Who Needs Theology - Book Analysis Essay

Introduction

A belief is a state in the mind whereby an individual considers something to be true though that is usually not the case in most instances. Every individual, both Christians and non-Christians have different beliefs and different issues in life. Religion is entailed of several different cultural systems, how the world views spirituality and humanity, moral values and belief systems. Belief in the spiritual perspective of our lives and has been in existence for a long time. In a simple explanation, a theory can be described religiously as what we regard sacred, divine or spiritual. What we believe in has got a significant influence on our identity regardless of whether we consider ourselves religious or not. Having been born and raised in a Christian home made me develop certain beliefs in life and Christianity at large. The following is a personal reflection of the things I believe in and how they have been able to shape me up as a Christian.

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As a Christian, I believe that behind my existence, there is this supernatural being that is behind all this. A creature that is full of good things and cannot allow anything wrong to happen upon its creation. But with one experience in life, it changed my perception about my belief and left me with a question; what is the true nature of this supernatural being? Since childhood, I have been raised by my aunt. She is not a staunch Christian but has qualities such as fear of the Lord and a believer too. At one point, her business was not doing well as such, and that is when she came to consult me for advice. I told her she should just pray, and God will do something about that business. Instead of her following my opinion, she decides to go consulting a witch doctor for some powers to use in boosting her business. Being that she is a Christian that was a horrible decision to take and something happened, she further lost more from her store. This act further left me asking myself; could it be that God has decided to punish her? As a result, my belief in Gods changed. In as much He is a loving God, He is also capable of punishing individuals who do not do according to His will.

What is prayer, and how should we pray? Prayer is a question that any individual can always ask themselves. Since childhood, my parents have always taught me the act of praying. My parents used to insist on me to be very prayerful, stating that it was the only way I could reach the Supernatural being, and it could help solve some of my problems. I have grown up believing any type of prayer can work miracles. However, with continued growth in Christianity, my initial conviction about it has been changed. There is this point where our family was struck with illnesses, and my family members were ailing differently. This is when I decide to pray, but nothing happens. Things escalate further escalate, and I lose my beloved brother. This act made me lose faith in prayers and even started doubting if prayer does work. There is power in prayers. I conclude after consulting with my church Bishop and being assured me of that. However, different situations need different types of prayers. For God to answer some prayers, one has to be filled by the Holy Spirit first to make a perfect prayer. In some situations, individuals also have to pray and fast for something to happen instead of doing a ten minutes prayer and relaxing waiting. Prayers work this is according to my belief; however, some situations need extra things, including fasting.

One last experience that impacted on my initial conviction is about tithing and giving. As a Christian, I must always give an offering in a church in all situations. However, this is not the case. There are different types of giving tithing and offering being one of them. I can remember there is this point in life where I was praying for a job. The situation happened immediately after high school. I doubled what I had been giving as offering in church, hoping God will see and work out a miracle. My belief here is that giving in the church helps to stand in our place. However, after reading extensively and consulting, my perception changed, and I also learnt that there are different types of giving, including seed sowing and making sacrifices to God. The sacrifices made and seeds sown are what will stand in the one's place in the case when they need something special to happen to them.

According to the book "who needs theology", our interpretive framework comprises of our belief system and constitutes our fundamental theology. Our theological conviction allows us to experience our world as we do. We can never be very contented to let our theologizing be at the same level as knowledge (Grenz & Olson, 2009). Having the right beliefs is very crucial for Christian living. Theological education enables us to become wise Christians - our convictions towards believing different aspects, including culture, influence something. I am going to focus on culture as an example, how culture shapes our beliefs and the key steps to be followed for an individual to grow theologically.

The first step is listening and observing the people around us. Listening provides a venue for getting to capture the imaginations of people around us. Listening too will help one achieve those views that are making headlines and become part of topics of discussion (Grenz & Olson, 2009). Another aspect of culture that we should pay close attention to is the public and institutional life. Understanding institutional lives of individuals will help us know what institutions shaped their lives and those who need allegiance. The primary purpose of listening is to help us discern the questions and concerns of contemporary people. After discovering this, we go to seek answers from the Bible.

The second step is scrutinizing. Scrutiny can be done by asking the right questions with the primary goal being to tease out or understand the belief system that is related to that particular cultural phenomenon (Grenz & Olson, 2009). From asking questions, we can understand what people around us believe. So we should always be probing to find hints that reveal the theology underlying our cultural lives. Asking questions will still help us understand what the cultural phenomenon say about what people today believe.

Once the right questions have been asked, the third step is now responding through interactions. For instance, it is not sufficient to simply to discover the theology at work in our culture without interacting with it. As a result, we probe further asking ourselves how the cultural phenomenon relates to our Christian convictions (Grenz & Olson, 2009). As we investigate and interact with the culture, it provides us with a platform to challenge ourselves: how does this particular cultural expression cause me to rethink my convictions? The culture at times can make us understand whether the beliefs we are initially holding are right, or we are required to change. However, from interacting with culture, we may find in confusing further and hence decide to stick to our first convictions.

As Christians, we are supposed to ask common questions with theologically informed eyes (Grenz & Olson, 2009). When asking questions, they should be concerning topics being discussed. Our main goal, however, is usually not just to understanding these experiences but to interact with them through dialogue. We try determining the theological dimension of every lesson or item in question. To do so, we ask questions such as commitments of theology lying under different discussions or alternatives offered to these beliefs.

Conclusion

In conclusion, all our convictions that we hold onto as accurate may not be the case. Different aspects influence our belief systems. Our interpretative framework is entitled to our belief system and fundamental theology. For one to grow theologically, several necessary steps have to be followed including learning and observing things happening around us, asking the right questions to get more insights and interacting with the issue to ascertain the truth in it. Following these steps, an individual will be able to conclude the truth about their convictions.

Reference

Grenz, S. J., & Olson, R. E. (2009). Who needs theology?: An invitation to the study of God. InterVarsity Press.