Thinking Theologically

What do you think?

This familiar question deals with beliefs and positions. It seems to me that we are stuck in a quagmire of differing beliefs and positions, politically and religiously. We keep thrashing around in this quagmire, arguing our position, attacking the opposing position, all the while making no progress.

Albert Einstein is credited with the observation, "The thinking that created the problem cannot produce its solution." A different way of approaching the issues is needed if we are to escape the quagmire. A different question is needed.

Instead of "what do you think?", perhaps we could ask "how do you think?" The question of "how" is a deeper question. It moves us beyond the beliefs and positions we so passionately hold to how we arrived at those beliefs and positions. I dare say that most of us have never considered how we came to believe what we believe.

The most common road to what we believe is what we were taught. We believe what we were taught to believe. Culture, family, tradition, religion, education, experience - all combine to teach us what to believe. (Have you ever noticed how frequently we speak of tradition or traditional?) What we believe naturally includes the assumption that we are right. After all, who would believe something they know is not right?!

We believe what we were taught to believe until exposure to a different culture, tradition, religion, educational perspective, and/or experience challenges what we have always believed. That challenge creates a crisis. How are we to respond to this different belief or position?

The default reaction to such challenges is to reject that which is different, clinging to what is familiar and comfortable. This reaction views the different belief or position as a threat that must be neutralized. We attempt to discredit the other belief, attacking it as liberal (or conservative), while defending our position as the only logical position. We often turn to tradition and the Bible to validate the position we hold. (It seems to me this default reaction is a major contributor to the quagmire in which we are trapped.)

This default reaction has a number of inherent weaknesses that undermine relationships.

• It is rooted in fear of that which is different. This unrecognized fear leads us to demonize and attack the other (not just their position) as we defend our own belief/position. This fear-based reaction prevents any dialogue that could lead to mutual understanding and respect.
• It uses "what I believe" as the standard by which right or wrong is judged. 
• It is closed to learning and growth. The assumption of "being right" rejects any need to learn anything more. It assumes the final, authoritative position that cannot be questioned. 
• It unconsciously embodies an arrogance that says "I'm right. You're wrong." Such arrogance carries the assumption of being "better than" the other. 
• It uses scripture for my own purposes. The starting point is the belief. Scripture is used to validate the belief. Using scripture this way ignores the many, diverse voices of scripture. 
• It protects a religious world we have created in our own likeness (rather than God's) in order to insure our own advantage and comfort. Jesus challenged this inclination, You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition, (Mark 7:8, NRSV). 

The Apostle Paul's words in Romans 12:2 speak to this issue of how we think. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God-what is good and acceptable and perfect ((NRSV). The original Greek carries the idea of "stop being conformed." It suggests we have already been shaped by the world in which we live ... or, as I said above, by culture, family, tradition, religion, education, experience. This world-shaped thinking is a major factor in what we believe and, thus, in who we are. Transformation into the likeness of Christ comes by the renewing of your minds. The writer of Ephesians expressed the same idea. In Ephesians 4, he spoke of spiritual formation as putting off the old self and putting on a new self. At the heart of this putting off-putting on process is to be renewed in the spirit of your minds (Ephesians 4:22-24, NRSV). Transformation of heart and mind comes as the truth that Jesus taught begins to shape how we think and, thereby, how we live. As the truth that Jesus taught shapes our thinking, we put on the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5-11). This Spirit-directed retraining of the way we think is what enables us to discern what is the will of God on any position.

How - not what - we think is the key question. The followers of Jesus, I trust, think theologically. That is, the followers of Jesus consciously allow the things that Jesus taught to shape how they think. (See again my 10/28/18 blog: God's Plumb Line.)

But thinking theologically is only half of the equation. Thinking only puts us in a position to act. Acting on the truth that Jesus taught is a matter of the will.  But that's another topic for another blog. Stay tuned.