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Final Reflections on the Task of Theology · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reformed Thinking, the deep dive where we take your
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source material and extract the essential insight.
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Today we're zeroing in on the study of theology itself.
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We're looking at its structure, its dangers, and maybe most
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critically, its actual name. That's right, we're going to be
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discepting sources that look beyond just the arguments over
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doctrine to ask AI think a really key question.
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What is good systematic thinking about God supposed to produce?
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In a person's life and in the world.
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Right. And what's interesting is that
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our sources lay out this kind of surprising duality.
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Theology is intensely rational. It demands serious intellectual
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rigor. But it's also described as
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aesthetic. It's about beauty.
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It's attention, it shapes history, but it can also become
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completely useless if it doesn't actually cultivate a personal,
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living relationship with God. So that's our mission today, to
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understand that dual nature. We tend to put theology in this
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academic box, but the sources are really pushing us to see it
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as more of a spiritual engine. So we'll be covering the need
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for doctrinal precision, you know, getting it right.
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And then why these ideas are actually the driving force of
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history. We'll also get into some of the
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theological diseases that we have to avoid.
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And then finally, how the whole thing has to end up in worship
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and, you know, being able to communicate God's love to the
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world, that's the goal. OK, so let's unpack the central
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idea first. The source material keeps saying
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that theology has this dual nature.
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On one hand, it's a super rigorous intellectual exercise,
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almost like a science, and on the other it's an artistic
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pursuit of beauty. How do those two things, logic
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and aesthetics, how do they actually work together?
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They seem like opposites. Well, you have to start with a
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logical character. That's the foundation.
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It's the non negotiable part that separates, you know, real
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systematic theology from just random thoughts about God.
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So it calls for the highest level of thinking.
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The highest level of logical and critical thinking.
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The theologian just can't be sloppy.
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You have to proceed systematically.
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What does that mean though? Systematic.
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It means you avoid that kind of disjointed or eclectic approach
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where you're just pulling ideas from different places without
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checking if they actually fit together.
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So you're talking about systematic coherence.
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We hear that phrase a lot. What does that look like?
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In practice, it means that your ideas can't rest on assumptions
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that contradict each other. The whole system has to be
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internally sound. Can you give an example?
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Sure. Think about the historical
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difficulty of of holding together God's absolute
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sovereignty and human responsibility.
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A. Classic.
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It is. If your doctrine of sovereignty
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is so strong that it just completely destroys any real
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human agency, then your system is incoherent because Scripture
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clearly teaches both. So the logical work is trying to
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hold those two together. Exactly.
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The logical character demands that you work really hard to
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articulate a view like, say, the compatibilism you find in
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Reformed thought that tries to affirm both truths without
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letting one just obliterate the other.
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And that's hard. Work.
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It's very hard work because we're finite minds trying to
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categorize infinite truth. And the sources also say this
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logical side refuses to just accept opacity.
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What do they mean by that? It means you don't just stop
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thinking because something is difficult.
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I mean, theology has to acknowledge that there are
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genuine mysteries, things God hasn't fully revealed, but the
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logical character tries to, as the sources say, Plumb those
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mysteries as far as our human understanding can go.
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It's a refusal to be intellectually lazy.
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So if a doctrine feels a bit fuzzy or opaque, the job is to
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bring clarity. It is.
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The job is to formulate precise categories, use careful
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definitions, and build a propositional structure to
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reduce that fuzziness as much as you can.
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And that structure is needed for accuracy.
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Yes, even if you later communicate those ideas using
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stories or parables, the underlying structure has to be
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sound. If the framework is wobbly, the
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message you deliver is going to be inaccurate.
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OK, so that's the logic. Now let's pivot to the other
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side of this, the aesthetic character.
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The sources say it's not enough for theology to just be true, it
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has to be beautiful. Yeah, and that's a startling
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thought for a lot of people who just see theology as a list of
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correct propositions, right? The sources argue that the
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appreciation of God's grandeur, that spiritual satisfaction you
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get from study, comes from seeing the whole of God's truth,
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is the beauty of the complete picture.
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I find that idea of the artistic nature of truth really
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compelling. It's not just about isolated
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facts, but about how they all connect.
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It is the sources talk about the organic character, the
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interrelatedness of the doctrines, and it gives this
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deep satisfaction to our human ability to appreciate symmetry
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and comprehensiveness. So it offers a balanced
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depiction of the whole of reality.
