Avoiding the Theology Gun

"If God puts no trust in His saints, and the heavens are not pure in HIs sight, how much less man, who is abominable and filthy, who drinks iniquity like water!" (Job 15:15-16)

Theology is the science of religion, anti-intellectual attempt to systematize the consciousness of God. If we take the doctrine of the trinity (which is a noble attempt of the mind to man to put into a theological formula the Godhead as revealed in the Bible) and say--"That is God," every other attempt at a statement of the Godhead is met by a sledgehammer blow of finality. My theology has taken the place of God and I have to say, "That is blasphemy." Theology is second, not first; in its place it is a handmaid of religion, but it becomes a tyrant if put in the first place. The great doctrines of predestination and election are secondary matters; they are attempts at definition, but if we take sides with the theological method we will damn those who differ from us without a minute's hesitation. Is there any form of belief which has taken the place of God with me? We only believe what we conceive of God, and when things happen contrary to that line, we deny the experience and remain true to our theological method. Job is on the right trail.

-Oswald Chambers, "Baffled to Fight Better" p. 76