Thursday, February 20, 2014

Christianity 101: Theology for Teens

Branch Parents

We have begun our spring series Christianity 101: Theology for Teens in Wednesday Night Live. It was exciting to begin a series that will be mostly academic in the sense that there will be a lot of information for students and families to learn, contemplate and act on.  It isn't, however, my desire that we have a bunch of pundits walking around the youth floor waxing philosophical on theological issues day and night (boy, wouldn't that be a chance).  What I do want to see is families who begin to think critically about truth and - more importantly - who let affects their lives, renew the minds, and change their hearts.   

The first session - Introduction to Theology - was last night and focused on five questions:

1) What is theology?
2) How do I form theology?
3) What affects the formation of theology?
4) Why should I be aware of my worldview?
5) What's the point of Christianity 101?

If you would like to see the full outline for last night, click here.  We hashed out all of these questions in detail, but the big thing that we really focused on last night was how our individual worldviews can greatly influence how we form theology and what theology we end up forming.  For example, if I highly value tolerance and compassion in my worldview, I'm going to really have a hard time with a passage like 1 Samuel 15:2-3, where God commands Israel to destroy the Amalekites - men, women, children, infants, cattle, goats - everything!  See, the difficulty that I have reconciling my worldview with an apparent characteristic of God (namely, that he visits His wrath on people sometimes) might affect how I form a theological belief about God's wrath as well as what belief I form. 

Accordingly, the thing that we really have to ask ourselves is "What presuppositions am I bringing to the table?".  And at the end of the day, I need to ask myself, "Is my theology actually a reflection of biblical truth? Or is it merely a reflection of my worldview and personal opinions?". Here are some questions that will help you follow up with your teen:

1) What are some of the things that influence the development of your worldview?
2) What values and beliefs are part of your worldview?  
3) Are there any parts of your worldview that seem incompatible with scripture?
4) How do you reconcile times when scripture really challenges something that is an important part of your worldview?
5) What part should God play in determining your worldview?