Does what I believe matter? Do I really need to think about my theology?
The answer is yes. There are many theologies (what you believe about God). Not everyone perceives God the same way and there is nothing wrong with that. There is no one right or wrong theology. But, it is important to think through and even question what you believe.
I am writing this because of Senate candidate Richard Mourdock's comment on abortion. His statement, that a pregnancy, that occurs because of rape, is God’s will, has made many headlines. I do not believe he meant that God wills the rape. But, that is a logical conclusion from his statement. This highlights the reason why we need to ponder and question our own theologies.
If you believe God wills all pregnancies then you need to reconcile why God would will a women to become pregnant from a rape. You also need to reconcile why God would will some women not to become pregnant.
If you believe that God determines the day and time of a persons death. You need to reconcile why God decided to have so many people die on September 11th. You also need to reconcile that the pilots would have been part of God’s plan, thereby doing God’s will.
If you believe that God is all powerful than you need to reconcile why God allows bad things to happen when God has the power to change events.
If you believe that God is all loving then you need to reconcile that God must not be powerful enough to keep bad things from happening.
Every form of theology has questions. Acknowledging these questions does not minimize your theology, it strengthens it. Take some time to think about what you believe. What conclusions can be drawn from your belief? How does your belief relate to problems of life and problems of the community and the world?
These are great group discussion questions. Let me know if this interests you and maybe we can begin talking about it. This is how we grow in our faith.
