The Religious Nerd

Let’s be honest, most normal-hardworking people don’t particularly care for lazy people. Lazy people are often fat, consume tremendous amounts of food, watch hours of TV every day, play video games non stop,are glued to the internet, and sleep ten or twelve hour a day.  Lazy people rarely have anything to offer the world.  They don’t cure cancer, they don’t invent new technology, they don’t feed the poor, or serve their local community.  Lazy people are often stuck sulking in their misery.  Many times lazy people are compulsive.  They lack self control, and don’t have a sense of direction in life.  Not all lazy people are like this, some are high achievers in certain areas of their life while lazy in the rest. Nevertheless, hardworking people look at lazy people and are disgusted.

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Christian folk shouldn’t disagree with this point, as the Bible makes it clear that:

Proverbs 18:9 Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys.

Proverbs 20:4 The sluggard does not plow in the autumn; he will seek at harvest and have nothing.

Proverbs 13:4 The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.

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Some of you are nodding your head in agreement.  Don’t nod just yet!

What if I were to tell you that you are probably a lazy person yourself? You might be in great physical shape. You might be a beautiful person, inside and out.  You might have a successful career, own a lovely home, and have a husband or wife and kids that adore you.  Yet, you might be a really lazy person in respects to your knowledge of the bible and theology. Before I explain why that is, I want to address why you are without any doubt a theologian, though probably a lazy one.

There are people out there that claim theology is separate from Christianity all together, and that the study of theology is irrelevant and in some circumstances, counterproductive to faith. These people say things like “you should read your bible not theology” and therefore, do not consider themselves to be theologians.  These people are very confused and don’t understand basic vocabulary. Theology is just a word that means the “study of God”.  Anyone who has ever come to any conclusion about God is a theologian.  That means that everyone is a theologian. You are a theologian! If you still don’t believe me check out this article I wrote discussing this in greater detail.

While you are a theologian, you might be an extremely poor theologian.  Your theology might stink.  You may have come to all kinds of incorrect conclusions about the Bible and God based on all kinds of corrupt resources whether they be Youtube videos, Facebook posts, sermons preached at your local church, podcasts, books, commentaries, stories from visiting evangelists, stories passed down from previous generations, and on and on.

The fact is everyone is incorrect about some aspect of their theology, some people more than others.  I am incorrect about some of my views, and have changed some of my views as I have grown in age and matured in my faith.  You are incorrect in some of your theological views too! Beware anyone who claims to be correct in all of their theological views as they are liars. They practice a religion of arrogance and deceit. Honest men can admit they are wrong, especially regarding topics as vast as theology. Young men are often guilty of this.  They believe they hold “orthodox” views and that anyone who holds views different from their own need to be shamed, excommunicated, and cut off from the Christian community.  My friend Pastor Bogdan Kipko writes about these people in length HERE.  If you are one of these people you are part of the problem, not the solution.  You’re also very lazy in your theology.

Why is that? Consider this:

You’re probably a lazy theologian if:

1) You always regurgitate content.  This means that you repeat things that you have heard without analyzing or fully comprehending them.  This is a very common attribute of lazy theologians, and you probably do this often.  Perhaps you heard your favorite pastor speak about Arminian theology.  You understood the basic thrust of his argument, but not the finer details.  Now you find yourself entering a debate with a Calvinist and you regurgitate what your pastor said, without really comprehending what it means, or what the implications of it are.  You tell your Calvinist friend that he is wrong, and repeat a funny phrase that your pastor used to make fun of Calvinists.  Even though you really haven’t taken the time to analyze the core components of your view, you present your view as truth, and attempt to dismantle your Calvinist friends view because he has to be wrong if you are right.   If you have done this, you are a lazy theologian.

2) You don’t make any efforts to understand other peoples positions.  Let’s say you have a friend who is a Christian that believes in theistic evolution.  Because you have been raised to believe that evolution is bad, or your pastor, or respected Christian figure says so, you automatically believe with full conviction that anyone who believes in theistic evolution is wrong. Even though you have never really looked into theistic evolution, or wondered why there are many smart Christians that believe in it, you are convinced it is false. This is very common behavior for many Christians.  Over time, you might become indoctrinated to a very specific (and narrow) point of view.

This often happens to people that have a very limited supply of theological influence in their life. Cult members are taught to avoid interaction with those who aren’t fellow members because the influence might drive them away from “the truth”.  The idea that the other guy is wrong is ingrained into people at a subconscious level. They just know the other guy is wrong and have zero interest in understanding why they are wrong. If you have done any of this, you are a lazy theologian.

3) You don’t put any effort into learning more about crucial subjects. Consider this: “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men” (Col 3:23).  If you don’t word “heartily” at learning more about crucial subjects, you are a lazy theologian. I get it, ancient Greek, ancient Hebrew, and the ancient Near East culture and history aren’t the most enjoyable subjects to study for most people.  Yet, these are the things that make that Bible what it is.  If you’re a devoted Christian that believes the Bible is God’s Word, stop being so stinking lazy and start digging in much deeper.  It’s hard to take someone serious when they give their opinion of what a verse means “to them” when they offer no knowledge of what the original author intended the verse to mean “to everyone”.

