This Thursday evening I’ve been invited to Theology on Tap, a roundtable discussion at our local pub for people of all religious persuasions.
I used to love/hate theological debates because there was an unspoken perceived notion that whoever wins the debate gets on the good side of God.
The truth about theological debates is that they don’t make up my identity. My relationship with Christ does.
Some people are transactional with God, others are relational. I was transactional with God for most of my life. What does it mean to be transactional with God? It means that if I do this and this and this, God automatically does that and that and that. God’s favor comes from what I do. It has a few pitfalls:
- You never completely know where you stand with God.
- Even in the brief minutes when you know, you’re not completely sure how to stay in good standing with him.
- It’s hard to find two sincere God seekers who agree for very long on what it takes to get and keep God’s favor.
I like the relational approach better. True, some of what I think is a relationship with God could be only in my imagination. That happens in any relationship. For what it’s worth, I have checkpoints that help me confirm that I really am in a relationship with the real God:
- Every morning I sit quietly, stilling my mind, slowing down my RPM’s until my thoughts and emotions have become still and I listen for whispers.
- I absorb a little in the Bible each day and try to carry what I received with me throughout the day. After doing that for several years, it’s amazing how much it has positively affected my life.
- I whisper and write my prayers to God. When I go back and review past prayers, I’m amazed that my prayers have been answered.
- I have a few close friends who are on this same journey. We try to meet once a week to share our notes and experiences with each other. We’ve given each other permission to ask hard questions and expect in-your-face accountability.
- I and we see positive results in real life. To me, the fundamental question about any theology isn’t whether it can be proved in a debate, but does it work in real life?
So there it is. Maybe you can shoot holes in my theology. I’m OK with that. I seriously doubt that either of us is going to change the other in a thirty or sixty minute debate.
Getting back to the meeting at the pub this Thursday. Maybe no one will win any debates. But it sounds like an opportunity to get in some good relationship time.
Run strong and finish well today,
Phillip