Why Theology is Important

[Picaro]

C.S. Lewis has a unique way of explaining things in a sensible, practical manner. Theology is the science of God. Anyone who seeks to discover God will find theology useful. Theology is not God. Theology is useful in discovering God.

"Theology means "the science of God," and I think any man who wants to think about God at all would like to have the clearest and most accurate ideas about Him which are available. You are not children: why should you be treated like children? In a way I quite understand why some people are put off by Theology. I remember once when I had been giving a talk to the RA.F., an old, hard-bitten officer got up and said, "I've no use for all that stuff. But, mind you, I'm a religious man too. I know there's a God. I've felt Him: out alone in the desert at night: the tremendous mystery. And that's just why I don't believe all your neat little dogmas and formulas about Him. To anyone who's met the real thing they all seem so petty and pedantic and unreal!" Now in a sense I quite agreed with that man. I think he had probably had a real experience of God in the desert. And when he turned from that experience to the Christian creeds, I think he really was turning from something real to something less real. In the same way, if a man has once looked at the Atlantic from the beach, and then goes and looks at a map of the Atlantic, he also will be turning from something real to something less real: turning from real waves to a bit of coloured paper. But here comes the point. The map is admittedly only coloured paper, but there are two things you have to remember about it. In the first place, it is based on what hundreds and thousands of people have found out by sailing the real Atlantic. In that way it has behind it masses of experience just as real as the one you could have from the beach; only, while yours would be a single isolated glimpse, the map fits all those different experiences together. In the second place, if you want to go anywhere, the map is absolutely necessary. As long as you are content with walks on the beach, your own glimpses are far more fun than looking at a map. But the map is going to be more use than walks on the beach if you want to get to America. Now, Theology is like the map. Merely learning and thinking about the Christian doctrines, if you stop there, is less real and less exciting than the sort of thing my friend got in the desert. Doctrines are not God: they are only a kind of map. But that map is based on the experience of hundreds of people who really were in touch with God-experiences compared with which any thrills or pious feelings you and I are likely to get on our own are very elementary and very confused." C.S. Lewis

Organized religion has done far more bad than good in actual practice.

lol now that is utter rubbish re Christians. If it had done more bad, then you would be all for it. It hasn't, therefore you and your ilk hate Christianity no end.

 

[Picaro]

Religion promotes the virtues of thankfulness, forgiveness, humility, chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience and kindness.

Except for all of those times it doesn't and didn't. Thank goodness for scientific enlightenment, classical liberalism, and secular government!

Religion creates wonderful charities and organizations.

And legal systems and cultural traditions that contribute to the success of entire peoples, in the case of Christianity.

 

[Picaro]

Organized religion has done far more bad than good in actual practice.

Religion promotes the virtues of thankfulness, forgiveness, humility, chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience and kindness.

Many people blame religion for the problems of the world and, to be fair, a lot of bad has been done in the name of religion.

But I don’t believe the fault lies in religious beliefs, but the unwillingness of some to accept differing religious beliefs to be tolerable.

Compared to what alternatives? Paganism was, and still is, extremely bloody and psychotic. Not all 'religions' qualify for the positive benefits, few do, in fact.

It doesn't lend itself to generalizations very well, true enough.

 

[fncceo]

Organized religion has done far more bad than good in actual practice.

Religion promotes the virtues of thankfulness, forgiveness, humility, chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience and kindness.

Many people blame religion for the problems of the world and, to be fair, a lot of bad has been done in the name of religion.

But I don’t believe the fault lies in religious beliefs, but the unwillingness of some to accept differing religious beliefs to be tolerable.

Compared to what alternatives? Paganism was, and still is, extremely bloody and psychotic. Not all 'religions' qualify for the positive benefits, few do, in fact.

It doesn't lend itself to generalizations very well, true enough.

Religion is and has been the largest organizing cause in human history. If you don’t think human progress has come through cooperation and organizing then I can see your point.

Alternative organizing causes, such as Communism, could, just as easily be held up as lacking positive influences.

 

[Picaro]

Organized religion has done far more bad than good in actual practice.

Religion promotes the virtues of thankfulness, forgiveness, humility, chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience and kindness.

Many people blame religion for the problems of the world and, to be fair, a lot of bad has been done in the name of religion.

But I don’t believe the fault lies in religious beliefs, but the unwillingness of some to accept differing religious beliefs to be tolerable.

Compared to what alternatives? Paganism was, and still is, extremely bloody and psychotic. Not all 'religions' qualify for the positive benefits, few do, in fact.

It doesn't lend itself to generalizations very well, true enough.

