Latest / Eurasia Region Podcast / S1-E53 | Everyday Eurasia | Dr. Olga Druzhinina

Transcript

S1-E53 | Everyday Eurasia | Dr. Olga Druzhinina · Eurasia Region Podcast

• 0:00
  Hello and welcome to the Everyday Eurasia podcast,
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  Inspiring Faith for Every day. Each day we are on a journey
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  with Jesus in our churches, our homes, our workplaces, and in so
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  many different places around the world.
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  Is it beautiful that no matter where we are, we can walk with
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  him every single day? Jesus is the one who connects us
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  all and stands at the very center of our.
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  Lives Day. After day through this podcast,
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  you'll hear voices from across the region sharing devotionals
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  that reminds us of God's presence in our everyday
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  moments. This week we're joined by Doctor
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  Oka de Singin, A theologian, educator and ordained minister
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  in the Church of the Nazarene, originally from Russia.
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  Olga has served across Eastern Europe.
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  As a. Missionary pastor and
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  theological educator. She.
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  Currently serves as Senior Lecturer and Cluster Chair for
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  Theology at. European Nazarene.
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  College and holds a. PhD.
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  In theology from the university. Of Manchester.
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  Throughout this week, Olga will be guiding us through the key
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  themes from her new book, Introduction to Christian
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  Theology. The openness reflects more
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  deeply on what we believe and why it.
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  Managed for our. Everyday walk with God.
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  Hello dear friends, my name is Olga Dujinen.
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  I was asked to share some ideas from my book Introduction to
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  Christian Theology and today we will try to answer the question
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  why do we need theology? Some Christians may view
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  theology as unpractical and relevant to their faith because
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  they focus on the pure doctrines rather than on God, to whom
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  these doctrines point. The core of our theology should
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  be our personal relationship with our Saviour.
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  As many theologians explain, there is a huge difference
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  between knowing information about somebody and knowing
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  somebody as a person. For example, I may know a lot of
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  little details about some celebrities or public figures,
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  including their behaviour patterns, their voice, their
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  eye, eye color, the members of their families, and even the
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  name of their dog. However, I do not know them as a
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  person or as a friend, and I have probably never met them.
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  Maybe I heard about them, read books or watched movies, but I
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  do not know them and I never had a personal conversation with
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  them. My opinion about them is based
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  on somebody's experience and somebody's words about these
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  famous people. This information could be true,
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  but it could be misleading. The same may happen if we do not
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  know God but only have heard about Him from others.
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  Theology is not just a formal analysis and complicated
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  terminology that may create tension among some believers.
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  As Wesleyan theologians, we believe that the Christian mind
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  and heart, along with reflection and prayer, constitute an
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  inseparable whole. I believe that doing theology
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  shouldn't become a conversation about abstract ideas or
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  theoretical issues for believers in our local churches.
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  We need to invite people who believe in God and their life of
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  daily thinking about their Savior, his incarnation, and how
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  His death and resurrection provide the way for their
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  salvation and the salvation of this world.
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  We can hear proper doctrines and useful ideas about God, but we
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  may consider them irrelevant until they become our personal
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  understanding of God. Every Christian is called by God
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  to love him with all their minds, as it is written in the
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  Gospel of Luke chapter 10. This means for believers that
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  they are called to use their minds and to think about God.
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  Therefore, everyone is called to be a theologian.
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  We need theological reflection in order to comprehend to with
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  what kind of God we're communicating.
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  However, first we need to believe and then we will be able
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  to understand Him In In addition to being called to exercise our
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  minds, we're also called to love God.
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  You cannot truly love someone you don't know.
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  It's impossible to love a stranger.
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  In this sense, we need theology as an an intentional effort to
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  learn about God. This personal pursuit to deepen
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  our relationship with God is theological in nature.
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  It requires daily commitment and ongoing engagement, prayerful
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  conversations with God, devotional reading of His Word
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  through which he reveals Himself, and communication with
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  other believers. To some degree, every Christian
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  is already a theologian, whether they realize it or not, because
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  every believer holds some ideas about God.
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  Therefore, we are called not to become a theologian, but to
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  become a good theologian, the one who strives to know God for
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  the purpose of loving and serving him more fully.
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  Let us pray. Dear Lord, we want to know you.
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  We want not only to hear about you from others, but to become
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  your close friends. Help us to remember that You
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  expect us to talk to you daily and to share with You our lives.
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  Reveal Your will to us through Your want, and guide us with
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  Your Holy Spirit. Amen.
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  Thank you. For listening to the Everyday
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  Eurasia podcast Inspiring Fate for everyday.
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  For more everyday. Stories Subscribe.
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  On this podcast channel. Follow our socials.
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  Or our newsletter, Snapshots for our newsletter and further
• 6:50
  information about the Eurasia region.
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  Visit our website Eurasia. Regionorg.