The First Theologian.

Now the serpent was the shrewdest of all the creatures the LORD God had made. "Really?" he asked the woman. "Did God really say you must not eat any of the fruit in the garden?"

"Of course we may eat it," the woman told him. "It's only the fruit from the tree at the center of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God says we must not eat it or even touch it, or we will die."

"You won't die!" the serpent hissed. "God knows that your eyes will be opened when you eat it. You will become just like God, knowing everything, both good and evil."

The woman was convinced.

Genesis 3:1-6a New Living Translation

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I have been convinced for some time now that what we call "theology" is a subtle tool of Satan.

Most of Western theology is centered on figuring out (or explaining away) what God has said, both in revealed scripture and natural law. "God did not really say..." could almost be the opening lines of every book of theology I have read (it's admittedly not a very long list). Theologians seem intent on telling us what God really meant, as if the plain truth wasn't right before our eyes (to quote a black pastor from Cleveland, "God said it. That settles it. It doesn't matter what I believe or think.").

The True Revelation of God wasn't given to the Scribes, Priests, and Pharisees. It was given fishermen, thieves, and prostitutes...people who were quick to recognize the Kingdom of God being presented to them. Western theologians are usually either slow to recognize the Kingdom of God, or they are blind to it. They pile on laws to replace Grace, or they introduce independence when servanthood (slavery) is called for. They perform plastic surgery on God in the vain effort to make Him conform to OUR wills, not the other way around.

Interestingly, in Eastern Christianity, theology is seen as prayer, and a theologian is seen as one who prays (not one who thinks). We discern knowledge of God in fervent yet quiet prayer, not in fervent intellectual activity. In prayer, we seek surrender to the Mind of God. In study, we seek to master the mind of God.

It ain't a happening thing.