It's not that I haven't been thinking theology. Quite the contrary, I've been thinking very much.
I keep very busy with a bible study I lead at work that is going very well. The men in the study keep me on my toes... I feel it demanded (OK, maybe that's self imposed) that I understand something of the depth of each passage before we meet. It's been a great experience to dig into God's word every week. Right now we're in Colossians. We've finished Hebrews and a small section from Luke's gospel.
I've also had the pleasure of taking a correspondence course through RPTS. This is actually the first time they've started offering classes in their 200 years of operation, so I'm thankful to be on the front end. I've taken a course taught by Dr. Prutow on ministry of worship. The class was incredibly insightful (and the materials are freely available online if you're interested). http://www.rpts.edu/courses.php
In addition, I've been stockpiling snippets of thoughts into what I had hoped would become blog posts. I'll list them here for your amusement:
Blog Idea: How could it be that "To Die is Gain" if we don't have assurance of eternal salvation? How could it be that our citizenship is in heaven if we don't have assurance of eternal salvation? (this is in response to an article I read called "Assurance of Salvation?")
Blog Idea: We sing psalms in the public worship of God. We sing from the psalter for the same reason we preach from the bible, and not Mere Christianity by CS Lewis.
Blog Idea: Taking down the high places. (this would be a discussion of how there were good kings and bad kings of Israel. The prototypical good king, though, took God's Word to heart and took down the high places; Josiah reformed Israel's worship. There were other good kings who were loved by God, but they always stand in the shadow of Josiah.)
Blog Idea: Awesome and Awful. (this would be on how God is both worthy of Awe and also striking Awe.)
Blog Idea: Sin against God vs. Sin against Mother Nature - How we interpret natural disaster. (this would be basically about how in modern thought the worst thing you could do would be to increase your carbon footprint. People have abandoned the thought of sin against God the Father and chosen instead to condemn people for their abuses of Mother Nature)
Blog Idea: http:/
Blog Idea: The roots of idolatry. An indescribable experience seeks to be recreated... and played like a record. (this would be a dialogue concerning what idolatry looks like. My wife and I were reading CS Lewis' Perelandra at the time. The main character, Ransom, seems to battle in his mind the idea of doing something twice simply because it was enjoyable the first time... I think perhaps he's touching on the very roots of idolatry.)
Blog Idea: So, after Jesus had blessed the bread, the disciples turned their attention from him and bowed down to the consecrated host? (this would be because I've been thinking about "the Lamb's Supper" by Scott Hahn. I've read only a few excerpts, but here's the most disturbing: speaking of the Eucharist, "When Christ comes at the end of time, he will not have one drop more glory than He has at this moment, when we consume all of HIM!")
Blog Idea: Adam was created after God's image. Are we born after Adam's image or conformed to the image of Christ? Jesus is the image of the invisible God. (this would be an interesting study... if I ever got around to doing it.)
Reading them now, I kind of think I've been mulling over a number of theses. Not quite 95... yet.
Blessings!