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Yes, when you see how, for instance, the doctrine of God's
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eternal decree connects to the doctrine of the Person of
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Christ, and how that informs your view of the sacraments.
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And it all fits together. And it all fits together without
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contradiction. There's this, this real sense of
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beauty in the system itself. And why do you think we're wired
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to appreciate that? Well, I think it's because we're
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made in the image of a God who is himself the source of all
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order and all beauty. So when we encounter truth
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that's logically sound and coherent, it resonates with that
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deep seated human longing for a unified, you know, non chaotic
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explanation for why things are the way they are.
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So appreciating theological symmetry is kind of like the
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spiritual version of appreciating mathematical
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elegance. That's a great way to put it.
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It confirms that the reality we live in and the God who made it
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isn't arbitrary. There's a design.
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So let's try to tie these two characters together with that
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Gothic cathedral analogy from the sources.
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Let's really flesh that out. OK, yeah, the cathedral is a
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perfect picture of this. The logical character is the
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rigorous math, the geometry, the physics that the architect used.
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The engineering. The engineering They had to know
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exactly how the counter forces worked, how the flying
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buttresses would distribute all that weight, how to build a
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foundation that would last for centuries.
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That's the intellectual calculation.
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Right. And that effort guaranteed the
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structures coherence. It guaranteed it would stand.
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And if the math if that logic was wrong, the building would
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just collapse. It would collapse and crush the
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people inside, and that stops the aesthetic side from just
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becoming mushy sentimentality, which is a real danger in
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theology. You can't just have nice
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feelings about God. The truth has to stand up to
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scrutiny. So the logical rigor makes the
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system safe and sound. Yes, but the aesthetic
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character, that's the soaring height, the way the light comes
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through the stained glass, the perfect symmetry of the design.
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The feeling you get when you walk in.
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Exactly. The ultimate goal isn't for you
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to stand there and admire the blueprints or the equations.
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The visitor is meant to look up and just be moved by the
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overwhelming beauty and the balance of it all.
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So the logic enables the beauty. It does.
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The hard, systematic work of clearing away confusion allows
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the inherent organized beauty of God's truth to shine through,
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and that leads not just understanding, but to
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appreciation and finally to awe. So the logic is the scaffolding
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that lets the structure of truth stand, and the aesthetic
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appreciation is the spiritual result of looking at that
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finished, coherent truth. That's it.
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It suggests that if your theology doesn't move you to
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worship because of its sheer integrated brilliance, something
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might be missing, either in an illogical construction or in how
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you're perceiving it. OK, so moving from the internal
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structure of theology, let's talk about its external impact.
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A lot of people see theological debates as something that
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happens in an ivory tower, totally disconnected from real
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life. But the sources argue, and
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pretty forcefully, that ideas, and specifically theological
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ideas, are the main thing shaping civilization.
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It's a huge claim, especially today when most historical
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narratives focus on, you know, economic or material forces.
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So we have to establish that idea first, that ideas are
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supreme. We do, and the evidence is all
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around us. The world we live in is a result
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of concepts that were once just abstract thoughts.
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Like what? Well, the sources mentioned
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things like Marxist dialectics or Darwinian evolution.
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Those were abstract concepts that totally altered social
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landscapes. Ideas get the motivation and the
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framework for action. Action without ideas is just
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chaos. And the sources say that the
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core ideas of Christianity have had an even bigger and more
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lasting influence than those big secular ideas.
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They do, because the Christian ideas are tied to a worldview
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that demanded a complete reordering of society, not just
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a political or economic one. So what's the specific driving
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force here? The evidence points to one
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specific, really unique theological belief, the
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Incarnation, the belief that God entered the world in human form,
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was crucified, and rose from the dead.
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That one idea. That single conviction was the
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engine for huge historical change, and we need to kind of
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pick apart why that doctrine is so powerful.
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Well, for one, the incarnation gives dignity to both the
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physical body and to human reason, right?
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Because God himself took on a body and spoke using rational
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language. That is the absolute key.
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This one theological concept, Christ is fully God and fully
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man, compelled millions of believers through history to
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build institutions that honored both of those aspects.
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So because God sanctioned the material world by entering it,
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physical suffering demanded attention it.
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Did and that led directly to the establishment of hospitals?
