Theology for Non-Theologians: An Engaging, Accessible, and Relevant Guide

299 Pages·2007·1.33 MB·English

by  James Cantelon

THEOLOGY
FOR NON-THEOLOGIANS
THEOLOGY
FOR NON-THEOLOGIANS
An Engaging,
Accessible and
Relevant Guide
JAMES CANTELON
John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
Copyright © 1998, 2007 by James Cantelon
All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyright herein may be
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National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data
Cantelon, James
Th eology for non-theologians : an engaging, accessible and relevant
guide / James Cantelon.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-470-84067-2
1. Th eology, Doctrinal—Popular works. I. Title.
BT77.C223 2007 230 C2007-900983-2
Production Credits
Cover design: Adrian So
Interior text design: Tegan Wallace
Cover photo credit: Kim Steele/Getty Images
Wiley Bicentennial Logo: Richard J. Pacifi co
Printer: Friesens
John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.
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1 2 3 4 5 FP 11 10 09 08 07
To Homer and Shirley, my fi rst teachers in theology
Contents
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Introduction 1
Part 1: Th e Existence of God
Does God Exist? 9
A Case for Unbelief 21
Part 2: Th e Nature of God
What’s God Like? 37
One Plus One Plus One Equals One 65
Part 3: Th e Decrees and Works of God
His Mind Is Made Up 87
Th e Lord God Made Th em All 107
God Is No Absentee Landlord 127
Does He Ever Break the Rules? 147
Part 4: Th e Word of God
God Talks About Himself 169
Can We Trust the Bible? 195
Th e All-Time Bestseller 217
Conclusion: A Man with an Experience 249
Notes 263
Study Guide 265
Glossary 297
Index 299
About the Author 312
Introduction
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“First impressions are lasting impressions.” So goes the old saying, and
I suspect in most cases it is true. My fi rst impression of God is with
me to this day. It happ ened at a musty old church camp in central
Saskatchewan, Canada. I was fi ve years old.
Back in those days we were into tabernacles. Not only were most
of our churches called tabernacles, but our camp meeting buildings
were also given this Old Testament name for tent. On one especially
hot day my parents were in the adult tabernacle, and 1, with my fel low
junior campers, was in the children’s tabernacle. Th e teacher was tak-
ing us through Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. As she taught, something
sparked within me.
Aft er the lesson the children exploded into the sunshine to play.
I lingered. Miss Brown seemed to know why.
“Can I help you, Jimmy?” she asked gently. I nodded dumbly, bit-
ing my suddenly trembling lower lip, tears welling in my eyes.
“Let’s go into the back room and pray,” she said. I can’t explain what
happened. Nor do I wish to describe it. But I will say this: at age fi ve
I suddenly felt as though I was the worst sinner who had ever lived.
My sense of sin nearly crushed my little heart. Th e prayer, however,
had not ended. It began with remorse; it grew into joy. I felt the newly
discovered burden lift from my fragile soul. Th e presence of God over-
whelmed me. Without my looking for him or asking for him—indeed,
without any knowledge of my need of him—God came looking for me,
asking for me, needing me, a fi ve -year-old kid. I left that tabernacle
reborn, knowing sin and know ing a Savior, but not knowing that I had
become a theologian.
Yes, a theologian—just like anyone else who comes to a knowl-
edge of sin and of a Savior. For as one theologian put it, the putting
 Introduction
together of these two great truths is a beginning of theology. It’s just a
beginning, mind you, a beginning that must be followed by a life long
adventure in growth. Th e apostle Peter in his great letter (II Peter 3:18)
challenges us to “grow in the grace and knowle dge of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ.” Paul put it another way: “And we pray…that you
may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way:
bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowl edge of God”
(Col. 1:10). Whichever way you want to put it, by acknowledging your
sin and confessing Christ as Savior you have committed yourself to a
life defi ned by theology. Nevertheless, we have a problem.
Th e problem is a huge comm unication barrier. Th e barrie r is
composed of two parts: caricature and language. In our world we do
not think of every believer as a theologian. Th eologians are stuff y aca-
demics who frequent moldy libraries and smoke evil-smelling pipes.
Th eir hair is wispy, their foreheads are prominent, and they tend to sing
tenor at best and monotone at worst. In fact, we see their whole lives
as one colorless monotone. Th en there is their language. Most people
never open a book on theology, but if they do manage to get past the
must and the mold, intending only a casual glance, their eyes light on
somet hing like: “In this we hold the Sublapsarian view, as distinguished
from the Supralapsarianism of Beza and other hyper-Calvinists, which
regards the decree of individual salvation as preceding, in order of
thought, the decree to permit the Fall,” or “Th e Scriptures enlarge our
conception of Christ’s sonship by giving him in his pre existent state
the names of the Logos, the image, and the eff ulgence of God.” What
in the world is a Sublapsarian? Someone who lives beneath Lapland?
And eff ulgence? Isn’t that some kind of pollution?

