John Anning

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A Philosophical and Theological Perspective of Origins, Grace, and Biblical Faith



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Theology
"It is widely understood to mean literally "the study of God".


Theology

Theology
Theology finds its scholars pursuing the understanding of and providing reasoned discourse of religion, spirituality and God or the gods. The origin of the word theology comes from late middle English (originally applying only to Christianity) from French théologie, from Latin theologia, from Greek: theologia, from theos or God or logos, "words", "cause", "sayings," or "discourse" + suffix, "state of", "property of", "place of". It is widely understood to mean literally "the study of God."

Theologians use philosophical analysis and argument to understand, explain, test, critique, defend or promote any of a myriad of religious topics. Theology might be undertaken to help the theologian understand more truly his or her own religious tradition, understand more truly another religious tradition, make comparisons between religious traditions, defend a religious tradition, facilitate reform of a particular tradition, assist in the propagation of a religious tradition, or draw on the resources of a tradition to address some present situation or need, or for a variety of other reasons.

The word 'theology' has classical Greek origins, but was slowly given new senses when it was taken up in both Greek and Latin forms by Christian authors. It is the subsequent history of the term in Christian contexts, particularly in the Latin West, that lies behind most contemporary usage, but the term can now be used to speak of reasoned discourse within and about a variety of different religious traditions. Various aspects both of the process by which the discipline of ‘theology’ emerged in Christianity and the process by which the term was extended to other religions are highly controversial.


Biblical Inerrancy and Authority

Can the Biblical Scriptures be trusted as the inerrant and authoritative "Word of God" as our ultimate source of truth and guidance?
There are some who would argue that the Biblical Scriptures are nothing more than a collection of creative writings by humans over the span of centuries and that its narratives and teachings are merely the result of human opinion, human wisdom, and human imagination, never intended to be taken literally. This is a huge problem and an extremely serious one with unrecoverable implications and theological consequences! There would also be immence philisophical problems with this view of the Scriptures! If the Biblical Scriptures are nothing more than the result of merely human ideas, and not the accurate and authoritative Word of God, we would be left with absolutely nothing! There would be no reason for the Christian Church and its teachings to exist, because there would be no basis for it. Everything that is taught about Judaism and Christianity is solely based and dependant on the reliable and accurate transmission of truth, spoken from God through His chosen divinely inspired men as they penned the Biblical Scriptures under His supernatural guidance.

So if the Biblical Scriptures is not the authentic Word of God, and merely human narrative, it would be nothing more than fairy tales and human dogma, worthless to anyone and everyone seeking to find the will and desire of God. Everything that we have learned about God, Jesus Christ, The Holy Spirit, heaven and hell, marriage and divorce, right and wrong, angels and demons, sin, forgiveness, grace, etc., has its roots and basis in the Biblical Scriptures. Biblical doctrine has permeated our lives more than we can even imagine! And there is no other recorded documentation that I know of that even deals with the origins of the universe like the first book of the Bible (Genesis) does, because no one else but God was there during this time! In the book of Genesis, God gives us a detailed account of His creative time-line of events that happened during this time of physical cosmic beginnings that can be found nowhere else but in the Bible!

So how can we know that the Bible is true?
All of the time and energy spent here referring to Biblical principles have been based on the premise that the Judeo-Christian Scriptures (The Bible) is the standard by which truth is measured. This of course presupposes that the Scriptures is indeed the authoritative Word of God, communicated without error to mankind. But how can we trust that the Scriptures are the accurate source of God's Word? Many have tried to offer a compelling answer to this question but have fallen short philosophically in their methodology of proof. Dr. Jason Lisle gives a very compelling apologetic summary on the subject... (Closing quote below:)

"The truth of the Bible is obvious to anyone willing to fairly investigate it. The Bible is uniquely self-consistent and extraordinarily authentic. It has changed the lives of millions of people who have placed their faith in Christ. It has been confirmed countless times by archaeology and other sciences. It possesses divine insight into the nature of the universe and has made correct predictions about distant future events with perfect accuracy. When Christians read the Bible, they cannot help but recognize the voice of their Creator. The Bible claims to be the Word of God, and it demonstrates this claim by making knowledge possible. It is the standard of standards. The proof of the Bible is that unless its truth is presupposed, we couldn't prove anything at all."

See his source page for the full apologetics on the subject: https://answersingenesis.org/is-the-bible-true/how-do-we-know-that-the-bible-is-true/

>> PDF version available here <<


Why Do Christians Hold Such Different Interpretations of the Same Bible Text?

Same Verse, Different Interpretations
It is amazing how one given Bible verse can be interpreted so many different ways. There are, of course, examples of Biblical text that can be interpreted different ways, and be justified in doing so. God's word is unique in this way. Sometimes, Biblical text is dynamic in its meaning and implications. However, most of the time, when a verse of Scripture is interpreted in different ways, it is usually because there is a bias from a presupposition already held that the reader tries to apply to a verse to confirm their own belief. There is always a comfort in finding validation to what we believe to be true, especially when it comes from Holy Scripture. The danger, however, is always that our bias and/or presuppositions will influence our interpretation of Scripture, rather than allowing the Scriptures to influence our bias and/or presuppositions.

"Balanced" Interpretations?
There has been discussion among some Christian leaders encouraging readers to hold to a "balanced" interpretation of any given scriptural text. This raises a few questions for me; (1) By what standards or criteria do we deem something as "balanced"? (2) What presuppositions and/or bias is held by someone making the case for a given "balanced" interpretation? (3) Does a balanced interpretation necessarily guarantee an accurate interpretation? This can be a problem because an assumption about being "balanced" is being made here. The assumption would be that a "balanced" view is the correct view, and that "balance" in general is a good thing to strive for. Some would argue that if we are "balanced", we will satisfy the need to combine more than just one interpretation, so as to make it more palatable to a wider audience. However, our ultimate goal here should be an interpretation that communicates truth, whether the interpretation is popular or not, or "balanced" or not. The true interpretation is not always the "balanced" interpretation! If someone embraces an interpretation of scripture that is clearly in error, should we then compromise on its real meaning in the name of being "balanced"? Of course not!! Therefore, we should not concern ourselves so much with being "balanced" but rather on what the scriptures says in context and in harmony with itself, despite what we want it to say. We cannot "balance" truth with error, nor should we ever try to!

Presuppositions + Bias = Interpretations and Beliefs
Some of the different beliefs, views, and interpretations that we hold of the same Scripture, can unfortunately be the result of presuppositions and bias that already exists somewhere, contrary to a Spirit-led correct biblical interpretation.

The reasons we tend to have presuppositions are (1) because we trusted someone who persuaded us to believe what they believe, (2) it brings some comfort to believe a certain way, (3) we align ourselves with secular humanistic value systems of logic or reason based more on philosophical assumptions rather than in taking the Scriptures at face value, (4) Pride—The unwillingness to admit that maybe we are wrong, or, (5) some or all of the above.

The reasons we tend to be biased are (1) because we have presuppositions, and/or (2) we hold self-interest above the interests of God or others.

We all have reasons for what we believe to be truth. I hope and pray that the way that we interpret the Scriptures is consistent with the Scriptures themselves and based on the Sprit's leading, resulting in good Biblical exegesis, rather than in personal preference, based on what we want to believe. We do not have that luxury.