Simply Sinning

In the beginning, the elohim created skies and earth.

Welcome back.  

I've been asked to sit on a theological panel at my church to discuss sin and salvation.

I am very excited about this.  I only have one friend with whom I can sit for hours and talk that good old theology talk without either of us looking at our watches because we're bored.  

It will be my first time serving in such a capacity.  I was thinking about how I would prepare.  I am no expert in theology, yet I am a sinner most expert.

I say I am no expert, but I do possess academic credentials.  I earned a degree in philosophy and religion.  Furthermore, I earned some credit hours in theology while attending a Baptist seminary.  I did not finish for reasons I wrote about in earlier posts.

You can also visit my website:  neverleavinggod.com to learn more about my faith journey.

Theology class was a disappointment.  I hoped for a survey of theology.  Instead, I sat an entire semester learning about one old guy theologian from another old guy theologian.

What fun to learn about Emil Brunner for a semester after reading Paul Tillich's Systematic Theology for a whole year with a Princeton professor who had been one of Tillich's students.

Tillich was a breakout theologian for me.  After reading and comprehending his work, what does one do with any orthodox theology?

Anyway, I have studied and still do study theology.  My degrees are a B.A. in philosophy and religion, a B.A. in English, and an MA degree in composition and rhetoric.  (I do not know if the letter M should get the article "a" before it since it is not a vowel or gets an "an" before it since it sounds like a vowel.  The "an" sounds more natural.  Grammar means a lot to me.)

There are four sources to learn about sin.  The first is one’s own experience.  Anyone who can talk can sit on a theology panel and discuss sin. 

Related to personal experience, another source is other people.  Psychiatrists, psychologists, and counselors get paid to listen to other people regret or analyze their sin.

Philosophers of religion, theologians, and ministers are another source.  They have sinned and pondered deeply about sin as an existential, academic, and devotional subject.

Literature and poetry are most profound sources to ponder sin.  In fact, the Bible contains a lot of poetry about sin.  Does it not?

Those are my starting places.

Blessings…