There are five reasons that I am studying theology.
First, it’s how I know more about God. Proverbs 1: 7 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
In 1992, we took a trip from Ethiopia, to South Sudan. That was around May during the rainy season. We came to a village but we couldn’t find any place to stay. The thirty of us slept outside the village fence. But at midnight rain started to fall and we didn 't have anyplace to go. So all of us huddled under a tree as heavy rain fell and lightning lit up the sky. The storm destroyed forty homes and took down so many trees that we all thought we were going to die. But that night we saw the Lord’s salivation. Many of us feared God,
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In this world many people think that the study of theology is a waste of time because theologians and pastors do not make a lot of money. However, some people who do make a lot of money forget about God. For example, when people are starting a business they will often ask God to bless their new enterprise; but after it begins to grow and prosper they forget how they started. They don 't make it to church on Sunday to worship God. If I study theology I am not as likely to fall into that hole.
The second reason I am studying theology is to protect my flock from bad theology. I want to know more about theology in order to have a good understanding and defend the flock from Idols and their false prophets. Right now there are many false prophets rising with displays of amazing work. They compete with the work of the Lord -- doing many of the same things Jesus
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As a good theologian I can help people understand God and how they fit into the emerging kingdom of God. Zephaniah 3: 9 speaks to me and I want to help “purify the lips of the peoples, that all of them may call on the name of the Lord and serve him shoulder to shoulder.”
For the sake of our Lord, we proclaim his kingdom and enforce his command to make sure that Christianity is reaching out and the mission carries on.
Fourthly, I want to help my Nuer people to develop a culturally appropriate way of doing theology better. One hundred years ago Christianity came to Sudan, which is now North Sudan. The majority were Muslim. The Christians, then, like now, had no room in the North so they moved South in order to more freely preach the Gospel. The majority of the people who became Christians were young people. But they were only taught the basics and didn’t have much theological training. Then the conflict between the North and the South started. The northern Sudanese wanted the whole country to become an Islamic country. But the South was already Christian in name. And because of the conflict the Christians haven 't had much of a chance to learn theology. Things are starting to change, though, and a few Nuer Christians started Bible college training after fleeing the country even while in refugee
“Theology is not superior to the gospel. It exists to aid the preaching of salvation. Its business is to make the essential facts and principles of Christianity so simple and clear…that all who preach or teach the gospel…can draw on its stores and deliver a complete and unclouded Christian message. When the progress of humanity creates new tasks…or new problems…theology must connect these old fundamentals of our faith and make them Christian tasks and problems.” (WR 6)
We have been counseled heretofore by prophets of old, "to seek learning, even by study, and by faith". We have an obligation to search the scriptures and to learn what the Lord is teaching us and warning us of. We must go forward with faith, and not backward. We must come unto the Lord, and not expect the Lord to come unto us.
To discuss the topic of idolatry, social injustice, and religious ritualism, it is not hard to find out that there are many examples in the Holy Bible that teach people about the Sin of Idolatry, social injustice, and religious ritualism. Some of the prophets who were chosen by God, such as Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jonah, Micah and Hosea, are good examples of those issues. God used those people and their stories to teach other people about His words and His will.
The first question we come to when studying religions based on the teachings of modern prophets is this: can modern prophets exist? Christianity, one of the three major religions followed today, says yes. “…The Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and some of them they will persecute…’ ” (Holy Bible) This quote from Christianity’s great rule book also predicts that when prophets do come to the Earth, people will not accept them as such. This is fairly accurate in Christians’ reactions to religions that have their basis in Christianity but have diverged from the church into their own sects.
You need to not preach your personal theology but preach the theology of the church
We each receive our own divine call from God. Sometimes this call alines with our own aspirations and goals, and other times it doesn’t. After the reading Gary Selby’s paper on Vocation I was left uncertain if my career goals and works were the same as God’s vocation for me. I have chosen to major in Sports Administration to pursue a career in the Lakers’ front office. This might also be God’s calling for me but, I’m at an uncertain moment in my life to know for certain if this is my ultimate calling.
