" life, not a "double" life of inconsistencies. We learn who we are in the light of God's truth - This is more than acknowledging doctrinal premises - This is believing Truth at a heart level until it begins to incarnate itself into our lives and we are changed as a result. The path to knowing God & knowing oneself is the same: Authentic Spirituality - Faith in Action

-Theophilus


In His Grip,
Theophilus


6.02.2009

Winebibber

Dear Reader,

Here's a great quote to get us on our way:
"A good local pub has much in common with a church, except that a pub is warmer, and there's more conversation."
-William Blake
Alcoholism is a sin. Period. The Bible is pretty clear on that point. We lose control. We become addicted. Something besides Christ becomes ruler in our lives. The Scriptures are plain in this.

Drunkenness is a sin. Period. The Bible is pretty clear on that point. We lose control. We say & do things we would not otherwise. Something besides Christ becomes ruler in our lives. The Scriptures are plain in this.

Alcoholism & Drunkenness are abuses of a substance.

Watching Porn on computers & DVD’s is abuse of a media.

This results in some preachers preaching against DVD’s & computers. They demonize neutral media because it is capable of being abused by people who struggle in such areas.

The same line of thinking is used with alcohol.

Touching the fruit on the tree becomes the sin instead of simply eating it. This is looked at, by some, as a wise approach. However, the result we see in this Creation Poem is that it doesn’t help. The Law stirs up the appetite for sin. Forbidden fruits create many jams.

I have a computer.

I have a DVD player.

I drink alcohol.

(*Disclaimer. Yes. I threw that in for shock value. I also know that your senses immediately got heightened. If you agree with me on this issue, you immediately got excited… “Finally, someone has said it!” If you disagree with me on the topic, you probably immediately felt a tinge of horror and disappointment and you quickly put on your glasses of preconception. You’ll now probably attempt to filter everything I say through your firmly secured set of beliefs. I want to invite both kinds of readers to step outside their emotional subjectivism and presuppositions and momentarily sit down for the ride. I promise I’m not trying to get you to drink a beer with me, but I want you to see through my eyes for a moment.)

I agree with drawing lines for one’s self where there is a loss of control or a developed weakness.

I believe personal convictions should be pursued with all deliberation & diligence.

That aside…

I also believe the Holy Spirit desires for us to grow in our faith.
I believe salvation is not just for the afterlife, but also within this life now.
I believe the goal of mission is ‘to be in the world but not of the world’‘to be not overcome with evil, but to overcome evil with good.’ To learn to live a life tempered with the Spirit. By the Spirit’s help, to walk in a sanctified life where moderation rules our passion and grace & mercy replace judgment. To integrate our beliefs with our actions (where our Orthodoxy begets our Orthopraxy).

When did we begin to diminish the redeeming power of the blood of Christ applied to our lives? When did it stop healing and delivering?
Why do we feel the need, as leaders, to draw general lines for people that neither the Bible, nor the Holy Spirit in their lives is drawing?

I’m ranting. That happens when I'm passionate about something.

"No animal ever invented anything as bad as drunkenness - or as good as drink."
-G.K. Chesterton

I met some Pentecostal friends in New Zealand that described beer with culinary flare, using adjectives like "nutty," “rich,” & “full-bodied”…etc. They loved the different flavors & nuances of beer, like a barista loves the characteristics & personalities of different coffees. I soon realized this was not merely a localized phenomenon. Christians from all over the Western World (France, England, Australia…etc.) who were devoted to sanctification, loved indulging in a good beer.

Retracing our steps throughout history, many of my favorite Christians drank beer & preached adamantly against drunkenness. CS Lewis, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, GK Chesterton, John Calvin, Martin Luther…You Name It!

Where did this anti-alcohol movement begin?

It seems that Billy Sunday, following the trend of the Holiness Movement, began to demonize it through his powerful preaching. America would never be the same.

