Yes, theology has been used to divide and/or hurt people. However, just because something has been used in an evil manner does not mean that the thing itself is evil.

Vehicles, for example, are used each and every day to hurt people through deliberate and accidental means. But I have yet to hear an outcry of people calling for a bane of driving and a stop on all vehicles manufacturing and sales. NO! Folks know that the vehicle itself is a good thing. It is just how it is used that matters.

Theology is similar, abet a tad less tangible.

It can be used in a manner that is very, very beneficial to the individual as well as the community. Or, as the case may be, it could be used in a manner that bring pain and division.

Sadly enough people tend to focus solely on the latter manner while ignoring and/or denying that the former even exists. At the same time, a lot of those same people will gripe and compliant about the lack of ‘meat’ in their church or the false doctrine being taught in that church down the street. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black….

Sigh and double site…

Deep inside I know that I understand why folks are hostile to theology for I myself used to consider ‘theology’ as a cuss word. It was only brought up when trying to defend a pet doctrine or practice that I was taught in Sunday school. All other times it was seen as the great satan of division and pain.

Yet over the years the Lord has shown me that the remedy for bad or painful doctrines/practices is not throwing away theology, but actually studying good theology. Note that ‘good theology’ is NOT theology that supports my way of thinking…no, that is still borderline bad theology (i.e. it is not bad to study theology you agree with but it shouldn’t be the only theology you study as no one has a corner of the market).

What I mean by ‘good theology’ is theology that drive you back to Jesus and His grace, love, mercy and compassion. It should teach you that we, as fallible humans with a limited intellect, don’t really know that much about the world, ourselves or God. Good theology should bring you into a realization of the hugeness and mystery of God that is unknowable except through the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

Furthermore good theology is theology that guards against trying to simplify the message of Jesus into bite size pieces that can be written in three words or a line of text. Good theology recognizes that this reduction of the gospel into bullet point doctrines that has causes the most pain and sorrow. The message of Jesus is larger than any statement of faith or rules a person or church can come up with. Good theology knows this and instead of trying to simplify things, it allows for the complex mystery of God to spill over into the lives of the people, changing them and bringing them into the presence of the Holy One.

So come on follower of Jesus. Let us stop using theology as a cuss word and as a weapon against each other. Let us move into the mystery of God and use theology to sharpen our hearts and minds to the glory of God, giving mercy, grace, and love to all we meet.

So, my dear brothers and sisters, get this straight. Every person should be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. Human anger, you see, doesn’t produce God’s justice! So put away everything that is sordid, all that overflowing malice, and humbly receive the word which has been planted within you and which has the power to rescue your lives.

But be people who do the word, not merely people who hear it and deceive themselves. Someone who hears the word but doesn’t do it, you see, is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror. He notices himself, but then he goes away and quickly forgets what he looked like. But the person who looks into the perfect law of freedom, and goes on with it, not being a hearing who forgets but a doer who does the deed – such a person is blessed in their doing.

-James 1:19-25