Our knowledge is a key to our success and happiness in our life to give us personal satisfaction. Knowledge is power but not always. Sometimes our self-awareness and growth as an individual gives us negative thoughts that make us want to go back to undo it. Everyone wants to unlearn a part in our life that brought us pain and problems. Good or bad experiences brought by true wisdom can be used for our self-acceptance, self-fulfillment and these experiences would make us stronger as we walk to the road of our so called “life”, but Douglas’s and my experience about knowledge confirmed his belief that “Knowledge is a curse”. Both of us felt frustrated and sad from learning knowledge.
Has anyone ever told you to, “Just have faith?” This is what Leif Enger, the author of the novel Peace Like a River wants readers to know after reading this powerful story. Having faith is trusting God to a certain outcome when it is utterly ridiculous and illogical. Faithful people believe in something that they cannot comprehend. In Peace Like a River by Leif Enger, the idea that the author wants us to know that we should have our hearts open to God and his great works, and that we should have faith is demonstrated thorough the messages that Enger exhibits through these miracles — that God is ever-present, that we should recognize God and trust in his doings, and that miracles are a way for God to show Himself to us.
I can use this information now to gain knowledge ahead of time. And use it as a teaching material. I have learned that you do not have to gain experience and knowledge by learning the hard way. If you take heed what is being placed in front of you it wont take a lifetime to learn. God has anointed teachers and preachers above us to give us a heads up on what to do and not to do.
So to say, knowledge can either make or break a person. It can act as a benefit, for power, or loss, for ignorance. “Do not take for granted what you know. Ask yourself how you know what you know; ask yourself whom it benefits, whom it hurts and why.” (Blackboard: Knowledge is Power)
Saint Augustine’s book Confessions talks about how increasing your knowledge through reading leads you through a “conversion” in which you begin to recall things and their relevance through memory. Socrates stresses the concept of increasing knowledge as a way to grow. Socrates also was the one who wanted to have a “field day” teaching Saint Augustine. Saint Augustine uses his life to display to us the way one’s quest for God should be like. He believed that one must begin their journey by first reading about God through books such as the Bible. Once one believes in God, they will have gone through a conversion in which their memory allows them to remember their readings on God and apply them in their lives. We will be analyzing the relationship between reading, conversion and memory and how they relate to the quest of God using Saint Augustine’s life as an example to follow.
Proverbs 16:16-17 affirms, “How much better to get wisdom than gold, to get insight rather than silver. The highway of the upright avoids evil; those who guard their ways preserve their lives”. Wisdom is priceless, a value that is immeasurable. Insight gives one the clarity in any situation and guides one through their decision making. Living a life of wisdom prevents the upright from evil and helps preserve their life. To gain wisdom and insight gives courage and excitement. Proverbs 4:7 expounds, “Wisdom is supreme—so get wisdom. And whatever else you get, get understanding” (Holman Christian Standard Bible). One looks forward to the future with an expected hope, and faith that God’s blessings will meet them wherever God leads with abundance. When one uses the lessons from Proverbs as the model one receives the wisdom and the spiritual growth from practice.
The desire to study God’s word to obtain a personal connection is a pursuit for many believers. Beginning a course to study and engage with the word at a collegiate level can be overwhelming and intimidating. Even though one may read the word countless times during their lifetime, understanding the reading material academically and historically is a different concept to master. Personally, I was apprehensive about my overall ability to retain the information and comprehend the context of the scientific and historical aspect of God’s word. However, Tarwater wrote in a manner that was engaging and invited me into the historical importance of the words and understanding God. From beginning to end, Tarwater
Over the centuries Christianity has brought pain to some and relief to others. This book records one tribe?s example where teaching Gods truth helped remove life-threatening superstitions. This saved lives and brought relief to a group of people who were living in bondage and fear. This is the good news we have to share.
...also makes me influential. So having a greater knowledge will help me tackle problems and overcome challenges..