So i just finished reading Rob Bell's book Velvet Elvis. And besides being a silly title, i think he makes a lot of good points in it. So i'm gonna write about some them. Oprah's book club, eat your heart out.
The book starts out by talking about doctrine and how they relate to God. We often look at our doctrine as absolutes. But isn't God alone absolute? Our doctrines are creations of man, putting words to some of the inexplainable things of the bible. The trinity for example, isn't mentioned at all in the bible, it's a doctrine created to explain the triune nature of God in scripture. But it isn't scripture itself. my view of trinity isn't necessarily the same as yours.
He uses the analogy of a trampoline to describe what he thinks doctrine should be. Doctrines are like the springs of a trampoline. They help to hold up the mat, but they aren't the mat itself. They aren't the part that people enjoy. Nobody gets on a trampoline to play with the springs. [my engineering friends excluded]
The counter to that is looking at doctrine as a wall of bricks. Firm, rigid, unchanging. So what happens if your brick of the trinity doesn't look like my brick of the trinity? We cant share the same wall. We have to have totally separate walls because a wall of two different sizes of bricks won't be able to stand. [my architecture education at it's finest right there] But should we look at our doctrine as a firm wall? Do we build our faith on doctrine? or do we build it on Christ who is our Rock?
Now there certainly is bad theology out there that wouldn't pass as a brick or a spring, but should bad theology be something that is irreconcilable? Something that we as Christians or we as a Church can't see past? I'm sure i still have bad theology about a lot of things, b/c i don't know God's positions on a lot of things. But rigid doctrine seems to have done a lot to divide the Church. We have a long history of splitting this way and that because we think communion should only be done this way, or worship can only be done that way.
Does God really want us to break apart the Church over things like that? Why can't we focus on the things that unify us?
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.
ephesians 2:14-16
Why can't we stop viewing ourselves by the differences we have and start viewing each other as Christ does? As His creations, His workmanship, His children?
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3 comments:
I love how God works. I don't know if you have noticed my most recent post yet, but I needed to hear this.
I am trying to figure out the importance of good theology and doctrine, and I never considered it as a reason to break fellowship, at least not consciously.
I have not read this book so maybe he moves forward from here but my next question is ok. We can be in fellowship and serve together, but what is the next step? Do we leave ourselves and our friends in bad theology or is the idea to work forward in community while trying to reconcile our differences?
I have seen this book used as an excuse for really bad theology. I know that was not his goal.
I mean what is the relation to theology, our actions, and our faith?
(I am not asking you to answer this, this is just my current train of thought, I'm glad I'm not the only one.)
good stuff, jeremy. i definitely need to read that book. man, i love those verses!
p.s. evidently how this tagging thing works is that you are now supposed to list seven strange things about you...i mean things that we don't already know about you that are strange. ;) then tag someone else to do the same.
Ya, i mean, when was the last time you heard of two churches unifying? Its crazy.
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