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This is my first ever blog entry so please bear with me if this is rambling or awkward. I need to get used to this whole idea!
So, one thing that is increasingling driving me nuts as I talk with women about theology and bible studies is the idea of practicality. It’s either why is it practical to study theology or take this Bible story and make sure we apply it. It seems to all boil down to application, application, application. While I do agree that what we learn about God does need to have an impact on our lives, it seems that we so focus on how I need to apply this to my life that we lose the important content of the Scriptures, who Christ is and what he did, and try to rely on ourselves rather than the Holy Spirit to effect the changes in our character and relationships.
Before I rant too much, I should say that I see studying theology in a similar manner to getting to know another person. Some people might argue that all I need to know God is the Bible. Well sure, but how do you know that what you believe about God from what you have just read is an accurate representation of the whole of Scripture? To me, reading and studying theology is understanding how the Church over centuries has understood God to have revealed himself in his Word. The Church is not infallible, but she is guided by the Holy Spirit, and I as an individual can come up with some pretty wacked out beliefs about God if left to my own devices.
Think of studying the Church’s position like talking to the mother or siblings or lifelong friends of your boyfriend or husband. They have known him much longer and have insights into his behavior that may surprise you, or explain some odd behavior you didn’t understand before. They know his history, the things that are important to him and why. The Bible does this for us, showing us God’s relationship with his people, how he planned our redemption from the beginning, how he pointed us forward to his Son and his work. But really understanding all that the Scriptures say to us of God takes more than just me and the Bible. We need help putting the pieces together to understand how great and holy, how mighty, how just and merciful he is. We get a good understanding (or think we do) of other people by looking at their relationships with other people besides ourselves. We do the same with God, looking at his faithfulness through the centuries to his people comforts and encourages us in his faithfulness to us today. Theology helps us give categories to that understanding and terminology for it.
And with greater understanding comes deeper relationship. The more we understand about God, about ourselves, about how we relate to God and each other, the better our relationships with God and others should become. And isn’t that the most practical change of all?
This blog came about innocently, but hopefully it will become a useful resource for women (and people) everywhere. I’ve noticed a growing number of Christian women having a presence in the publishing world, but until that reaches the small group of us Reformed women on the West Coast, I thought a blog would be a good outlet to discuss various topics, especially how the Reformed faith impacts women’s everyday lives. Many issues could be, and hopefully WILL be, brought up, so while we learn how to express these, please be patient, and add your comments!
