Forest Theology

If, as we argued in the last article, we should model theology on a forest instead of an orchard, how would we go about doing it? A forest is not pure chaos. The law of gravity determines how strong vines must be to climb up a tree. The law of energy conservation determines how much leaf area a tree needs to get its sustenance from photosynthesis. The laws of thermodynamics determine how fast a rotten log rots. Thus the chaos is built upon a framework of simple elementary laws. In the same way, I want to posit a minimal set of natural laws of theology that will frame how our theologies develop. And I say theologies because every person creates their own.

If you analyze in the New Testament what Jesus says and does, as opposed to what one disciple named Paul claims he says and does, you will begin to see a clear theme in his teaching: how do you treat others? Or, to put it more positively, you should treat other people the way you want to be treated. This is important because it gives us a measure to determine if we our really hearing from God or not. Since God created and loves all people, any theology that mistreats people does not come from God. You are instead hearing the selfish human voice of the mediators, of those who want to stand between you and God and tell you how to live your life. Look at the story of Zaccheus in scripture, a man who mistreated others but who turns from his ways and begins treating people rightly. Or the thief on the cross who knew he had mistreated people, repents, and is promised a seat in heaven. Or the Pharisees who abuse and mistreat people and thus receive the only cruel words Christ ever uttered. Clearly, those who harm or otherwise use and abuse other human beings are working against God. Let's put it in a form more like a natural law.

The Golden Law: Any theology that results in the mistreatment of other people does not come from God.

Notice that it is teleological in nature, that is, it is defined in terms of the ends or results of theology. This is good, because it keeps us from having a theology of good intentions that ends up hurting people anyway. Intention does not matter. What matters is our actions.

The first law put a limit on what we can take for theology, but it gets us no closer to how we develop that theology in the first place. That's what the second law does. I've argued that God never wanted us to have a mediator, that his goal from the beginning was to be in intimate communication with each of us. But we block that communication in many ways. Often, we are too busy listening to our own inner voice to hear God speaking. Or, we find a million ways to distract ourselves. Perhaps we are afraid to hear his voice, because we have been trained by the church to think that God only accepts those who are perfect. The key, however, to building a forest theology is hearing from God. It is the only way. We are protected from the "Son of Sam" effect by the Golden Law. We have nothing to fear.

The Law of the Word: All theology is built from the words of God, spoken to us in various ways.

God speaks not only through the scripture, but in a thousand different ways as well. Sometimes it is the voice of a friend or parent. Perhaps he speaks through nature to us, or art, or meditation. It really doesn't matter. God has used all manner of communication in the past, and he continues to do so. We integrate all these sources into our own personal theology.

But a theology does nothing if it remains random thoughts about God. Our theology must be put into practice on a daily basis. If you think God wants you to help the poor, but you never give to the poor or visit the local food bank or help out at the local soup kitchen, then you don't really believe that God wants you to help the poor.

The Law of Action: All Theology results in action.

Finally, as God said in Genesis, it is not good for a person to be alone. And though you could argue that the fourth law is really one aspect of the Law of Action, I want to emphasize its importance. People who keep themselves apart from other people get freaky. This is not healthy. The problem is the church lies to us, and makes us think that we can only interact with those who have a similar faith to ours. To everyone else, we must proselytize. This is crazy, becuase there is no "one correct faith" anywhere in the world. Thus, anytime we interact with a person who follows God we can learn something.
The Law of Interaction: Any theology that results in people separating themselves from others who have differing theologies does not come from God.

This law protects us from becoming insular, creating our own little sect that condemns everyone else to hell. It also allows us to hear how God is speaking to other people. Remember, theology is a forest, not an orchard. God may stress to you that you help the poor, while to someone else he stresses being gentle and kind in personal relationships.

These are the four laws that I believe allow us to craft a theology for ourselves. The words we hear from God will allow us to live a life of constant growth and communication with God. Our theology will transform as we are transformed by it, because it results in action, not a dead page.