Miller Time

I really like Donald Miller's writing. I find it honest, genuine, down-to-earth, truth-seeking and refreshing. Not to mention that it always leads me back to the Bible. To thinking about Jesus and what this life we're trying to live really is. Also, beyond just his books, he writes blog posts which frequently knock my socks off and occasionally give me a laugh. Here's a couple excerpts that I enjoyed this week, all revolving around the reading he's doing in John. I highly suggest reading the whole posts--they're linked below.

"If I hadn’t grown up in religion, I’d probably talk to Him right away and tell Him he’s a fool and then realize pretty quickly He’s not and then we’d get a beer." --on meeting Jesus

"I like that we don’t have to be sappy about our faith. And I like that we don’t have to always understand. And I like that it’s honorable of us to talk to God and say, Hey, man, I’m uncomfortable with this but you know, I’ve got no other options. You’re the Son of God. I’m with you whatever. It’s not like this other crap system of seeking glory is any better." --on faith

"I often turn my faith into voodoo like seances and emotion-filled prayers in seeking God’s will, while Jesus Himself just uses common sense. I’m not going to Judea, He says, because those guys are trying to kill me. I’ll go over to Galilee instead. I hear they have a Dairy Queen."

"Miracles happen and people get visions for sure. But mostly God gives us a hoe and some seeds and introduces us to the miracle of work and a lot of common sense." --on common sense

What story are you telling?

What story are you telling? from Rhetorik Creative on Vimeo.

Donald Miller on Theology

A few weeks ago we were looking at theology (among other things) as an idol during the "Chasing after Religion" portion of our Yellow House study on idolatry. We talked a bit about how theology and religion could simply become a search for knowledge instead of experiencing a relationship with Christ. And beyond that, how arguing about issues in theology instead of discussing them reasonably and with respect and love for the other party will only serve to push others away, not to mention causing unnecessary divisions in the Body of Christ. All this resulting in us idolizing our own understanding of theology instead of maintaining our focus on God.

Donald Miller posted a blog post along the same lines today. It's from the new introduction to his re-released book "Searching for God Knows What" (which now I want to go read again.) Here are a couple excerpts from the post.

"You might think I am saying truth should be thrown out, that theology doesn’t matter. But this is not what I’m saying at all. What I’m intending to illustrate is our drive to define God with a mathematical theology has become a false God rather than an arrow that points to the real God. Theology can become an idol, but it is more useful as guardrails on a road to the true God. Theology is very important, but it is not God, and knowing facts about God is not the same as knowing God."

"What I came to understand, then, is Christian conversion is relational. It is not theological or intellectual any more than marriage is theological or intellectual."

"Can a person have bad theology and be a Christian?

Has your theology ever been corrected, and were you really a Christian before?

Is your theology all worked out now so you have no more reason to study, and if not, are you a Christian?

If you believe a person’s theology has to be right to be qualified for Christian conversion, then you are saying a person comes to know God, in part, because he has right ideas, and I respectfully disagree. Do I think right theology is important? Absolutely, but I do not believe it has any agency to convert anymore than directions to the doctor’s office have the power to heal.

I have a friend who countered, adamantly, that unless a person understood and agreed with the theological idea of total depravity, he could not be a Christian. I asked my friend when it was that he understood the idea himself, and he answered his sophomore year in seminary. I asked him, then, when he had become a Christian, and he told me when he was in the third grade. His reasoning was obviously insane, and I don’t think he is alone."

"What I’m saying, though, is that God doesn’t exclude someone from his saving grace because they don’t have the correct theological checklist. And for those of us who judge and condemn them, why would we stand in opposition when the God we love and serve is himself so adamant about being in relationship with them just as He is with us?"