My most difficult pill to swallow in the midst of my brethren is that constant mentioning of the “ugly” word THEOLOGY; the fact that it’s not as important as the matter of the heart just because it is a matter of the mind. I think we gave no respect for God to think this way. I have often challenged this assumption. I always believe that the head and the heart must be given equal importance. For heaven’s sake, go on and rant for all you want about using your heart in your relationship with God, just don’t turn round and take a pot-shot at your thinking mind and deem it unimportant in comparison to the matters of the heart. To not think is unthinkable. An unexamined life is not worth living.
After six years of study: reflecting deeply and critically on theology, missions, and pastoral issues, I found that I have had a major shift in my theological outlook of life, the church, and the world. I no longer could go along with many of the things that Charismatic-Pentecostal Evangelical stands for. It is not that I have stopped believing in the miraculous, speaking in tongues, and faith but I think I have stopped putting it on the pedestal. Some things that I have taken the time to reflect; going back to the very roots of Christianity and found it to be rich but are no longer held dear in present day evangelical anymore.
My intense love for literature – Christian literature, philosophy, and history has altered my worldview substantially and I found so much superficiality in our church today. People are not willing to go deep and explore. People are afraid of difficult questions.
The six years of study also caused me to get more frustrated with the church as a whole than I ever was before. I came to a conclusion that we have come to a point in our church history where we are “holding the fort for Jesus is coming back” and we are a need-oriented church. The credibility gap of the church and the world at large is so deep and wide. No matter what we say or how we say it we are irrelevant to the world today because we can never put our house in order. We are stuck in our worldview; we must not offend, we must be apolitical, we must be tolerant, we must be accommodative, and worse of all is that we must BE SIMPLE because all those who come to church are simple people. Hello!! People are fed with information at a supersonic speed then those 20 years ago. If the church doesn’t come up with any affirmative answer (without the spiritual dressing) our people are being “brainwash” through the tons of information coming through the internet!!
Today, I found myself to have actually drifted away from the emotional, feel good, encounter-God tradition that I came from to pursue the life of the mind – to develop a habit of the mind to think clearly and rationally on issues that affects me, the church, and the world. Well….that’s me again thinking aloud. I could no longer take any pronouncements (spiritual statements, prophetic utterances, and supernatural testimonies) without challenging their assumptions, their definition, and the ramifications of it all. For example, if you tell me that we are on a threshold of a breakthrough which is one of the favourite of all times in the charismatic brand of churches you will have to qualify it, explain it, and I need to know how you come to such a conclusion and what its ramifications would be to me.
After six years of study: reflecting deeply and critically on theology, missions, and pastoral issues, I found that I have had a major shift in my theological outlook of life, the church, and the world. I no longer could go along with many of the things that Charismatic-Pentecostal Evangelical stands for. It is not that I have stopped believing in the miraculous, speaking in tongues, and faith but I think I have stopped putting it on the pedestal. Some things that I have taken the time to reflect; going back to the very roots of Christianity and found it to be rich but are no longer held dear in present day evangelical anymore.
My intense love for literature – Christian literature, philosophy, and history has altered my worldview substantially and I found so much superficiality in our church today. People are not willing to go deep and explore. People are afraid of difficult questions.
The six years of study also caused me to get more frustrated with the church as a whole than I ever was before. I came to a conclusion that we have come to a point in our church history where we are “holding the fort for Jesus is coming back” and we are a need-oriented church. The credibility gap of the church and the world at large is so deep and wide. No matter what we say or how we say it we are irrelevant to the world today because we can never put our house in order. We are stuck in our worldview; we must not offend, we must be apolitical, we must be tolerant, we must be accommodative, and worse of all is that we must BE SIMPLE because all those who come to church are simple people. Hello!! People are fed with information at a supersonic speed then those 20 years ago. If the church doesn’t come up with any affirmative answer (without the spiritual dressing) our people are being “brainwash” through the tons of information coming through the internet!!
Today, I found myself to have actually drifted away from the emotional, feel good, encounter-God tradition that I came from to pursue the life of the mind – to develop a habit of the mind to think clearly and rationally on issues that affects me, the church, and the world. Well….that’s me again thinking aloud. I could no longer take any pronouncements (spiritual statements, prophetic utterances, and supernatural testimonies) without challenging their assumptions, their definition, and the ramifications of it all. For example, if you tell me that we are on a threshold of a breakthrough which is one of the favourite of all times in the charismatic brand of churches you will have to qualify it, explain it, and I need to know how you come to such a conclusion and what its ramifications would be to me.
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