Doctrine, Theology, Stories

General Christian Theology
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Bootstrap
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Re: Doctrine, Theology, Stories

Post by Bootstrap »

What about the other side of the equation? What do stories and testimonies do for us that theology and doctrine don't?
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lesterb
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Re: Doctrine, Theology, Stories

Post by lesterb »

Bootstrap wrote:What about the other side of the equation? What do stories and testimonies do for us that theology and doctrine don't?
In a certain sense, doctrine and theology are hypothetical until they are practiced. And then they become a "story" and are no longer just a good theory.

For instance...

What does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself? Great hypothetical question, and I'm sure that the scribes and Pharisees discussed it by the hour, without agreeing. And I'm guessing the discussion never stepped on their own toes, because it was totally intellectual. But Jesus cut through all the blarney and noise with a simple story about a despised Samaritan who put the law to practice and probably never even thought of it. He cared for others, so he stopped to help a person who would have refused to walk beside him as an equal.

The scribe who asked the question would have argued until he was hot under the collar that Samaritans were NOT included in the outworking of this law. But this simple story made him answer his own question.
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lesterb
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Re: Doctrine, Theology, Stories

Post by lesterb »

I've started a companion thread about Jesus' teaching methods.
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Josh
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Re: Doctrine, Theology, Stories

Post by Josh »

I don't think I really understood the gospel or Anabaptism until I started actually loving my neighbours and enemies.

That gave me better training than the best theologians and experts in doctrine could ever give.
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silentreader
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Re: Doctrine, Theology, Stories

Post by silentreader »

Josh wrote:I don't think I really understood the gospel or Anabaptism until I started actually loving my neighbours and enemies.

That gave me better training than the best theologians and experts in doctrine could ever give.
...or you could say that this is the story that lives out the theology in...
1 John 4:7-21English Standard Version (ESV)
God Is Love
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot[a] love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
Footnotes:
1 John 4:20 Some manuscripts how can he
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Josh
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Re: Doctrine, Theology, Stories

Post by Josh »

I spent most of my day with people who would like to be following Jesus and also are facing major challenges and temptations.

One thing is for certain: theology and doctrine help, but nothing is as powerful as (a) the stories in the Bible and (b) my own testimony of the stories in my life.
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silentreader
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Re: Doctrine, Theology, Stories

Post by silentreader »

Josh wrote:I spent most of my day with people who would like to be following Jesus and also are facing major challenges and temptations.

One thing is for certain: theology and doctrine help, but nothing is as powerful as (a) the stories in the Bible and (b) my own testimony of the stories in my life.
Without theology and doctrine based on Bible truth, it would be difficult for you to discern that this is what pleases God.
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Josh
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Re: Doctrine, Theology, Stories

Post by Josh »

silentreader wrote:
Josh wrote:I spent most of my day with people who would like to be following Jesus and also are facing major challenges and temptations.

One thing is for certain: theology and doctrine help, but nothing is as powerful as (a) the stories in the Bible and (b) my own testimony of the stories in my life.
Without theology and doctrine based on Bible truth, it would be difficult for you to discern that this is what pleases God.
Right, although I need the help of a brotherhood and good church leaders to help me even discern proper doctrine and theology, and I need the example of a church that's tried to live it out to discern the fruits of particular theology. That's basically why I'm conservative Anabaptist; the fruits speak for themselves.

But in my day to day life, it's hard to speak directly about doctrine and theology. I like reading the gospel a lot, but to get into explaining things like "Blessed are the poor" and "Love your enemies", stories and testimonies do the best job.
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