Great idea that I would love to see actually put into practice

DugDownDeep_Carnahan.mov from Covenant Life Church on Vimeo.

N. T. Wright has really helped me see how the Christian life in Paul’s letters is all about “theology proper.” Who God is means something essential about who we are.

This was a great video. My only worry is that it is used to vindicate some rather dry and lifeless stuff–it can be used in a kind of bait and switch. You see this great video and it motivates you to go to a church or attend a class that trains you to be a first class Pharisee.  A vision of life pulls you into a community of arrogance and self-exalting slogans that you are proud to own because others don’t.

That’s not the video’s fault; just something I’ve grown to be worried about.

2 thoughts on “Great idea that I would love to see actually put into practice

  1. pentamom

    I guess the antidote would be to stress that knowing God really well doesn’t come entirely out of a book. In conjunction with knowing the Book, learning more about God HAS TO (not just can) involve doing and experiencing, falling down and getting back up, etc. I think the video uses good examples like a man studying his wife — NOBODY even TRIES to do that by compiling verbally-based information, at least if he’s neuro-typical. It’s not just that pursuing the self-exalting, arrogant, slogan based stuff is “missing something,” it’s like trying to fix a bicycle not with a hammer, but with a butterfly.

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  2. pentamom

    This reminds me a bit of someone I know, whose slogan is that all unbelief and sin is at root bad theology. Following on your point and that in the video, that’s exactly right — except that the cure isn’t (as this person seems to think) reading a lot of stuff to get it right himself, and them haranguing people until their theology is right.

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