Th e science of God; systematic and formulated knowledge of God.
Little wonder the book is slammed shut. Th eology and theologians
seem to be woefull y out of touch with the real world. But they should
not be. Certainly you, as a theologian, are in touch with the real world.
“But I’m not a theolo gian,” you protest. Oh, yes, you are. Maybe it will
help to discuss briefl y the what, why, and how of theology.
Introduction 
Th eology, simply put, is “the science of God.” Science is defi ned by the
Concise Oxford Dictionary as “systematic and formulated knowledge.”
So putting the two defi nitions together, theology is the systematic and
formulated knowl edge of God. Th e defi nition doesn’t answer the ques-
tions, Whose system? and Whose formula? Nor should it. Everyone
has a system. Everyone has a formula, no matter how primitive or er-
roneous it may be. However, the work of classic theologians (wispy
hair and all) has been to cut through error and arrive at a biblically
grounde d science of God. Th ey have a lot to say. But it needs to be said
in terms that you and I can understand today.
Th e communication barrier should not be attributed solely to
the classic theologians. Th eology deals with more unknowns than
knowns. It also demands a lot. It requires exacting mental and spir-
itual concentration on our part and concerted revelation on God’s
part. Th eology is like a puzzle, two pieces of which God puts together,
leaving us to fi gure out the rest. We should expect a few blunders
along the way.

An uncovering of something hidden; a “dis-covering” of the truth.
Th ere is more than one answer to the question, Why theology?
Th eology is as much a part of thought as physiology is a part of anato-
my. If some rabid, anti theological society could succeed in destroying
all theologians and theologies in this generation, new theologians and
theologies would emerge in the next generation. Indeed, the anti theo-
logians are theologians in their own right. Th ose who most disdain
others’ theology show by their convictions that they have their own
theology. But there is yet another answer.
You have heard the adage “Ignorance is the mother of supersti tion.”
Unfortunately, many people’s theology is the crystallizing of ignorance
more than the systematizing of God’s revelation. Th ey wander about in
the theological dark, formulating doctrines that belong in the world of
witch doctors. Th erefore, we need to say more than that everyone has a
theology when asked, Why theolog y? We need to distinguish between
right theology and wrong the ology, for theology is like a backbone.
 Introduction
Right theology will have you walking straight and fi t. Wrong theology
will have you hunch backed and paralyzed.
Th e biggest question is, How theology? How can you begin to
develop a “systematic and formulated knowledge” of God when your
intellect tells you that you cannot know God? And your intel lect is tell-
ing you the truth. Even the Bible agrees: “Th e man witho ut the Spirit
does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they
are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they
are spiritually discerned” (I Cor. 2:14).
Here is the place to build a case for heart knowledge as a coun-
terbalance to head knowledge. In Old Testament terms the heart is a
combination of what your senses tell you and what you choose to do
about that information. What is more, the Old Testament sees your heart
as an organ of knowledge. Th ere are several references to this, among
them: “I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. Th ey
will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me
with all their heart” (Jer. 24:7). Heart knowledge is vital in the minds
of the old theologians because love and faith, which seem to reside
in the heart, generally precede intellectual knowledge of God. Blaise
Pascal once said, “Human things need only to be known, in order to
be loved; but divine things must fi rst be loved, in order to be known.”1
You become a theologian with the potential to develop a correct theol-
ogy if, before anything else, you have a heart of love for God.
I think it necessary, however, to qualify the term correct. Th eology
has its limitations. Correct theology has degrees of cor rectness. Here
is an example of why.
When a parent is teaching his preschooler to add and subtract, he
uses apples or oranges. “Here is one orange, Johnny. Here is another
orange. How many oranges do I have now?”
“Two.”
“Very good! One orange plus one orange is two oranges! One plus
one is two.”
Th is seems to be a rather self-limiting exercise for the parent, es-
pecially if he is a mathematician. To teach a smaller mind, how ever,
self-limitation is necessary. And a good deal of self-repression is need-
ed as well. Th ere is such a temptation to the teacher to answer for the