Email exchange....

A dear friend of mine just wrote, and he is a part of my journey (and happy for me to include this).

 Here is his email, then my response.

Hi John,

Yesterday i read your post about balance theology. I definitely find this topic very interesting (I'll try to find time to read Wax's article). This lead me to think (not sure why) about Carl's book "The Art of Not Evangelism" which focuses away from doctrines and dogmas but rather on Jesus and making him known. I remember vividly a passage where Carl says we need to point the way to Jesus and simply encourage people to get to know him personally rather than impose a set of laws they need to abide to to be "included" in our church group. This ties as well to what I touched on about Jesus being the only way to the father and by extension, his person being central to our faith (him being God himself or not). So I wanted to know how you perceive this book and its message now that your "wrestling" with the person of Jesus? Maybe that topic can be covered when we talk about how our theology impacts our testimony. R.

Response:
You are right about Medearis book, it was my favourite book last year. I do not feel like my main wrestling is with Jesus, although you or others could see it that way. It's more avout the possible gap between scripture and the creeds. I am happy to conform my thinking to the Bible! But to understand the Bible, I need to re examine the influences the creeds may have had on my interpretation. I also need to better understand why some ecumenical creeds are rejected and others accepted, and on whose authority. Luther's?

Remember, creeds are like lenses that affect deeply how we read the scriptures and ultimately how we relate to God. Maybe they do not affect our good deeds or personal testimony so much, but they might affect the ideas we try to share.

You are right bro, the jump from "balance", be that in discipleship or in theology (this is what Wax confused), is a slightly separate topic, but we can apply it here. Will I keep a balance of enquiry, i.e. Honest discipleship with submissive discipleship?  Yes I will try. You can - please do - hold me accountable to that and help me! j