doctrine | Craig T. Owens

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Don’t Create Spiritual Parasites

April 26, 2013 — Craig T. Owens

Pastor, here are two quotes for your consideration…

Theology is the science of Christianity; much that is wrongly called theology is mere psychological guess-work, verifiable only from experience. Christian theology is the ordered exposition of revelation certainties. If our teaching and preaching is not based on a recognition of those things that cannot be experienced it will produce parasites, people who depend on being fed by others. —Oswald Chambers (emphasis added)

Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. —Acts 17:11 (emphasis added)

As a pastor our job is not to spoon-feed a watered-down message to everyone. Our job is to challenge our congregations to find God for themselves. We should be creating in them a hunger for God’s Word; we should be encouraging them to study the Bible for themselves; we should be preparing them to feed themselves on the richness of Scripture.

Or, we create needy spiritual parasites. It’s our choice…

Posted in Pastoring. Tags: Bible study, doctrine, maturity, Oswald Chambers, pastors, preaching, Scripture, teaching, theology. Leave a Comment »

Jesus: A Theography (book review)

January 7, 2013 — Craig T. Owens

Very rarely do I say what I’m going to say about Jesus: A Theography by Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola: This is a must-read!

Jesus does such an amazing job of showing Christ in all His fullness throughout the entire Bible, that I cannot recommend it highly enough. It’s a weighty read covering a weighty subject. At over 300 pages of text, 20+ pages of quotes from imminent theologians, and nearly 100 pages of end notes, this book gives you so much to contemplate. As much as I enjoy speed reading my books, this was a book that I had to read and digest slowly, as there was so much to process in each paragraph.

Far too many people think Jesus “showed up” in the New Testament. But Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola do a masterful job of weaving together the Old and New Testament texts (or, as the authors call them, the First and Second Testaments), to show Christ in all His fullness. If you are among those who have only seen Jesus in the New/Second Testament, you are about to have your paradigm totally rocked!

Let me restate my opening paragraph again—If you want to know more about Jesus Christ, Jesus: A Theography is a must-read!

I am a Thomas Nelson book reviewer.

Check out some quotes from this book here.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: book review, doctrine, Frank Viola, Jesus Christ, Leonard Sweet, New Testament, Old Testament, theology, Trinity. 5 Comments »

Preach Christ

November 16, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

My Dear Pastor,

“Preach Christ… He is the whole gospel. His person, offices, and work must be our one great, all-comprehending theme.” —Charles Spurgeon

Posted in Pastoring. Tags: Charles Spurgeon, doctrine, Jesus Christ, pastoring, pastors, preaching, sermon. Leave a Comment »

Thursdays With Oswald—Revised Views Of God

May 5, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

Revised Views Of God

The sign of dishonesty in a man’s creed is that he finds out defects in everyone save himself. … Trouble always arises when men will not revise their views of God. … It is a most painful thing for a man to find that his stated views of God are not adequate….

The man who rests in a creed is apt to be a coward and refuse to come into a personal relationship with God. The whole point of vital Christianity is not the refusal to face things, but a matter of personal relationship.

From Baffled To Fight Better

Every time I read God’s Word I should be confronted with the reality that I don’t know it all. I don’t have it figured out. That’s because the Word is perfect, and I’m not. So the Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to point out flaws in my creeds and theology that need to change.

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

I also need to remember that a creed is a cold, impersonal thing. But my relationship with Jesus Christ is vibrant and personal. Just as I continue to learn new things about my wife (even after 21 years of marriage), I continue to learn new things about my Savior (even after 40+ years of walking with Him).

Changing and revising my creeds is a sign of a mature, healthy relationship.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Bible, Bible study, creed, doctrine, Hebrews, Oswald Chambers, relationship, Scripture, theology. Leave a Comment »

Challenging Concepts

March 18, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

Part two of our Spiritual Self-Defense series went well last night. Considering this was a difficult concept to wrap our finite, human brains around, I felt that everyone was tuned in. Trying to wrestle with the concepts of God as omnipresent, the unique Three-in-One arrangement of the Trinity, or Jesus as fully God and fully Man are not easy. But it is so important to keep learning and keep growing in our understanding of who God is.

Some people bail out too quickly. “It’s too hard,” they complain, and then walk away. But we have to keep stretching.

A couple of thoughts I’m pondering today:

“If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself.” —Augustine

“It seems that when we encounter a hard truth about God, we either bend our understanding to Him or bend Him to our understanding.” —Chris Tomlinson

I want to believe the Bible more, so I’m asking the Holy Spirit to continue to bend me and shape me to the deeper truths about God.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Augustine, Chris Tomlinson, doctrine, education, Godhead, growing, Holy Spirit, learning, lifelong learner, quotes, theology, Trinity. Leave a Comment »

Bad Theology

March 17, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

I’m working on the next lesson in our Spiritual Self-Defense series. It’s a tough topic to address: the deity of Jesus, who was fully God and fully Man.

I know it’s very hard for a finite human mind to grasp an infinite concept like this. However in my studies I have found some really bad theology posted on the web. I realize as soon as I say, “It’s like this…” that I’ve already diminished the majesty of God coming to earth in human form, because Christ’s virgin birth, sinless life, sacrificial death and resurrection is nothing like anything we can comprehend. But still, I need to find a way to capture it and explain it to our students.

C.S. Lewis wrote about the need for good philosophy to address bad philosophy. I’m adapting his quote in this instance to say,

“Good [theology] must exist, if for no other reason, because bad [theology] needs to be answered.”

Prayerfully my good theology can answer the bad theology that I’ve been seeing.

Theology is a compound word: Theos (God) + Logos (wisdom, revelation, thought). I’ve been praying that God will give me greater revelation about Him. And I’m grateful that the Holy Spirit has given me some like analogies to use. But I’m still blown away by how unlike anything we’ve ever known was the coming of Jesus to earth. It is truly the grandest of all miracles.