Hello, readers, and happy Thursday! Today, my brother and I started a new course: Systematic Theology. It's taught by, none other than . . .
my dad! We're going through
'Systematic Theology' by
Wayne Grudem. Today was our introduction to theology. We learned of three very interesting and important questions that need to be answered when studying theology. To begin . . .
- The first question that should be asked is: What is systematic theology? Well theology is the study of God. So, the answer is, simply, a certain (systematic) way to study God.
- The second question that needs to be asked is: What is the benefit of studying theology? Well, we:
- Learn to overcome wrong ideas. We will be able to recognize false teachings easily by learning about different doctrines (teachings on the Bible).
- Will make better future decisions. Systematic theology will influence us in our decisions.
- Get help growing as Christians. Theology will help us thrive as Christians. It will teach us new things and help us witness to others.
- The third question is: How should we study systematic theology? This can be answered by 6 things
- By prayer. To study systematic theology, we need to have help from God through prayer.
- By humility. We need to come to the study of systematic theology humbly, knowing that the Bible is way up HERE and we're way down here.
- By reasoning and seeing all the different views that are out there.
- By getting help from others. Pastors, religious teachers, or a godly family member or mentor are good choices.
- With the entire Bible. Some people believe that there are errors in the Bible. There aren't. We need to recognize the Bible as the whole and perfect Word of God.
- With joy. If we approach studying God and His doctrines with a depressed face and with a sigh, say, "All right. I guess I'll learn this. If I have too," that doesn't exactly please Him. We might as well not even study it.
These three questions plunge us into the thrilling study of systematic theology. Stay tuned for more intriguing posts on systematic theology and how we can apply it to our own lives.