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And we can actually trace that development.
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Oh yeah, early Christian communities driven by the
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doctrines of mercy and the resurrection of the body.
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They set up these sophisticated charity systems long before the
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state ever did. In the Roman world, being sick
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was often seen as what a private curse, right?
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But Christian saw it as an opportunity for mandated
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service, rooted in the Incarnation, in Christ's command
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to love your neighbor. And these weren't just little
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clinics. No, you had institutions like
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the Basiliate, founded by Basil the Great.
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Which were basically these huge complex hospital and housing
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centers. They were direct physical
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expressions of abstract theological doctrine.
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And then there's the other side of it.
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The incarnation affirms the dignity of the human mind.
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Because the mind is made in God's image and it's capable of
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understanding both general and special revelation.
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And this LED directly to the explosion of institutions of
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higher education. The university.
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The university If God speaks and reasons, and if our minds can
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receive and process that speech, then cultivating the intellect
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becomes a spiritual discipline. And the whole European
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university model, with its organized faculties and its
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commitment to research. It didn't arise from a material
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need. It came from the theological
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conviction that the serious, rational pursuit of truth was a
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necessary part of the Christian life.
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Places like Oxford or the Sorbonne were originally
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theological ventures. They were started to systematize
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the very truths we're talking about.
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That's right, the sources are very clear.
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The world is a far different place today because of the
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people who went out and built these institutions in the name
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of the Incarnate God. So our civilization is, in a
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way, architecturally dependent on these abstract doctrines.
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It is. If you took away that
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theological scaffolding, the social landscape we have today
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would be unrecognizable. You wouldn't have the same
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infrastructure for rational inquiry or organized care for
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the suffering. And this works on the micro
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level. 2 and the life of an individual believer.
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The sources say that our different lifestyles are rooted
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in differing doctrinal conceptions.
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Yes, and this is the key link between systematic thought and
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daily life. Just think about the practical
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effect of understanding grace versus works.
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A person who doctrinally understands that salvation is a
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free gift received through faith alone.
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Justification. They're going to live their life
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with a specific spirit, a spirit of gratitude and freedom and
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humility. But if someone's operative
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doctrine confuses grace and works, maybe they think their
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good deeds somehow contribute to their standing with God.
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Then their lifestyle will reflect that confusion.
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They'll be driven by anxiety, a fear of failure, a constant need
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to justify themselves. So their actions might look good
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on the outside. But the spirit in which they do
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them, their motivation, is rooted in legalistic fear, not
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grateful love. The doctrine shapes the
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motivation which shapes the behavior, and that collectively
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shapes the culture. So the analogy of the
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architectural blueprints or DNA of civilization really fits
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here. It does.
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You see and interact with the physical structures, the
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hospitals and universities, but they only exist because of the
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unseen design principle underneath.
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The theological doctrines. They provided the vision and the
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motivation for the whole build. If you change the blueprint, you
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change the world. OK, so if theology is creating
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civilization on this macro level, how does it actually
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change one person? How does our listener go from
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just knowing the systematic doctrines to living them?
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Well, the essential starting point, according to the sources,
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is that right belief is imperative.
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It's not optional. It's not secondary, no.
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Our doctrinal understanding dictates not just our actions,
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but even more our inner motivation, our whole lifestyle.
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If we believe something that's not accurate about God, we will
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inevitably behave in a way that's inconsistent with His
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nature. And that's a necessary point to
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make, because a lot of modern thinking tries to separate
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behavior from belief. You know, this idea of
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orthopraxy or right practice being enough without orthodoxy,
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right belief. Right.
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And the sources just reject that correct doctrine is the
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necessary standard for correct living.
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You need the foundation to be right.
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So this brings us to that distinction the sources make
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between 2 forms of theology. It does.
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First, you have official theology.
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This is the objective teaching of Scripture, the historically
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affirmed doctrine. It's the things we profess to
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believe when we say yes to a confession of faith.
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And then you have the other kind, unofficial theology, and
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this one is a lot harder to, you know, pin down.
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It is. This is our actual day-to-day
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practice and lifestyle. It's the theology we actually
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live out when we're in crisis, where we're tired or facing
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temptation. It's what our actions show we
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really believe. That's it.
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And The Christian Life is basically the project of
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bringing those two into alignment.
