The Tin Can Telephone Theology

It's a new day,


which means a new post on Archaen...
I cant believe we've been keeping this thing alive for about a year now- wow!
Crazy.
Anyways, next weekend Im going to be a speaker for the Annual Men of Action Conference
- you can like us on facebook- and all that jazz...
anyways, im supposed to talk about something to do with 1 Timothy and so,
par usual,
im brainstorming on Archaen!
Im tempted to talk about a verse or two near the beginning which talk about how we need to avoid foolish controversies about the law and endless debates over genealogies.

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

Ever hear someone drone on and on in what sounds like a pre-rehearsed shpeel about dogma or theological ideals? They continue on almost as if they have these series of strung-together slogans they have to finish first, before you interject with an innocent, 'huh?' or the similar voice of reason?

To steal a line from Matt Theison of Reliant K, "Are we debating just to win the argument?"

Well, are we?
One has to wonder today, in a world full of Westborough Baptist Churches, crazed street evangelists and overly zealous Jesus Camps, just what these meaningless controversies look, feel and sound like. I think that many times we confuse how we worship God with God himself... when I first left from Albuquerque to go to school in Missouri, I felt hollow and shallow and alone... and so I cried out to God. And God did not answer... but after a hard period in my life, I came to realize that what I was thinking was Jesus was actually only a religious system as an avenue to navigate a comfortable, pre-defined God. Perhaps, this was not God at all- but while I was stuck in the theological machine, God had not abandoned me. He's big that way. Which is really comforting. Im not saying it's not right with me perfectly right now- but perhaps the glass is a little clearer now.

Meaningless controversies can sometimes stem from one's own particular paradigm, or perspective world view, applied to the pursuit of power or self-esteem, over mass amounts of people can be exceedingly damaging. I think when we trade honest fellowship with one person's stylized view of God, we cheat ourselves out of a full, open relationship with God. We go through someone else in order to 'get' to God. We trade conversation between us and God only, with playing telephone through a 'priest' of some sort or another. And the longer we use the tin can telephone, the more our words become the other person's vocabulary. Where does this come from? Where does it end? I think we can avoid many of these problems by engaging God on our own. After all, if we're supposed to have a relationship with God, doesn't it mean exactly that, anyways? There. That's it. 

Like what you read? Want it live at your Church, Christian Camp or Youth Group? - please let Ryan know- I'd love to! Please email to ryanpfreeman1@aol.com Thanks and God bless -Ryan