I am bored with theologians who think they have an answer for all the questions of divinity. I find theologians who live with unanswered questions far more interesting. I fear that some theological systems are so “sound,” with categories and boxes for everything, that they simply cannot be true. Faith is not merely an intellectual exercise; it is a journey through new uncharted waters full of unexpected surprises and unexplained mysteries. In fact, “faith” and “facts” are really at odds with one another. If you know something, it is no longer faith it is now a fact. Faith requires, at its core, unanswered questions. Some of the theological systems that men have forged are more like a logical workout then a mysterious journey.
When two people in suits come to my door with logical answers about every theological subject I not only find them boring, but I know that they are false prophets. If you can explain all there is to know about God, then your god is too small for me. I want a God that is bigger then my 5.5” x 6.5” cranium.
One day, Augustine was walking along the shore of the Mediterranean contemplating the triune nature of God. He happened upon a small boy who dug a hole and was running back and forth from the ocean to the hole collecting and then pouring water into the hole. Augustine asked what he was doing. The boy said, “I’m putting the ocean in this hole.” Augustine realized that by trying to understand God entirely was as ridiculous a proposition as filling a small hole with an entire ocean.
The theologian who worked alongside of Luther in the reformation, Melancthon once said, “It is better to worship the great Divine than to explain Him.”
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