\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0After debating, mulling-over, gnawing on, and otherwise obsessing over the idea of creating a blog, I’ve finally given in. I’ve surrendered the debate, the mull, the chew, and all the rest to spend a considerable amount of my future time click-clacking away behind my keyboard, researching, reading, and pondering all the ways God would have us live as Christians in the modern world. This is applied theology. Theology, so that terms may be defined, is the study and application of God’s\u00a0revelation to humanity. That’s not how Webster’s dictionary defines it, mind you, but that is the way I define it, and it is what I mean when I say, “theology”.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0There’s a saying, quite a good one I might add, that goes like this: all theology is practical, and all practice is theological. Hence the reason for this little project of mine. I believe it to be absolutely true that a person cannot say nor do anything without simultaneously declaring something about the nature of God. Often times, this declaration is a lie, but it is no less a declaration. For the Christian, there is no greater goal than to glorify God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ in everything that we say, think, and do (practice). So then, anything that we say, think, or do, in turn, declares something about Him, who created us in His image and for His glory (Gen. 2:26-27; Isa. 43:7; 1 Cor. 10:31). The necessary and thoroughgoing end to this statement (all theology is practical, all practice is theological) is that, for the Christian, good theology leads to good and right practice, and good and right practice is sustained by good and right theology. Those theologies and practices that will be discussed here will doubtless kick up the soil, so to speak; it’s what ploughs do, after all.<\/p>\n
So there’s the why<\/em>, now here’s the so what<\/em>. The Lord Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” And so here we go.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0After debating, mulling-over, gnawing on, and otherwise obsessing over the idea of creating a blog, I’ve finally given in. I’ve surrendered the debate, the mull, the chew, and all the rest to spend a considerable amount of my future time click-clacking away behind my keyboard, researching, reading, and pondering all the ways God […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":692,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[28,29,30,32,33,34],"class_list":{"0":"post-2","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-purposes-redos-and-corrections","7":"tag-eschatology","8":"tag-orthopraxy","9":"tag-pneumatology","10":"tag-soteriology","11":"tag-theology","12":"tag-theonomy","13":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":153,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/derekball\/poverty-in-the-pulpit\/","url_meta":{"origin":2,"position":0},"title":"Poverty in the Pulpit","author":"Derek Ball","date":"October 30, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Introduction Desperate times call for desperate measures, and even more faithful preachers. This is an open letter to pastors in general, and for the few that shepherd me and mine in particular. A few qualifiers are in order: First, this has been a long time coming, and I have reached\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"christianity\"","block_context":{"text":"christianity","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/derekball\/tag\/christianity\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/derekball\/by-this-standard-a-defense-of-sola-scriptura\/","url_meta":{"origin":2,"position":1},"title":"By This Standard: A Defense of Sola Scriptura","author":"Derek Ball","date":"November 30, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"In culture of waning evangelicalism","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":102,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/derekball\/a-christian-response-to-covid-19\/","url_meta":{"origin":2,"position":2},"title":"In Response to COVID-19","author":"Derek Ball","date":"June 14, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Introduction Many individuals, families, pastors, and governments are struggling to respond properly to Covid-19 and all its effects\u2013economic, political, social, and otherwise. This is a time that Christians in particular must pay close attention to the way we respond\u2013in our words and actions\u2013toward each other, toward the world, and toward\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/derekball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/derekball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/derekball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/derekball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/692"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/derekball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/derekball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/derekball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/derekball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/derekball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}