Novus Theos, no. 1

INTRODUCTION

Is it time to take a fresh look at the study of theology? My thesis is that the postmodern narrative in theology damages the body of Christ and needs to be re-evaluated. Recent events over the past 20 years have revealed a new understanding of the Bible's intent, speaking to us about the deficits we have experienced as a society and our war with the powers and rulers. We are gaining a new understanding of the agenda and plans they have for us, plans to keep us in bondage to our ontology and to rob you of everyone you love and who loves you.

This will be the beginning of a seven-part series that takes a fundamental look at what the Logos represents to you and the body of Christ, in an attempt to clear away the "noise," the postmodern narrative, that has come from the postmodern secular theologian of our time. I will encourage you to consider the Bible as God's “ongoing invitation to a relationship with him so you can experience what he has offered us for centuries, abundant life.” It will not be a thorough investigation by any means; I'll leave that up to you to pray about and ask God to lead you on a new journey of dealing with your relationship with Him while you have time. 

POSTMODERN THEOLOGY

Let's talk about this theological problem. Theology comes in various flavors: modernity, postmodern, and secular. Look at some of the narratives coming out of theological studies today. These theologies have been driving the narrative for centuries. And these narratives have tremendous power over how we think about our God, faith, and orthodoxy.

“ Theology is the activity of thinking and speaking about God. These God thoughts reflect on the ultimate life questions about God. Theology is for doxology (praise) and devotion (the practice of godliness). “~Colorado Christian University Online

"Some religious traditions practice apophatic theology: the idea that God cannot be described or understood because of the limits of human reason and is only definable by determining what God is not." ~Jared Walczak, National Review, 31 Mar. 2023

"Although you do not have to be religious to study theology, you should be prepared to spend much time discussing, researching, and wrestling with the fundamental nature of God."~Wikipedia entry, Aug 27, 2021

”The modernist approach to theism started with the Bible. Rather than interpret the Bible literally, secular theologians sought to connect with the Bible's message as Christian mythology. This new approach discarded the concept of "Christology," or the figure of Jesus Christ, as a historical fact. This new interpretation allowed secular theologians to pursue the values and ideals of Christianity without conflicting with the modern worldview .~National Secular Society Publication
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Are you getting the point? Modern-day theology is not serving us very well. The original intent of the communication from Jehovah to us was to “offer us the terms of the relationship He originally intended.” But today’s secular, postmodern narratives drive a false narrative that serves the Thief and his useful idiots and continues to destroy our lives. Many miles have been inserted between the Creator and us, even as we claim to worship in our contemporary Christian churches. For example, a recent encounter with a Catholic priest pushed the Reparations narrative out of the Marxist playbook. Or look at many denominations teaching on contemporary issues such as abortion, homosexuality, divorce, and reparations. They are promoting a false gospel. We are being programmed into a secular "theology" that is simply leading us to despair and depravity.

BEGINNINGS

So, what did the Bible tell us about Him? He who created us and continues to pursue us. 

We must understand that "Jehovah of the Elohim" wanted to have a relationship with us. He created us "a little higher than the angels." He created us "in His image and likeness." And His glory is bestowed on us because of His love for us. He loves, and He loves us. Take a moment with that statement.

"God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him. In this is love brought to perfection among us, that we have confidence on the day of judgment because as he is, so are we in this world."~John 7

He created us out of His love for us, His creation. He needs to love because that is what He is. LOVE! Everything that He is about is LOVE. And we are like Him in that as we escape our ontology, we love as He loves.

The Ten Commandments were Jehovah's initial communication. He knew we were living from our ontology from the beginning. He knew we needed a guideline to gauge our moral lives. We see this with the Cain and Abel incident in Genesis.

Read the OT as a story of how God called out and pursued his chosen for centuries. What did He pursue them for, a relationship?

THE INVADERS

Meanwhile, the Rulers and Powers are speaking to us, calling us to heed their advice and adopt their narratives. They didn't like that he created us to have a higher status than them. They were a jealous lot. For centuries, they made it clear what they wanted, and humanity gave it to them. They wanted us to worship them with the sacrifice of our children. Many civilizations participated in this. And continue today, as we see with the abortion industry and sex trafficking activity going on.