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Achieving consistency, yes. The believer has to constantly
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reflect and meditate on their objective beliefs, their
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official theology, in order to bring their actual practice into
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conformity with that standard. That is the process of renewal.
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Which connects directly to that reference to Romans 12.2 about
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the renewing of your mind. It does.
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The mind has to be renewed using the standard of objective truth.
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It's not about making up new doctrines, It's about applying
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the established, coherent doctrines of Scripture to every
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part of your life. So if my official theology is a
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belief in God's Providence. Then your unofficial theology
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should show up as peace and trust in moments of chaos, not
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anxiety and panic. The gap between those 2 is where
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the inconsistency and the spiritual weakness is.
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And that's not an easy process. No, it's hard.
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It requires constantly submitting our natural
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inclinations, our fears, our pride to that rigorous logical
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system we talked about earlier. Without the standard of right
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belief, you don't have a mole to cast your life into.
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You can only conform to a standard if you know what it is
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right? But, and this is a huge but, the
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sources then introduce a critical limitation.
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It's a necessary warning for anyone who equates studying
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theology with being spiritual. And the warning is pretty
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direct. Doctrine alone is not enough.
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The text says plainly correct belief and theological mastery
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are of no value in and of themselves.
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It's a stark counterpoint to intellectual arrogance.
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It really is. If all that hard work doesn't
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actually contribute to a personal relationship with God,
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if it doesn't foster awe and love, it's just noise, a
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resounding gong or clanging cymbal.
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And the danger isn't just that it's irrelevant.
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It's actual spiritual peril. The sources warned that if a
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believer has accurate official doctrine but no lived practice.
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If the unofficial theology is disconnected and sterile.
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They risk facing rejection by God, which is the ultimate
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spiritual futility. Think about the person who can
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Florida State debate justification and
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sanctification, who can quote Calvin and Owen from memory, but
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they're cold and unloving and cynical in their daily life.
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Their mind is correct. Their mind is correct, but their
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heart is completely untouched. The sources use that chilling
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image of theologians on the last day pleading their credentials,
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saying, you know, we explained the fundamental teachings, only
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to be rejected because their knowledge never resulted in a
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transformed life. It never resulted in a real
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relationship with Christ. The goal is to know God, not
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just to know about God. So let's bring in that analogy
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of the sheet music or the source code that seems to capture this
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well. It does correct belief, the
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doctrine. It's a precise sheet music.
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It dictates the melody, the harmony.
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If the notes on the page are wrong, the performance will be a
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mess. But the sheet music itself is
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useless if their musician never actually picks up the instrument
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to play. Right, that's the live practice,
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the unofficial theology. You can have the most perfect
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source code ever written, flawless theology, but if it
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just sits on a hard drive and is never compiled and run, it
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achieves nothing for the Kingdom.
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It's perfection saves no one. So the doctrine is the essential
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instruction manual, but the goal is the actual building of the
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life and the relationship guided by that manual.
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That's the whole point. OK, so given that the stakes are
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so high, shaping civilization, personal transformation, it
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makes sense that this discipline would have its own specific
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hazards. The sources call them
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theological diseases. And the most common, the most
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serious danger, is the sin of pride.
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It's so insidious because it comes directly from its
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selectual success. As students get more
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sophisticated in handling these secret topics, they are tempted
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to see their knowledge not as a tool for worship, but as a badge
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of virtue. And that leads directly to a
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feeling of superiority. So the logical rigor we talked
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about earlier, it can actually turn corrosive.
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It can be weaponized, and this superiority complex shows up
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almost immediately as intellectual bullying.
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Students start using their skills and their specialized
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jargon to intimidate or dismiss people who are less informed.
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That's a failure of love. Really, it's a failure of
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communication and a failure of love.
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Instead of using what they know to lift people up to the truth,
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they use it to draw a line in the sand.
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It becomes a tool for self elevation.
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And it creates this hostile, exclusive atmosphere.
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And tied right into that is the danger of underestimating
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spiritual instinct. The source has warned against
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this academic assumption that real insight only belongs to
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people with formal training. This is a really vital
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corrective I think. It is.
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We have to constantly remember that the Holy Spirit doesn't
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restrict His guidance to seminary graduates.
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You know, simple lay believers who walk closely with God but
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don't have the technical vocabulary often have a
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practical, experiential insight that surpasses many professional
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theologians. The people who might be
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intellectually saturated but spiritually dry.
