Unsticking Our Theological Sticking Points

It's Tozer time + a confession of my theological sticking points + why the study of God matters so much.

I am starting this post with a confession: I get irritated when I feel stuck. As an Enneagram 7, my biggest nightmare is feeling trapped and as though I have no freedom. Perhaps this is why I have such little patience for those who put too narrow of a view of what it means to be a Christian!

(Sidebar: Here’s the summary version of what it means to be Christian: If you follow Jesus and believe he died on the cross for your sins, and if you believe he was raised from the dead and is now Lord of all, great! If you talk to me about what people are wearing or how they view baptism, worship, or church governance, we are deviating!)

Great, let’s move on.

As I consider this topic of how theological sticking points keep people out of church, the only place to really begin is with the very brilliant A.W. Tozer, who, in The Pursuit of God, gets to the heart of what I want to say:

“When religion has said its last word, there is little that we need other than God Himself.”

I shared in a past post that one of the reasons I left the Catholic Church was because I could not agree with a closed communion that did not allow all those who professed faith in Jesus to receive the bread and wine. This was a theological sticking point that I could not get unstuck — and remains to this day.

Now you may be thinking, Laurie is quite open-minded and wise in this belief! Not to dash your view of me, but I must share that in the not-too-distant past, I likewise snubbed a non-denominational church because they did not take communion seriously enough! Two minutes for the celebration of the most precious of remembrances was far too short, I deduced.

I needed just the right balance when it came to communion: Open, but only if it’s done the right way, with the proper reverence!

In our most honest moments, we might all confess that we have strong convictions when it comes to what we believe to be right and wrong for Christians and churches. For instance, we may say:

• I can’t be in a church that disavows speaking in tongues.

• I can’t be in a church that engages in infant baptism.

• I can’t be in a church that teaches that women can be pastors.

• I can’t be in a church that affirms same-sex marriage.

• I can’t be in a church that is monoethnic.

• Etc.

It is not wrong to have strong convictions; these are normal to human nature (as I will share later). Allow me, however, to back up a moment and reintroduce you to the term “theology” before we continue.

The Study of God + ______

“Theo” means “god” in Greek; “logy” means “the study of.”

Theology is the study of God first and foremost. Secondarily, it is the study of religion. When Tozer writes, “When religion has said its last word, there is little that we need other than God Himself,” he is prodding us. “Don’t get distracted by other things!” he is practically yelling, “It’s about God! God!”

My mind simplifies it this way: When we know God, we can discern the importance of our more nuanced theological sticking points. If you’ve been in the Christian subculture for any amount of time, you have heard people talk about primary vs. secondary matters of faith or open-handed vs. close-handed issues.

Primary issues of the Christian faith typically include beliefs around the person of Christ, his resurrection and second coming, and the authority of the Bible. Secondary issues — those that can divide us, but which are not absolutely essential to following Jesus — include topics like baptism, eschatology, church governance, worship, and gifts of the Spirit, to name just a few.

Heart Check! ✅

We may feel extremely strongly about secondary issues, but the question we must ask ourselves is: Can someone read what the Bible says on an issue differently than I do and can that person still follow Jesus with their belief?

Notice that I intentionally included “read what the Bible says” here. Everything we believe must stem from our desire to study God, and where we most clearly see God’s heart and will is often in the Bible.

Why do we believe a certain way when it comes to gender and sexual identity, eschatology, worship music, dancing, or any other topic? Why?

We must do a heart check with any theological sticking point that has kept us stuck. Does this belief stem from what we see in the Bible, what we have been taught, or what we see from others around us? Let me be blunt. The first of these is the only foundation that is sturdy enough upon which to build!

We must ask, “Does this belief stem from what we see in the Bible, what we have been taught, or what we see from others around us? “ The first of these is the only foundation that is sturdy enough upon which to build!

There is great danger when we allow cultural norms to be the foundation for our beliefs! Christianity is first and foremost about God. When we don’t do the hard work of understanding who God is, we do a grave disservice to ourselves and others.

Jim Elliot, a missionary to Ecuador, once said it this way:

“Be careful how you tie down the Word to fit your set and final creeds, systems, dogmas, and organized theistic philosophies! The Word of God is not bound! It's free to say what it will to the individual…”

I promise I am not trying to be blasphemous. I am not calling for a Wild West version of Bible reading. What I am asking is for us to have a bit more dependence upon the Holy Spirit as we study about God and about potentially divisive issues today.

I believe there are two steps we must take as we deal with secondary issues that can divide us: (1) get to the heart of the matter and (2) revisit the graciousness of God.

To the Heart of the Matter!

For instance, we may have differing beliefs on baptism, but at the end of the day, we must ask ourselves why our differences matter. I love what Rachel Held Evans wrote years ago in her brilliant Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church:

“Baptism declares that God is in the business of bringing dead things back to life …. Baptism reminds us that there’s no ladder to holiness to climb, no self-improvement plan to follow. It’s just death and resurrection, over and over again, day after day, as God reaches down into our deepest graves…”

Do you see what happened here? As she studied God’s Word, Evans was able to get to the heart of baptism. Similarly, as we seek to learn more about God, we see commonalities in our differences. Some of us may see baptism as a saving sacrament, others as symbolic. Do we believe in infant baptist? Believer’s Baptist? Immersion? Sprinkling?

