Why Theology

Over and over again I hear crazy things like "theology is not that important" or "we want to focus on living out the Christian life rather than theology." I understand the intent behind these statements, but over and over again this kind of an approach to ministry falls short.

Recently I spoke at Big Sandy Camp in Minnesota. It was a great time. The theme was Christmas. My goal going in was to ruin Christmas for all of those students so that they saw something much more than a baby in a manger. For the most part I think I succeeded. The funny thing is this. All I did was teach how Christmas fits in with all of redemptive history from a theological perspective. That sounds complicated, but really it boils down to telling the story of the Bible (the whole thing) with a special emphasis on how a baby in a manger fits in with that. In so doing we tackled some really important theological issues like propitiation, atonement (not the same thing), imputation, the depravity of man, and so on. Two hundred Sr. High students totally absorbed it. They loved it. They loved it because it helped them understand what Christianity is all about. They even learned some of these "theological" words. They learned what hypo-static union is and what imputation is.

The reason for this blog is to attempt to help students understand the foundational truths of the Christian faith. It is to challenge them to understand more fully the gospel story and how theology can positively affect their lives in areas like sex, self esteem, living for Jesus, and so on. Though the content of this blog will be focused on High School students it will not be dumbed down. The goal here is to raise students up. It will be theological in nature with an emphasis on application. Sometimes it will be theologically controversial but always orthodox.

In the end this blog is for students, but may be helpful for everyone.