Core beliefs

I posted last week's "why some theology matters" to a social network site I'm helping to seed before we open it up to like-minded others to join. A friend Reggie posted a good reply, including this list of core beliefs that matter:

The Good Heart (Core)
The Larger Story
God's heart (The Prodigal, The Shack, etc.)
Warfare (there is an enemy)
The need for healing (the wound)
Uniqueness of our Calling
The value of Relationship
Hearing God (This does happen)

And actually within a couple of days I was rereading from John Eldredge's Walking With God the section entitled Not Every Gospel is Equal (page 164ff). He makes a similar point. Now, he spends most of his time undoing the damage done by "judge not lest ye be judged" mentality (in context, that is a statement about making right judgments), but in the end he has his three core points: the heart is central, intimacy with God is the goal, and restoration of the person matters.

If restoring heart is a goal, if it is the mission, then understanding your beliefs on the matters of the heart, God, and relationships are key. Understand that, then understand who your allies are, and what your mission is. If your heart matters, then who you allow close matters as well.

Above all else, guard your heart,
for it is the wellspring of life.

Why some theology matters

I know I got on a theology kick this week, but let me bring it around.

Our belief in who God is, how he made us, and view of the relationship between God and us matters. It matters to how we view God, how we view ourselves, and how we interact with God. God created us as freewill creatures (I know, now I'm risking circular logic here). If we have freewill, our choices matter, and our views matter. They influence how we act and interact.

These things are worth debating, especially if a group is to be a long term community. How the community views these matters helps form what the community is, what it does, and how it relates. While a group that wants to be a redemptive community does not need to agree on all theology, I think it does need to agree on these fundamental points. Thus the need for discussion, even debate on these matters.

But of course, the individual needs to know their own viewpoints. This effects how one interacts with God and others. If I see all who don't know Christ as fundamentally depraved, that effects how I interact with them. However, if I see them as a worthy human in need of healing, wholeness and holiness, that causes me to act more gently and tenderly towards them.

And it is interesting that when two who profess Christ get together and differ on these matters, I think some of the most heated discussion can occur. It is because I think we put so much of our security into our view of our identity, and these matters get to the core of our identity. Let God or another shake it, and we become scared -- who are we if we aren't x? But letting go of false teaching on these matters and embracing the truth allows us to become more fully who we are.

I don't know how a person can become all that they are meant to be without the divine truth in these matters, nor do I believe a group can become community without a basic like-mindedness in these matters.

In the Image of God

Whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed;
for in the image of God
has God made man.
-- Genesis 9:6

We are in the image of God.

Some, surprisingly, would dispute that. They would say that with the fall, the image of God upon us, or in us, (or whatever the appropriate vocabulary), was removed.

Interestingly, Genesis 3 says, that with the fall, we were even more like God

And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil." -- v22

With the fall, we became more like God. One of the earliest forerunners of the law, the instructions on murder (Genesis 9:6), was put in place due to humanity's stance as being in the image of God.

That is a powerful piece of knowledge. That implies the capacity within us for great good, or in our corrupted state, with our free will, the power for great evil. That is a great responsibility we have. But many of us don't realize our power. Our authority. So evil runs almost out of control in our world, the defeated Satan has his way because we don't realize our authority in the name of Jesus. We sit on our butts often not knowing our power to do something about it, both physically and in the spiritual realm.

You have a place. You have a role. And you have the authority to create change. Paul writes in Ephesians that God had something for you to do prepared in advance of you. Will you seek it out and discover it?