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IFISEEUS
"There are a thousand hacking at the
branches of evil |
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Common "Hidden" Theological Assumptions So much of the time, when people start thinking, doing, or talking theology, they do not get in touch with their underlying or hidden assumptions. They usually do not realize or acknowledge that they even have a slew of these basic assumptions. For instance, very rarely does a Protestant theologian acknowledge that the most fundamental assumption or cornerstone that his Christian theology is built upon is the idea that the Bible is the "Special Revelation" of God. Some of the more formidable "hidden" assumptions that I would challenge are that: God is transcendent and ultimately superior. The Originator is in control of the universe. God is a lawgiver and requires obedience to his law. God cannot be fully understood. Jesus has a dual nature. God is the creator of the natural world pretty much as we see it, although it is "fallen". For Protestants, the Bible is the "Word of God" and Jesus put his stamp of approval on this idea. For Catholics, Jesus put his stamp of approval upon the understandings and dogmas promulgated by the disciples headed by Peter, and the Pope is the latest in a long line of god-appointed authorities when he is speaking ex cathedra. Heaven is a place or the kingdom of the heavens is a territory, and over which God has operational control. God can "see" into the future indefinitely. God has an agenda, phenomenological or chronological, of which he is in significant control; the ball is in his court instead of ours. “God the Father” is an individual. God is omniscient or omnipotent or omnipresent. That a "spirit" is a kind of incorporeal sentient being. That any Old Testament “history” can be taken quite literally. The disciples or apostles all understood the message or good news of Jesus. |
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