Religion is and has been the largest organizing cause in human history. If you don’t think human progress has come through cooperation and organizing then I can see your point.

Alternative organizing causes, such as Communism, could, just as easily be held up as lacking positive influences.

My point is pretty clear; most 'religions' aren't real religions with deep philosophical theological organizations, and all of them except Christianity are dead ends that do more harm and produce stagnation in their cultures' that led to degeneracy and never evolve out of barbarism.

For those who want a god study on the effects of theology on government, law, and society, there is Michael Grant's The Climax Of Rome, covering 161 A.D.to the death of Constantine. It will make clear the differences between a true social paradigm like Christianity's rise, compared to other religions' effects on their societies.

There is very little 'blood' involved in the rise of Christians, compared to any others, period. Most of the propaganda surrounding it's rise comes from the whining losers making up rubbish to old left over Protestant propaganda from the Reformation, all of it ludicrous and wild exaggerations. Most of the blood shed comes from good old fashioned 'social darwinists' of the dark and middle ages and Renaissance European aristocracy, hardly examples of religious piety and beliefs. It would have been a lot bloodier without the Christian influence, and of course in the non-Christian world that was, and still is, the case.


Ideologies are always total rubbish, and never make decent organizational constructs; even atheists, intelligent ones anyway, like F. A. Hayek, acknowledge the obvious historical records.

 

[G.T.]

Organized religion has done far more bad than good in actual practice.

Religion promotes the virtues of thankfulness, forgiveness, humility, chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience and kindness.

So does secular humanism if practiced correctly, but its used for corruption same as religion.

 

[Picaro]

Organized religion has done far more bad than good in actual practice.

Religion promotes the virtues of thankfulness, forgiveness, humility, chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience and kindness.

So does secular humanism if practiced correctly, but its used for corruption same as religion.

Christian theology is self-correcting, can't stay corrupt for long, while 'secular humanism' isn't humanism at all, it's totally corrupt and irrational.

 

[Weatherman2020]

C.S. Lewis has a unique way of explaining things in a sensible, practical manner. Theology is the science of God. Anyone who seeks to discover God will find theology useful. Theology is not God. Theology is useful in discovering God.

"Theology means "the science of God," and I think any man who wants to think about God at all would like to have the clearest and most accurate ideas about Him which are available. You are not children: why should you be treated like children? In a way I quite understand why some people are put off by Theology. I remember once when I had been giving a talk to the RA.F., an old, hard-bitten officer got up and said, "I've no use for all that stuff. But, mind you, I'm a religious man too. I know there's a God. I've felt Him: out alone in the desert at night: the tremendous mystery. And that's just why I don't believe all your neat little dogmas and formulas about Him. To anyone who's met the real thing they all seem so petty and pedantic and unreal!" Now in a sense I quite agreed with that man. I think he had probably had a real experience of God in the desert. And when he turned from that experience to the Christian creeds, I think he really was turning from something real to something less real. In the same way, if a man has once looked at the Atlantic from the beach, and then goes and looks at a map of the Atlantic, he also will be turning from something real to something less real: turning from real waves to a bit of coloured paper. But here comes the point. The map is admittedly only coloured paper, but there are two things you have to remember about it. In the first place, it is based on what hundreds and thousands of people have found out by sailing the real Atlantic. In that way it has behind it masses of experience just as real as the one you could have from the beach; only, while yours would be a single isolated glimpse, the map fits all those different experiences together. In the second place, if you want to go anywhere, the map is absolutely necessary. As long as you are content with walks on the beach, your own glimpses are far more fun than looking at a map. But the map is going to be more use than walks on the beach if you want to get to America. Now, Theology is like the map. Merely learning and thinking about the Christian doctrines, if you stop there, is less real and less exciting than the sort of thing my friend got in the desert. Doctrines are not God: they are only a kind of map. But that map is based on the experience of hundreds of people who really were in touch with God-experiences compared with which any thrills or pious feelings you and I are likely to get on our own are very elementary and very confused." C.S. Lewis

Organized religion has done far more bad than good in actual practice.

Really? You prefer slavery, tyranny, mass murder, and no Liberty?

 

[Weatherman2020]

Theology means "the science of God,

No. It means, "the study of gods". Wrong on both nouns, sir. And the errors you made matter.

Symantecs.

the·ol·o·gy
[THēˈäləjē]
NOUN

1. the study of the nature of God and religious belief

 

[Astrostar]

Of course theology is important. The study of anything is important.

So, the study of a fiction is important?

 

[fncceo]

and all of them except Christianity are dead ends that do more harm and produce stagnation in their cultures

I will respectfully disagree with you.

