Comments on: When your Theology makes you Cry: Your Theology is Too Small! https://anitamathias.com/2012/07/14/when-your-theology-makes-you-cry-your-theology-is-too-small/ Anita Mathias's Blog on Faith and Art Thu, 14 Nov 2013 01:07:33 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9 By: Most Read Posts in 2012 on Dreaming Beneath the Spires | Dreaming Beneath the Spires https://anitamathias.com/2012/07/14/when-your-theology-makes-you-cry-your-theology-is-too-small/#comment-18029 Sat, 29 Dec 2012 20:24:54 +0000 http://anitamathias.com/blog/2012/07/14/when-your-theology-makes-you-cry-your-theology-is-too-small/#comment-18029 […] 3 When your Theology Makes you Cry, your Theology is too Small. […]

]]> By: Anita’s Christmas Letter | Dreaming Beneath the Spires https://anitamathias.com/2012/07/14/when-your-theology-makes-you-cry-your-theology-is-too-small/#comment-18028 Mon, 24 Dec 2012 23:02:33 +0000 http://anitamathias.com/blog/2012/07/14/when-your-theology-makes-you-cry-your-theology-is-too-small/#comment-18028 […] July – A visit from Roy’s brother Jeph, sister-in-law Kaaren and their bevy of charming children. And a course in the Christian History of Oxford at Wycliffe College, the local Anglican theological college. I was surprised by the immense impact that theology had on this city. I learn about John Wesley’s call to stand apart from a generation of triflers; agree that Calvinism is clever, but wonder what Jesus would have made of it; and conclude that if our theology makes us cry, our theology is too small. […]

]]> By: LA https://anitamathias.com/2012/07/14/when-your-theology-makes-you-cry-your-theology-is-too-small/#comment-18027 Tue, 17 Jul 2012 13:57:33 +0000 http://anitamathias.com/blog/2012/07/14/when-your-theology-makes-you-cry-your-theology-is-too-small/#comment-18027 Today, I cried about my theology – because there's been a huge disturbance in The Force from some misguided articles published. I am an Episcopalian. Proud to be one. It fits me nicely and I have found a church home that is good. However, the public would like to believe based on some superficial articles that we're down to fisticuffs in the pews over the recent votes regarding clergy of alternative lifestyles. I invite anyone to read my post over at Internetmonk under his post entitled “Today We Visit the Liberal Circus”. I'm currently the last long, long comment under the same handle I use here. It summarizes why I cry for my theology.

]]> By: Anita Mathias https://anitamathias.com/2012/07/14/when-your-theology-makes-you-cry-your-theology-is-too-small/#comment-18026 Tue, 17 Jul 2012 10:32:05 +0000 http://anitamathias.com/blog/2012/07/14/when-your-theology-makes-you-cry-your-theology-is-too-small/#comment-18026 Thanks LA, I agree!

Thanks, Na, for visiting my blog, which is getting increasingly theological!

]]> By: Na https://anitamathias.com/2012/07/14/when-your-theology-makes-you-cry-your-theology-is-too-small/#comment-18025 Tue, 17 Jul 2012 04:46:41 +0000 http://anitamathias.com/blog/2012/07/14/when-your-theology-makes-you-cry-your-theology-is-too-small/#comment-18025 you've addressed a question that i feel we all ponder on at some point in our lives, irespective of the faith one professes.Is ours the only way to salvation, and are all others not guaranted a place in heaven becuase they follow a different route.Are those who believe in just being good human beings , going to be denied a place after this life because they were not exposed to the right direction in thier life..I feel whoever is up there, has enough power, patience and above all compassion to segreate our entry there on the basis of our beliefs and religions.All we have to work on ih humility, compassion, patience forgiveness, and empathy..just a few of the things that we see in our concept of the One . after all aren't we just an extension of that spirit, and also have the same soul in us?

]]> By: LA https://anitamathias.com/2012/07/14/when-your-theology-makes-you-cry-your-theology-is-too-small/#comment-18024 Mon, 16 Jul 2012 17:00:00 +0000 http://anitamathias.com/blog/2012/07/14/when-your-theology-makes-you-cry-your-theology-is-too-small/#comment-18024 Was thinking about this last night and my feeling is that people worry too much about whether everyone else is saved and too little time on their own Christ-like lives. My salvation is not dependent on whether or not X religion is going to be saved or not. All that I have control over is my own response to God's call – I have influence, but not control over other people's salvation. My preferred form of influence is to lead by example. But I'm not going to waste my time worrying over who is right and who is wrong. Life is too dang short.