As a seminary graduate I occasionally face criticism such as “he doesn’t know what he’s talking about”.  Coming from a lazy theologian with a preschool level knowledge of the Bible, that doesn’t mean much. I don’t boast about my education, or act like I’m better than anyone either, but if they bring up a topic, I’m not afraid to make points about what so and so theologian thinks on the matter. The faith is simple enough for a child to grasp, but if you’re reading this, you probably aren’t a child and need to stop being lazy and graduate from Sunday school.  That doesn’t mean you have to be a scholar. Anyone with a drivers license that can read, can drive to the local public library and check out some books on Christian subjects.  You’re on the internet right now, so close out the fantasy football window, or the Macy’s window, and open up some fun articles about crucial subjects.

4) If you do put in effort, your research is limited to your tribe. I don’t mean to pick on the Reformed people, as this is true for every denomination/tribe of Christianity, and there are thousands of denominations, but boy do they love to stick to their tribe.  John Piper, Matt Chandler, RC Sproul, Mark Dever, Mark Driscoll, Tim Keller, Paul Tripp, and on and on.  Reformed people have these authors on their shelves, and constantly recommend that people read these authors as they are exceptionally gifted communicators of God’s truth.  Meanwhile, NT Wright’s books are collecting dust on the bookshelves of your local Christian book store.

As one Reformed pastor once said “NT Wright?  I think it’s actually NT Wrong”.  The same goes for many of my Pentecostal friends who always suggest offerings by their favorite charismatic personalities. Friends, as much as I appreciate the writings of the Neo-Reformed, or the zeal of some of the Pentecostal  personalities, there is a lot more out there.

There is so much content available for little to no cost, that you really have no excuse for not accessing it. Last year I read the classic  “How to Read a Book” by Mortimer J. Adler.  To paraphrase one of Mr.Adlers points, you aren’t really going to learn much if you read books that aren’t challenging you to think.  If you keep reading the same content over and over again, published by different authors in slightly different packages, you aren’t going to grow in your knowledge.  You can read as many books about Calvinism as you want, but if they basically say the exact same things, you’re wasting your time.

So read books that offer different perspectives from different “tribes”, and regardless if you end up agreeing with the author or not, you have learned something in the process. If you choose to avoid doing the hard working of learning, you’re a lazy theologian.  If you choose to only consume content put out by your tribe, you’re a lazy theologian.

5) You’re so narrow minded that anyone that holds a position other than your own is anathema.  You might have seen the word anathema in the NT (1 Cor 12:3, Gal 1:9, Rom 9:3).  When Paul used the word anathema he used it to mean that a person was to face excommunication for some sort of unrepentant, and disastrous behavior, or heretical teachings.  Narrow minded people are quick to call anathema when they encounter anyone who holds a view other than their own.  Yet the early church was full of people that held different views on crucial subjects ranging from which books should be in the Canon, whether or not there is a Trinity, the deity of Christ, the dual nature of Christ (man and God), the Eucharist, and on and on. In the New Testament church we see a frequent message that encourages unity, which makes it clear that there was substantial disunity, and disagreements among the various churches.

Now there are over 30,000 Christian denominations filled with people that disagree with each other. Despite our differences, we need to be kind to one another and be willing to allow a brother or sister explain herself before calling for anathema.  There certainly is a time for calling someone out for their behavior or “heretical” theology, I wrote about that HERE.  But for the love of God, stop being lazy and actually take the time to understand the persons position.  Do some research, find out what authorities from different backgrounds say on the matter, pray, and think before you act.

Some of these lazy theologians that are involved in accusing people of anathema are often the same people that participate in what is called a “straw man argument”.  A straw man argument is an argument that misrepresents a persons actual position, and attacks the false position instead of the correct one.  People in the audience who are listening to a straw man argument and can’t detect it, often laugh and walk away wondering how someone could be so stupid for holding a position so seemingly ludicrous.  Lazy theologians use straw man arguments because it takes too much time and effort to thoroughly investigate a person actual position.

I feel bad for those who are deceived every Sunday morning by straw man arguments, and lazy theologians. Sometimes I wonder if these theologians are lazy because they are afraid of the truth. They are afraid of what will happen to them if they become convinced that theistic evolution is true.  You might get fired if you were on staff at a church and became convinced of the validity of theistic evolution, so you instead avoid difficult subjects all together to make life easier on yourself.  That is intellectual dishonesty, and a common attribute of a lazy theologian.

Stop being so stinking lazy! Stop criticizing people for being fat and lazy when your theology is lazy. Start learning more about crucial subjects and why people think the way they think. Stop dismissing everyone as heretics, start asking people to explain their position. Expand your reading beyond your tribe, and devote more time to learning more about your faith.  Christianity isn’t a faith built on stupidity, it’s a faith held by intelligent people for intelligent reasons. You don’t have to be a lazy Christian anymore, you don’t have to be seen as a “fatty” by your informed brothers and sisters any longer.

God bless.