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Exactly. Christ himself said God hides
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truth from the wise and reveals it to babes.
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The disease here is believing that spiritual perception is a
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function of your IQ or your degree, rather than a gift of
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grace. So the pursuit of logic should
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actually lead to humility. It should not the belief that
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our logic is the source of truth.
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OK, so a second major disease the sources identify is reducing
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theology to theological gamesmanship.
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This is when you turn these sacred matters into a kind of
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sport. The purpose shifts from seeking
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truth and building people up to just intellectual competition.
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It's about winning the argument. It becomes all about winning the
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argument, the sources say. The arguing of 1 theory against
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another becomes our whole purpose in life.
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We see this all the time online, don't we?
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Theological debates become about status, totally disconnected
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from prayer or service. And the final, and maybe the
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most terrifying danger is spiritual futility.
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This is the ultimate disconnect. It is.
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It's the tragedy of spending your life studying the map, but
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never once setting foot outside the office.
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The sources bring up that echo of Matthew 7.22 again.
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Yes, and it's designed to be shocking.
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You have people who have expounded the teachings, who
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have taught others, being rejected.
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They're pleading their credentials.
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Have we not expounded the fundamental teachings?
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But their knowledge only led to pride or competition or distance
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from God? Not love, not love and lived
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practice. Knowledge, if it's corrupted by
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arrogance, saves no one. It's just a resounding gong.
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So let's use that professional map maker analogy to tie all
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three of these diseases together, OK?
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So the map maker spends decades mastering every single detail of
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the terrain. He produces an absolutely
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perfect systematic map. He is the expert.
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The expert. But when some hikers get lost,
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the map maker, filled with pride, just mocks them for not
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knowing the technical coordinates.
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That's the intellectual bullying.
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Then he spends his time in meetings arguing ferociously
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about whether the font used for mountains on the map should be
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serif or san serif. That's the gamesmanship.
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That's the gamesmanship. But the critical failure is a
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futility. If he draws the perfect map and
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he wins all his arguments about fonts, but he refuses to leave
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his air conditioned office to actually lead the rescue.
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To apply his knowledge. To apply that knowledge in a
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loving, practical way, then the map, for all its perfection, is
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completely useless for its real purpose, saving people and
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guiding them. Home and good theology has to
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save and guide. Otherwise, it's just a very
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complicated and very dangerous hobby.
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So after identifying the structure and the dangers, we
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have to come back to the conclusion of the source
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material. The purpose of theology is never
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itself. It has to be relational and
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external. That's right, it has to point
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away from itself. So the first and primary
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spiritual result of good theology is goal one, worship
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and awe. Real, systematic thinking about
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God has to enhance our awareness of the greatness and grandeur of
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God. This isn't just an optional
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feeling, it's the intended outcome.
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And the systematic understanding, when it works
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right, it triggers this specific humbling reaction that you see
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all through Scripture. Like Moses at the burning Bush.
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Exactly. He's suddenly overwhelmed, not
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by a concept, but by the reality of this holy presence.
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He feels his own inadequacy, his sinfulness.
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Or Peter in the boat after the catch a fish crying out because
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he suddenly sees the perfection of Christ.
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And grasping theological truth should do the same thing.
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It should. It should produce that same
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overwhelming awareness of God's majesty, and it replaces that
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academic sophistication and intellectual pride we just
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talked about with the humility and dependence of a child.
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It forces you to kneel. Intellectually and spiritually
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before the object of your study, and this ties right back to our
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discussion in Section 1. This spiritual result includes
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that aesthetic satisfaction, that beauty and symmetry of
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God's truth. The logic leads to the awe.
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The logical rigor, when it's successful, leads directly to
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the gasp of awe. The coherence of the system
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reveals a God who is rational and ordered and beautiful, and
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that compels us to worship. Him.
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OK, so that's goal one. Goal 2 is witness and
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communication. This is the external objective.
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Yes, and it's purely missional. The ultimate measure of success
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is not how much a student knows, but whether that student comes
23:25
to love the Lord more, and this is key, is better able to
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communicate that love to others. So if all that systematic rigor
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just stays locked inside the theologians mind, it's a
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failure. A total failure.
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It has to move outward, and this outward objective requires what
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the source is called, continual re expression accessibility.
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And the sources point out that academic theology has often
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been, well, pretty narrow in its demographic focus.