]]> By: Anita Mathias https://anitamathias.com/2012/07/14/when-your-theology-makes-you-cry-your-theology-is-too-small/#comment-18023 Mon, 16 Jul 2012 10:49:29 +0000 http://anitamathias.com/blog/2012/07/14/when-your-theology-makes-you-cry-your-theology-is-too-small/#comment-18023 Hi LA,
Love “others do not have to be wrong in order for you to be right.”
Do you know the parable of the blind man and the elephant? God is richer than we imagine, & probably often smiles at our theological wrangles.

John Stott, probably the most respected recent British theologian postulates that the wicked will be consigned to the flames, and the flames destroy. So not eternal torment, but annihilation. Mark Twain quipped “I've been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and have not suffered one bit of harm from it.” Perhaps annihilation will be the same?

Just and true are all your ways, I subscribe by faith to the song in Revelation!!

]]> By: LA https://anitamathias.com/2012/07/14/when-your-theology-makes-you-cry-your-theology-is-too-small/#comment-18022 Mon, 16 Jul 2012 04:44:08 +0000 http://anitamathias.com/blog/2012/07/14/when-your-theology-makes-you-cry-your-theology-is-too-small/#comment-18022 One of the best people I knew was an atheist. He lived an extremely Christ-like life in every aspect. As a cultural Jew, he once was confronted with a patient at the VA hospital with a giant swastika tattooed on his chest. My friend and colleague treated him as he would any other patient. He told me that he forgave him because he truly didn't understand the meaning of the tattoo. A beautiful soul, yet he consciously affirmed his atheism. To him, God felt man-made…invented by us to explain the inexplicable.

I cannot reconcile a God so hateful as to condemn him to everlasting torment. Maybe not a front-row seat in heaven, maybe some kind of purgatory, but not the depths of hell. I cannot preach the love of Christ and in the same breath the hatred of the upright, but misguided souls who cannot bring themselves to believe. And we cannot know anyone's mind much less their soul, especially in the moments before their death. I believe a lot can happen in those precious moments and it is not for me to judge, but to trust and pray.

Someone once said “others do not have to be wrong in order for you to be right.”. God, I believe, is big enough to manage without us telling him who will be in heaven and who shouldn't be.

]]> By: Miss Mollie https://anitamathias.com/2012/07/14/when-your-theology-makes-you-cry-your-theology-is-too-small/#comment-18021 Sun, 15 Jul 2012 22:19:39 +0000 http://anitamathias.com/blog/2012/07/14/when-your-theology-makes-you-cry-your-theology-is-too-small/#comment-18021 Oops! That was Anne who asked the question about what Jesus people reject. Thought provoking post and question.

]]> By: Miss Mollie https://anitamathias.com/2012/07/14/when-your-theology-makes-you-cry-your-theology-is-too-small/#comment-18020 Sun, 15 Jul 2012 22:14:15 +0000 http://anitamathias.com/blog/2012/07/14/when-your-theology-makes-you-cry-your-theology-is-too-small/#comment-18020 Anita, that is a good question. I think it is the teacher that is held more accountable. I always think of Jesus in John 21, when Peter asks about the “beloved disciple” He answers in my basic understanding, don't worry about him, YOU follow Me.
In Acts 10, I feel that is so clear that God, the Father, wants people to believe and follow His son and leads us by the Holy Spirit.
As we sang in church today, Jesus is the answer.
Jesus did teach on hell. It is not a pleasant place,I'm using understatement. I know it scared me as a child. I knew Jesus loved me, but I sure didn't like those passages. Did Jesus scare me out of hell?
I have been thinking and pondering on this post. I know what you are saying. I asked it as a child when the plan of salvation was explained to me in Good News Club- What about the Indians(Native Americans, now) that had no chance to hear? No one
gave me a good answer when I was young.
But a burning heart for missions filled me. My mission field is here where I live and work. I haven't left home. I feel the Holy Spirit draws people with tender chords of love. We, as followers, must be filled with the Holy Spirit and obedient to His word.
And Jesus said, “Ye must be born again.” Because you know He spoke in Elizabethan English(Smile.)
Pray for those to hear. Pray for those who tell. May what breaks God's heart break ours.

]]>