 

[fncceo]

Of course theology is important. The study of anything is important.

So, the study of a fiction is important?

Ask any student of literature ...

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

Organized religion has done far more bad than good in actual practice.

Religion promotes the virtues of thankfulness, forgiveness, humility, chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience and kindness.

Many people blame religion for the problems of the world and, to be fair, a lot of bad has been done in the name of religion.

But I don’t believe the fault lies in religious beliefs, but the unwillingness of some to accept differing religious beliefs to be tolerable.

Compared to what alternatives? Paganism was, and still is, extremely bloody and psychotic. Not all 'religions' qualify for the positive benefits, few do, in fact.

It doesn't lend itself to generalizations very well, true enough.

Religion is and has been the largest organizing cause in human history. If you don’t think human progress has come through cooperation and organizing then I can see your point.

Alternative organizing causes, such as Communism, could, just as easily be held up as lacking positive influences.

My point is pretty clear; most 'religions' aren't real religions with deep philosophical theological organizations, and all of them except Christianity are dead ends that do more harm and produce stagnation in their cultures' that led to degeneracy and never evolve out of barbarism.

For those who want a god study on the effects of theology on government, law, and society, there is Michael Grant's The Climax Of Rome, covering 161 A.D.to the death of Constantine. It will make clear the differences between a true social paradigm like Christianity's rise, compared to other religions' effects on their societies.

There is very little 'blood' involved in the rise of Christians, compared to any others, period. Most of the propaganda surrounding it's rise comes from the whining losers making up rubbish to old left over Protestant propaganda from the Reformation, all of it ludicrous and wild exaggerations. Most of the blood shed comes from good old fashioned 'social darwinists' of the dark and middle ages and Renaissance European aristocracy, hardly examples of religious piety and beliefs. It would have been a lot bloodier without the Christian influence, and of course in the non-Christian world that was, and still is, the case.


Ideologies are always total rubbish, and never make decent organizational constructs; even atheists, intelligent ones anyway, like F. A. Hayek, acknowledge the obvious historical records.

Of course, scientific enlightenment, classical liberalism, and secular government all happened in spite of Christianity. So, while I will be the first to admit that it contains positive messages, it was secular thought that reformed it, and the better morality of Christian's today is informed much more by this secular thought. The Bible didn't change; knowledge of our world did.

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

Theology means "the science of God,

No. It means, "the study of gods". Wrong on both nouns, sir. And the errors you made matter.

Symantecs.

the·ol·o·gy
[THēˈäləjē]
NOUN

1. the study of the nature of God and religious belief

Right, study of more than just "monotheslism". Exactly as I said. Thanks for doing the footwork.

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

Christian theology is self-correcting

Complete nonsense, obviously.

 

[fncceo]

Really? You prefer slavery, tyranny, mass murder, and no Liberty?

No, which is why I'm still single.

 

[Picaro]

and all of them except Christianity are dead ends that do more harm and produce stagnation in their cultures

I will respectfully disagree with you.

Christians are Jews, which is why they're moving ahead; ethnic Jews reached a dead end, and the Christians moved the theology forward, keeping the covenants the goals and making them universal ,as originally intended in the Torah. Most ethnic Jews abandoned the religion, by the time of Malachi, and some 300 years before the Christians revived the Mosaic drives. Judaism went stagnant as ethnic Jewish culture devolved into legalistic stagnation, obsessions with genealogies and social privileges based on 'racial purity'. For the most part Jewish tribes dropped their end of the covenants that made them 'chosen'. Some Jews realized this, and moved the deals forward toward the original goals, and the Gentile converts have been front and center ever since.

 

[fncceo]

Christians are Jews,

Gonna disagre with you again. It’s pretty clear you know very little of Jews and Judaism, modern or ancient. The differences are significant and completely irreconcilable.

We are not the same religion. We don’t believe the same things and have a very different approach to the relationship between man and G-d.

But we like your Xmas movies.

 

[Picaro]

Christians are Jews,

Gonna disagre with you again. It’s pretty clear you know very little of Jews and Judaism, modern or ancient. The differences are significant and completely irreconcilable.

We are not the same religion. We don’t believe the same things and have a very different approach to the relationship between man and G-d.

But we like your Xmas movies.

Orthodox Judaism is just a tribal cult now, it stagnated over 2,000 years ago. Christian moved the theology forward, and is responsible for Israel being able to revive and exist today. Christians are obviously fulfilling the prophecies, they're the Jews of the covenant now, along with the messianic Jews. That's obvious fact.

Your little racist cult is kind of cute, though. We like your stand up comedians.