Baptism may look different to different people, but when all is said and done, baptism represents God’s work of bringing dead things to life. Finito!

Now it is my very strong belief that Christians can simultaneously think vastly differently on almost any secondary topic and still be committed to following Jesus. We can walk through issues of differences — seemingly big ones and little ones — and still see Jesus.

This extends to our attending church. Evans said it so well:

“Even when I don’t believe in church, I believe in resurrection. I believe in the hope of Sunday morning.”

I must share an image that comes to mind. As we travel down the line of secondary issues, we stop and ask ourselves why we believe so strongly about each. We address one, and then another, and another.

And then we inevitably reach the end of the line. This is where the primary issues lie. Is Jesus God? Did he really rise from the dead? Was his death what saved us?

At these, the journey ends. There is no negotiation around these points. A church that does not believe in and teach Jesus as Savior and Lord is simply not a church.

I want to be transparent so that as you seek to get to the heart of your theological sticking points, you won’t feel alone. Here are a few of my secondary beliefs that I continually wrestle with:

• I believe women should be able to preach in the church. And yet a few of my closest girlfriends are complementarian.

• I believe worship songs should always center on the person of God, not on our problems. And yet I have seen Jesus meet people in their pain as they sing of their struggles.

• I believe that each version of the Bible has something powerful to add to our understanding of God. And yet I am chastised for using certain versions.

• I believe that God doesn’t desire bad things to happen. And yet I often think of children who are suffering, trafficked, or starving and I don’t accept the quick “This world is broken” response too many of us give.

• I believe that God loves all people. And yet Christians sometimes get upset with me about my seemingly lack of a stance on issues of gender and sexuality.

All of us have sticking points we are trying to get unstuck. This takes us listening to the Holy Spirit in regards to why each matters so much to us and what will happen if they don’t begin to matter as much.

Oh, Gracious One!

Let me tell you three truths about rules and boundaries: sometimes we like them, sometimes we are overwhelmed by them, and sometimes we get hurt by them.

All of us to some degree or another appreciate rules. Driving through an intersection that has a red and green light to guide traffic is comforting. We feel safer with boundaries. We like to know what is right and wrong (and sometimes how far we can push those limits!).

Boundaries and rules are helpful, but sometimes, they can also feel overwhelming. Reverse back to the Old Testament and the law. There were so many rules that God’s people simply couldn’t keep up with them all at times! I often think that if I were an Israelite at that time, I would’ve needed way more than 40 years to get it right!

And at times, boundaries and rules can even be harmful, particularly when they stem from a human heart. How many of us know (or are!) people who have come out of strict Christian backgrounds where we were told what we could and could not do?

The weight of rules can be crushing. Men can’t be alone with women. I cannot say swear words as they may reflect the darkness of my heart. No dancing at this wedding! Cover up, girls, boys are looking! You don’t pray first thing in the morning? You will burn!

Perhaps you are familiar with the “Billy Graham rule.” Men cannot be alone with women other than their wives if it may lead to any appearance of “sin.” The irony was not lost on me when I was to have lunch with my former boss. The restaurant was just two miles down the road but because he was a him and I was a her, we had to drive separately.

I am not sure if you have been the recipient of crushing rules and limited boundaries or if you have imposed them onto others. Regardless, the fundamental truth of the universe is that God is extraordinarily gracious and neither is acceptable to him.

When we are a Holy Spirit-led people, we will allow the big, gracious love of Jesus to be our guide. When we have been crushed by other’s rules, the Holy Spirit can whisper to us, “You are enough! You are free when you remain in me!”

When we crush others by our rules, we must allow the Holy Spirit to speak to us as to why we put such high standards upon others.

I remember attending a church that did not allow someone to be baptized because they were, as the church said, “unwilling” to repent of being in a same-sex relationship. As a 20-something with an out-of-control eating disorder, how grateful I am that my pastor didn’t tell me that I needed to do X-Y-Z in order to be baptized! That baptism was one of the most defining moments in my life — it wasn’t the moment I would be all healed of my disorder, but it was the moment where I knew God to be gracious beyond measure.

The key to any theological sticking point is to turn to God himself. What do we know to be true about God? Yes, he is holy, but far greater, he is gracious.

An Attempt to Sum This Up

It is time for me to quote my favorite book, Knowledge of the Holy! Tozer says my main point way better than my simpleton words can:

“…the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like.”

Theology — the study of God — is our only hope for breaking down dividing lines that have separated us. It’s the only way to unstick our theological sticking points. It’s the only way to find freedom after we have been crushed by overwhelming rules and limited boundaries or after we have imposed those onto others.

Back up far enough into the study of God and you will not find him to be burdensome, overbearing, critical, or fussy. You will find him to be gracious beyond measure, holding out an invitation:

To the one who has been crushed by rules: There is freedom to be you.

To the one who has imposed too many rules: Allow others to have freedom, too.

God is still working on me with that closed communion. I understand why the Catholic Church does it. I just don’t like it. I am still learning the graciousness of God, too.

Much love to you,

💚 Laurie

(Next time I will tackle if the church is even relevant or matters as we pursue God. Hint: I might not say what you think I should say but I kind of think it’s right!)