WHY I LOVE THEOLOGY

Theology is thinking about God, no more and no less. So, you do not have to write volumes of books about God to be a theologian. I think about God; therefore I am a theologian.

Theologians belong to one of two camps- either they are systematic theologians or practical theologians. Being a systematic theologian implies that person considers the entirety of God’s being and actions to put forth doctrine while a practical theologian considers selected portions of God’s being and actions in the application of doctrine. Furthermore, theologians are not necessarily Christian- any organized religion can and does have theologians. And Christian theologians can and do differ in how they understand God.

Having said all this, I am a Christian practical theologian who is an evangelical in the Baptist faith tradition; as such, I hold a high Christology and a high view of Scripture, and believe in the authority of Scripture, believer’s baptism, priesthood of the believer, congregational governance, and separation of Church and State. Christian education has been my primary contribution to practical theology as a result of my education and experiences.

My theology before I was converted to Christianity on March 14, 1969, was rather skimpy and incomplete. To ascertain that I was an atheist would be partially correct. I was for all practical purposes a Deist in that I believed that Someone or Something had created us and then left us to our own devices for survival. Just months before my conversion I hedged my bets by deciding to be an agnostic by opening the possibility of believing in God if God’s existence could be “proven” to me by my own terms. I soon discovered that God did indeed exist but God did it His way.

Another theological shortcut I used before my conversion was the balance scale. I would balance out my actions on a scale in my mind. If my actions tilted toward the good, I was safe with God. If my actions tilted the toward the bad I would rationale them away so I could deceive myself into continuing to believe that I was a good person.

To simply testify that on the morning of Saturday, March 14 when I awoke I was not a Christian and when I fell asleep that evening I was is correct but the narrative leaves out rich details, before and after my conversion. I believe my story begins Friday, February 13,1969 (or the following Friday) when arriving at my college dorm room after classes that day I heard the voices of strangers talking with my roommate and at least one other friend. I entered my room and three other students I did not know talking with my friends about God. We introduced ourselves and I discovered the three were students with the Baptist Student Union (BSU), After discussing the existence of God for a few minutes, the three invited us to a retreat at “the ranch” occurring in a few weeks. I accepted their invitation (I do not recall if my two friends did or not).

What the BSU called “the ranch” was actually an old farmstead located in south central Oklahoma about an hour or so driving time from campus. On the property was an old bunkhouse where we met, slept, and ate. On the first (and only) night there we all introduced ourselves. I discovered about half of us were BSUers, including the three who had visited my dorm room several weeks earlier, and the rest of us were inquirers about Christianity, including me. I remember the atmosphere was positive, friendly, and encouraging, and the BSUers were sincere about the sharing of their faith.

The next morning, after breakfast, we were split into groups of two- a BSUer was paired with an inquirer. My partner was Mike King. Mike and I read through the first chapter of the Book of James in the Christian New Testament. Then Mike looked intently at me and asked me if that was the kind of life I desired. Knowing my life needed focus and direction, I replied, “Yes.” We then prayed and I committed my life to Jesus Christ.

The next day I attended First Baptist Church of Norman Oklahoma. In worship “Preacher Hallock”, the senior pastor, asserted in his sermon that Jesus Christ as the Son of God was God. “Wow!” I recall thinking as a light bulb went on in my head- “Now, it make sense.” While I had previously heard that Jesus was the Son of God, I had never made the connection that Jesus as Son was God Incarnate as part of the Trinity.

Another aspect of being a Christ follower was that I met my future wife “just in time.” After attending First Norman a few weeks I heard about a dynamic church nearer to Oklahoma City. First Southern Baptist Church of Del City even sent buses to campus, a one-way trip of 25 miles, both Sunday mornings and evenings to pick up students. One evening I decided to ride a bus.

First Southern Del City was huge, a mega-church before the term became popular with church sociologists. The congregation was also diverse, comprising blue collar and middle class suburbanites sprinkled with a few bankers and oil men, as well as with military families from Tinker Air Force Base, and college students from primarily OU and Oklahoma Baptist University. The church was mostly white with a noticeable number of blacks and a few Asians. The style of its worship services was decidedly “low church” with evangelistic preaching and stirring music. It was about as pentecostal without being Pentecostal as a church could be. And I decided this church was for me as I came forward at the conclusion of a morning worship service and asked to be baptized. That event occurred in April.

I do not remember when I first sighted her- “her” being Karen Kay McLane. But the place was on a church bus one evening in April going to evening worship. I got on the bus and sat down. As I was looking around I spied a beautiful co-ed with a winning smile talking to a friend of hers. I immediately took notice and a voice inside my head exclaimed, “I am going to marry her!”  I made sure that we sat together during worship. We introduced ourselves and I discovered that she drove a Ford Mustang – my favorite car! (That sealed the deal!)

I proposed on July 4 and we were formally engaged the following summer when Karen’s parents drove to Afton to meet my grandparents. Throughout the process there was some drama and chaos, yet we made it work out. We were married on January 15, 1971, in the Del City church.

The reader may be asking what do the stories of my conversion and courtship have to do with theology. Unlike the Deist god who has been described as the ultimate Clockmaker who created us and then checked out, the God of the biblical canon is a loving Father who cares for and sustains His creation with His active involvement. Theology is our human attempt to make sense of the divine involvement.