Theology, Not Just Preacher Talk

I was once talking to another pastor about the inerrancy of Scripture (which is the belief that Scripture is completely and totally without error in its original manuscripts) with a group of other Christians present. One of the other Christians said that we were engaging in "preacher talk," and insinuated that this issue was not important to anyone who was not in the ministry.

The belief that theology is not important to the average Christian is blatantly false. Theology is knowledge of God and His Word.  How can we worship what we do not know?  We all have ideas about God.  The real question becomes where did these ideas come from. We can hold to "folk" theology which is just tradition and people's best guesses at what God is like, we can make up what we think God is like or we can study his inerrant Word and determine what God is like from that.

As Joshua Harris says in the first chapter of Dug Down Deep:
"I've come to learn that theology matters. And it matters not because we want a good grade on a test but because what we know about God shapes the way we think and live.  What you believe about God's nature--what He is like, what he wants from you, and whether or not you will answer to him--affects every part of your life. Theology matters, because if we get it wrong, then our whole life will be wrong.

What we believe will eventually be revealed by how we act. To worship God and to live as we are called we must understand who He is as revealed by His Word.

Coming up soon: a resource list for knowing God, and a post about the Jenga Analogy (how mysterious!)