In response to the Enlightenment, the church did the one thing they should have never done.
They compromised.
They tolerated the demands of an increasingly elitist and arrogant Enlightenment society who held up science and the human intellect as the new idols of worship.
It was quite an intimidating presentation to say the least.
And the church fell for it hook, line and sinker.
In order to avoid ridicule and fit in better with the “world” that Scripture warns us we are not to be a part of, the Church decided to come up with a way to present their theology in a systematic and scientific fashion so as to earn the respect of the “Enlighteners” who they perceived as being more educated and modern.
Again, they were kowtowing to a mindset that was hostile to the Bible and the things of God.
This was something they should have never done.
As a result, BAM…
A new and modern Systematic Theology was born.
So what exactly is this monstrosity?
I’m actually well familiar with it because I took a course in Modern Systematic Theology back in my Bible college days.
And it reminds me of the doctrine of the trinity in the sense the church is trying to neatly squeeze God into a box.
Basically what they did is divide up their theological beliefs into a bunch of categories and then gave those categories fancy names to make them sound cool.
Egotistic scholars just looooooooooove to come up with linguistic nonsense that nobody but themselves can understand.
So what are some of these categories?
Here are the main ones:
Christology
Soteriology.
Eschatology
Christology is all about the nature of Christ and who or what he is.
Soteriology is all about matters of salvation.
Eschatology is all about prophecies and how things are going to play out in the future.
And then there’s about 7 more categories I’m not going to get into here.
So here’s the thing.
These systematic categories became the non-negotiable doctrines you have to agree to lest you be branded a heretic.
That’s right.
Systematic Theology is the full fleshing out of the Orthodoxy & Heresy notion I discussed earlier.
There are certain questions posed by these systematic categories with already predetermined answers.
For example, one of the questions might be “Is Jesus God?”
If a given denomination has determined the only acceptable answer to that question is “yes”, then any other answer becomes heresy.
There’s zero flexibility for freedom of thought.
The dogma is shoved straight down your throat and you either swallow and digest it or you’re out.
So here’s what you’ve got to understand about the Christian world and its approximately 3000 denominations.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a member of an Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, Assemblies of God, Lutheran, Methodist or Episcopal denomination…
Or even a part of those groups that institutional Christianity would label as cults (based on their own systematic theology) such as a Mormon or a Jehovah’s Witness…
What you believe about any aspect of your faith has in some way been impacted by one of these 10 or so categories of Christian Systematic Theology.
That’s how pervasive it is.
And that’s why pretty much without exception any Christian group whether institutional or cultic is handcuffed by this Orthodoxy & Heresy mindset.
I hope this was educational because a lot of folks just don’t know this stuff.
So here’s the takeaway I’m getting for today.
I feel the gentile church leadership made a big mistake when they allowed themselves to be intimidated by the academic scholars and philosophers of the enlightenment who were hostile to Scripture.
They forgot they were to be in the world but not of the world.
Instead of being light to the world, they ended up compromising and bowing down to those forces of darkness whose ultimate aim was to undermine the truthfulness of Scripture.
And I think as believers we all face a similar challenge today.
We are surrounded by forces that want to shove their pro-transgender, pro-homosexuality and pro-Palestinian agendas down our throats in the name of tolerance and political correctness.
And since we don’t want to appear close minded or not with the times, we become afraid and decide not stand up for Scriptural truth and share our faith.
Or if we do share our faith, we share it in such a weak-minded and non-threatening way, it’s the same as if we hadn’t shared it at all.
Seriously homies, is that Scriptural?
Is that how Messiah behaved?
He was very direct and confrontational when he confronted evil.
He even caused a riot at the temple when he overturned the tables of those moneychangers.
So let’s turn up the brightness of our “faith light bulbs” to full intensity and not let the “enlighteners” of our day dim our witness for God.
Ya feel me HOMIES?!
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“Ye are the light of the world.
A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.
Neither do men light a candle,
and put it under a bushel,
but on a candlestick;
and it giveth light unto all
that are in the house.”
-Matthew 5:14-15
P.S. I’m aware that Systematic Theology as a formalized discipline emerged before the Enlightenment. It has always continued to evolve and adapt in response to various intellectual movements, including the Enlightenment. It’s that modern version that I’m referring to here homies.
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