While many thoroughly devoted Christians all around the world have learned Christian maturity through moderation, many of us here in America have drawn thick lines in the sand… In fact it seems like the lines evolved into walls and eventually into castles, surrounded by moats with machine guns lining the upper walls, waiting to obliterate anyone who would dare step foot near this ideal. When it comes to this issue, you’ll scarcely find a “Come let us reason together” mentality.

"Whoever drinks beer, he is quick to sleep; whoever sleeps long, does not sin; whoever does not sin, enters Heaven! Thus, let us drink beer!"
–Martin Luther

The trend of making inanimate objects into Satan continues today. I’ve witnessed people preaching against VCR’s, Perrier Water, & Red Handkerchiefs. I have witnessed people relegating holiness to every aspect of appearance from hairnets to tassels on the shoes. While these examples seem extreme & ludicrous to most of us, the same logic is employed in the anti-alcohol arguments.

I often am troubled by the parallels between our American church and the devout religious leaders of Jesus’ day.

I remember a famous Christian once saying that if Jesus returned to our world today, it would be the Christians who would crucify him…

I wonder if he was on to something.

It feels like, at times, we are so locked into our ways that we have forgotten how to open our eyes to The Way… and The Truth and The Life.
We are so focused one the noise of our Christian sub-culture…the blazing fire of our traditions, the howling winds of our peers’ voices, the earthshaking racket in our own heads, that we can’t focus in on God’s still small voice, calling us to forsake everything and follow him.

“Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”
-Benjamin Franklin

I will not take the time to perform a polemic for the use of Alcohol with moderation here, complete with chapter & verse. That’s been done countless times. If you want to read something along those lines, here’s a great place to start:

http://www.bible.org/page.php?page_id=988

But, my concern is primarily the legalistic idea behind it all. Here’s a few questions:

What does the Bible really say?
Do our presuppositions blind us?
Are we truly open to God’s truth?
Even when it clashes with our traditions?
Are we reading our own questions back into the text?
Why do we defend this point so strongly?
What is our motivation (pro or con)?
Faith or fear?
God’s gospel or our own traditions?
Who are we trying to appeal to?
Are we following God’s voice or man’s?

Ok, One last quote…

"Whenever the devil pesters you, at once seek out the company of friends, drink more, joke and jest, or engage in some form of merriment."
– Martin Luther

In His Grip,
Theophilus

Setting the Tone

Dear Reader,

I am blogging.
This is a strange thing to me.
Still, I'm doing it... It's needed.
Both for me and for you.

My name is Theophilus.
I love my God with all my heart.
I love His church as well.

Sadly, many people have turned from my God and rejected His Son because his wife can be a tad bitchy at times.

She's moody.
She's cantankerous.
She's sincere in her love, but her eyes wander in the direction of other lovers.
She vacillates between 2 lives: Gomer (Hosea's wife of old) and the Virtuous Woman of Proverbs.

"The church is a whore and she is my mother" - Augustine

This is why I write.

My brothers and sisters squabble about issues, wandering back & forth between legalism and lawlessness, as we all pursue our newly-created hearts' desire to 'live the gospel.'

We all struggle and fall.
We all beat at the air blindly.
We all forsake the cross... and return to it.
It's a cyclical process, this thing called discipleship.

I'll write about issues and doctrines, divisions and unities, displays of love and hate, gut-busting humor and heart-wrenching sorrow, truth & beauty, faith hope & love.

I hope, in the writing and interacting, that we can all come to a fuller understanding of God and one another, until we all 'come into the unity of the faith.'

Until then, let's all walk humbly in the knowledge that God is bigger than all of the boxes we try to put Him in, yet He still chooses to work inside them.

Let's walk in wisdom and love toward each other understanding that (as Tony Campolo says) all theology is, in a sense, heresy because it tries to define the infinite within finite parameters. It always falls a bit short, no matter how true it is. The only true theology is wonder.

Let's seek to broaden our understanding of this boundless God with awe and wonder, fear and expectation...after all, isn't that the beginning of wisdom?

In His Grip,
Theophilus