Twisted Theology

“Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked……But they delight in the law of the Lord.” (Psalm 1:1-3)

Twisted theology.  I see it more and more in our society.  What exactly is twisted theology?  Twisted theology is taking the word of God and making it suit our own selfish desires.  It can happen when we take a verse in the bible out of context.  It happens when we try to interpret the bible to say what we want it to say, so it will somehow justify our sinful desires.  It happens when we tell ourselves we do not need to obey God’s boundaries, or listen to his word.  It definitely happens when we start thinking that the bible is irrelevant for today’s society, or that it is fallible.  These attitudes take God’s word out of the equation of our lives, and places self as being wiser than God.

Here is the danger of twisted theology.  Twisted theology produces twisted thinking.  When we reject the truth of God’s word, we begin thinking that sin is something less than it really is.  We start believing that there is no absolute right and wrong when it comes to morality, only “alternate lifestyles.”  We mentally point the finger at others for being prejudice, when we have three fingers pointing back at ourselves.  We “sanitize” sin and say it is acceptable.  We start thinking that our ways are wise, and God’s ways are foolish.  We start believing that there is a better way to live our lives than God’s way.  And we begin judging and condemning those who don’t believe the way we do. 

This leads to the next danger of twisted theology.  That is twisted lives.  Twisted lives occur when we don’t allow God to rule our lives, but trust ourselves to do so.  When that happens we forsake what God says is right and wrong, good and evil, and instead allow humanity to set the standard for determining those things.  We make excuses for our sin saying we have “no other choice” or we just “can’t say no.”  We begin looking at others and labeling our own sin as “not being as bad as theirs.” 

Do you understand how easily twisted we can become?  How simple it is to lose our way?  To protect ourselves from any of this happening to us, we need to be committed daily to being in God’s word, seeking the wisdom those precious pages give us.  We are warned against the dangers of twisted theology.  In II Timothy 4:3 the apostle Paul wrote, “For the time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching.  They will follow their own desires and look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear.”    

Twisted theology leads to twisted thinking, which leads to twisted lives.  The warning  Paul wrote to Timothy is sadly becoming true in our society today. 

                                                            Darlene