Why do you believe what you believe? Are you Baptist, Methodist or Presbyterian and more importantly why or why not? Are these things you thought through systematically or do you still go to the same church as your parents? Within your denomination, are you conservative, liberal or moderate? What are your thoughts on election (Romans 8 not Sanders vs. Biden)? These questions are rhetorical, something to think about, but the one I really want to address today is this: Are your answers to these questions today the same as they would have been 10 or 20 years ago? How many iterations of systematic theology did you go through to get where you are today?

I would like to put my thoughts into words about how I got here on the journey. I suspect that if you’re somewhere around middle age, like myself, then 40 or 50 something you is at least somewhat removed from early adult, fresh out of college, ready to start a family/career you. Continue reading →