An entrenched narrative about the Rulers and Powers that has had a deadly influence on us is that "there is good in all of us. We need to look for it in others." "We're all good people." NO, we’re not. Humans are terrible creatures. Thomas Merton speaks to our human condition in his book A New Man. We are greedy, selfish, sinful, defiant, disobedient, lustful, and slanderous. The reason for all of this is our Ontology. Merton makes a case for our Ontology as sin. It isn't a moral decision that makes us the way we are. It is what we are. We are sinners, and we desperately need what God is offering, salvation. (“Salvation” refers to everything Jesus stated in the temple concerning the blind, the poor, the brokenhearted, and captives.) He came to set us free to be fully functioning, healthy, wise, and understanding human personalities!

ONTOLOGICAL

Our ontology is a big problem. Operating in our ontology, we reside in our flesh, pride, and selfishness. We wage war with others. Narcissists seek to hide in their trauma memories. Men drink to ease the pain of their fathers beating them for no good reason. Humanity resides in depravity, and as Francis Schaefer said, "We are living below the line of despair."

A simple approach to this theological problem is to connect the opening theme of the OT with that of the NT. We were created by an all-powerful spiritual being named Jehovah of the council of the Elohim. And He created us in His likeness and image for a relationship with Him and each other. One problem, He gave us free will. We had to have "free will" for this to work; knowing this free will element would allow many of us to go our own way and reside in the "free will ontology of sin," and most of humanity did. Thus the Flood. 

God created us, knowing that our free will could crush us. But we needed to exercise free will to have a functional relationship with us. But when Eve ate of the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil, everything changed for the human race forever. And we haven't recovered from this event.

The OT is rife with the events that follow eating the "apple." As God told them, "You must not eat of the tree, or you will die," warning them with his command, to trust him. This tree was a prominent feature of the garden, and it provided his creation to function with free will. This is love playing out. Still, we ate off the tree, and everything changed for us. We then knew the things that fed into our ontology and sent us on a journey few would recover from.

PROPHESY

Connecting the dots in the NT, we have a messiah prophesied by men like Isaiah, Zechariah, and Ezekiel. A messiah will arrive on our planet, a gift from Jehovah, bringing a message of love, hope, and forgiveness. The prophets wrote about Jesus as the Savior. Jehovah went to great lengths to prepare us for Jesus' arrival so we would recognize him when he arrived. And as he came, few knew what had happened. But the message was proclaimed, the crucifixion took place, and the Holy Spirit showed up, and the rest is history. More of that later. 

The theology preached today is missing the point God has made for centuries. Humanity isn't doing well, and we, more than ever, need to hear the original message. Salvation through Christ is offered to us. God has a plan. He loves.

”Trust me, come back to me." The message hasn't changed. He has a better Truth, Way, and Life available for you, offered by the Messiah He sent us.

SUMMARY

We are created beings. We were created in the image and likeness of a powerful spiritual being named Jehovah, and other names, depending on what He is trying to accomplish. (Hebrew names are interpreted differently from English names.) We were allowed to act freely and were introduced by the demonic to the concepts of good and evil at the beginning of human existence. Things went south for us from that moment, and we have been entangled in a spiritual battle ever since.

What we have going on now, on planet Earth, is the great manifestation of the battle that has gone on for centuries. And we thought the 30-year War on the continent of Europe was a tragedy.

The prophets in the Bible spoke of a messiah who would appear and bring good news. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, offered to us today. We are invited to a special relationship of forgiveness and abundant life, one we have not yet known in our ontological, fallen state. Jehovah created us for a relationship with Him and with one another. Because we are having a difficult time as a race not to be held in bondage by our ontology, He sent His Son, the Messiah, to offer a way through the challenges of our humanity. And by taking an 80,000-foot view of our lives, He desires to help us connect the dots to understand our dire need to heal, forgive, and love ourselves. We can become a society of functional, wise, and understanding human beings. We will conceive and raise children who surpass previous generations in all endeavors. And we can confront and defeat the Thief and his minions on their turf. They have one agenda: to steal, kill, and destroy everything in their path, us! Meanwhile, God has an agenda to bring us back into a relationship with Him and to live an abundant life as He had planned from the very beginning of time. A relationship with our Creator, a functioning, loving, creative relationship with our loved ones as well, enables us to live a fulfilled life while on this planet, let alone an eternity to think about!

Let's set aside the orthodoxy most religions offer and explore Jehovah’s offering, through Christ, to give sight to the blind, preach the good news to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, and proclaim liberty to the captives. He has spoken and continues to speak to all of us to this day.

What else could you ask for?