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It's often criticized for its waspish orientation, you know,
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associated with educated middle class western perspectives.
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So if the doctrine is going to do its job, it has to break out
23:59
of those cultural boxes. And that takes real effort.
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It requires what the sources call cultural tailoring.
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We have to take the precise theological content which was
24:10
often formulated using categories from, say, Greek
24:14
philosophy or European law. And translate it.
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And translate it faithfully and intelligibly for non western
24:20
audiences, for third world audiences, and for the diverse
24:23
student bodies we have today. Can you give an example of that?
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Sure. Translating the specific legal
24:28
terms we use for justification into a culture that's dominated
24:31
by, say, a shame and honor system requires deep structural
24:36
rethinking. You can't just swap out the
24:37
words. The substance has to remain
24:39
coherent, but the expression has to adapt.
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Precisely so. The worldview is accessible
24:43
everywhere, and it also requires what's called vertical
24:46
adaptation, meaning the truths written for sophisticated
24:49
seminary students have to be translated down, so to speak, so
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those same deep truths can be explained to lay people and even
24:57
to children without distorting them.
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That's the mark of a true master, isn't it?
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Making the most complicated ideas simple without making them
25:04
simplistic. It really is.
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And finally, the communication approach itself is huge.
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While precise discursive thought is what formulates the doctrine,
25:12
it has to be propositional and coherent for the logic to hold.
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Narrative theology is often what communicates at best.
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Yes, this is where you shift from the language of the
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architect to the language of the storyteller.
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Using winsome stories and parables communicates truth with
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dynamic effect. Which is what Jesus did all the
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time. Constantly he formulated the
25:34
doctrine like the nature of the Kingdom, and then he
25:36
communicated it through these unforgettable stories, the
25:39
parables. Oh, you think of someone like CS
25:40
Lewis? A perfect example.
25:43
He was fully capable of rigorous academic theology, but the
25:48
Chronicles of Narnia and the character of Aslan communicate
25:51
the doctrines of sacrifice and redemption and kingship with
25:54
this immediate, heartfelt power that academic prose just often
25:58
lacks. So the precision formulates the
26:00
truth, but the story delivers the love.
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That's it. And this is that telescope
26:06
polishing analogy from the sources fully realized, the
26:09
rigorous work, the systematic theology, the logical coherence,
26:12
That's the polishing of the lens.
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And the goal isn't to brag about the clean lens.
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No, you don't brag about the lens or argue about the brand of
26:20
Polish. The goal is to look through that
26:22
perfectly clear lens and just gasp at the stars.
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That's the worship in awe. And then to invite everyone else
26:27
to come and have a look. And that's the necessary witness
26:30
in communication. So we started this deep dive by
26:33
asking what good system thinking about God is supposed to
26:36
produce. And the answer from the sources
26:38
seems to be this necessary synergy.
26:41
You have the rigorous logic that ensures truth, and that's
26:43
balanced by an aesthetic appreciation that compels awe.
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And that awe has to lead outward into humble witness.
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This discussion is really shown as the doctrine is the essential
26:54
blueprint for a coherent Christian life and for a just
26:57
civilization. But it's completely useless
27:01
unless it's lived out in a posture of humility and love.
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Right. The true measure of theological
27:06
knowledge is the contribution it makes to our relationship with
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God and our ability to share Him with others.
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So the ongoing challenge for every believer, whether you have
27:15
formal training or not, is to constantly check your unofficial
27:19
theology, your actual practice against the official theology of
27:22
Scripture. And to make sure that as your
27:24
knowledge increases, your awe increases with it, not your
27:27
arrogance. Because the moment that
27:29
theological knowledge becomes a badge of virtue that you wear on
27:32
your lapel, its sacred purpose has been totally corrupted.
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So for you, the listener, think about this.
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If theological ideas really are the driving force of history,
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what is the specific, specific revolutionary conviction from
27:44
the incarnation that you are currently practicing and
27:46
communicating that will shape the world around you tomorrow?
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And a final thought on that work of continual re expression.
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Think of 1 precise theological truth, you know, maybe a
27:56
complicated one about God's grace or sovereignty.
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How could you tell that truth as a simple winsome story to a
28:02
child, making it dynamically clear and appealing?
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Thank you for joining us for this deep dive on reformed
28:07
thinking.