Theologians are Fourth Graders

   History of Christianity II is the first class where I've shared most of my core theological views with the professor.  Writing papers has been pretty easy because at Vintage we have been throwing around a lot of the ideas from the movements we are covering in class.  Its been great learning how to better articulate my faith, but just as I'm beginning to cement my views, in comes a curve ball.

   The paper was on Charles Finney. He was a revivalist preacher in the mid-1800s who really emphasized our free-will in choosing to follow Jesus.  Because Finney thought that conversion is based only on people's choice, he focused a lot on a methodology and means by which preaching was done.  To me, he sounded kind of manipulative in the way that he wanted to create a setting that influenced people towards Jesus. I also didn't like how moralistic Finney was; never once did he mention grace. Last night I hammered out a paper that was very critical of Finney's preaching and revivalist movement, taking my typical Calvin-flavored stance.

   When I got to class today I was totally dismissive about this guy.  He didn't line up with my theological standpoint so I didn't really care to pay a whole lot of attention about the details of his movement.  Theology was just so cut and dried in that moment. Calvin = good guy. Finney = bad guy.  I didn't realize that I was thinking like a fourth-grader until the guy in front of me interjected with an exasperated voice.
"I don't see why Finney is any worse off than the Calvinist preachers of the previous revivals." He said, "If you were to ask me if I believe in predestination or free will--I don't know! I know that God is in control of everything, but limited atonement? That kills me!"

  The raw honesty of this comment has left me quiet for the rest of the afternoon. What do I know, really?  Can I honestly say that I understand the way that a sovereign God interacts with morally autonomous people? No perspective seems to accurately capture God.  This is frustrating, but it is also infinitely freeing.

Theology should be less simplistic, so that we don't delude ourselves into thinking that we have it all figured out.  But theology should also be more simplistic, because when it comes down to it, we just need to trust our Dad.