'We don't do theology, we just do the Bible.'

Continuing our conversation on spiritual growth, I wanted to show an example of how fear and/or ignorance can really hinder our spirituality.

Theology has a bad reputation, and probably deservedly. Theologians spend hours talking about stuff no one cares about, like could God create a rock too heavy for God to lift, and how many angels can dance on the head of a pin? We ruin your favourite Bible verses by explaining them in terms of historical and cultural criticism. And we love to use big words which, honestly, even we don't understand. When people ask what I am working on and my answer is: 'How 17^th Century Dutch art and it's subsequent revival offers fresh understanding on Near Eastern Bronze Age pseudo-graphical literature and the meaning of meaning'... well let's just say that I don't get invited to many parties.

It is little wonder then that I meet so many people who say: 'We don't do theology, we just do the Bible'.

Let us keep it simple: God says it, I believe it, that settles it. Simples, right?

Well not really. And as a pastor, I think that this mentality is holding a lot of people back from the spiritual life they could be living. You see, even saying something like 'We don't do theology, just the Bible' is a theological statement. The Bible is a work of theology, and Christianity is the ultimate theological statement.

Start by looking at the very word: Theology. It is made up of two parts: Theo meaning God, and Logos, meaning Word. So to read the Bible, the Word of God, which explains Jesus, the Word of God, is to do theology. There is no way around this.

And then there are your beliefs, they are all theology. Take a look through the Bible and tell me where you find the word Trinity and its explanation. Go on, I'll wait... actually I can't, it's not there, I'll be here forever if I wait for you to find it. There are hints that God is one and more than one in this strange, difficult to explain concept, but the way we understand the trinity today comes from Christian thinkers, theologians.

You may be thinking that this is still all academic and you've just sort of accepted it because that's what your church teaches. You might also think that it doesn't really affect anything.

You'd be wrong to think that your theology doesn't affect anything. Do you believe that God should have any influence in politics, or in humanitarian matters? Well that's a theology.

Then there's the Bible itself: is it literature or literal? As far back as Augustine the church has held that it's literature, current Evangelicals would dispute that.

And what does the Bible talk about? I have not read anything in it on drug use, or slut shaming. There are maybe a half dozen verses on homosexuality and even then we aren't sure because Paul avoids using the accepted Greek terms arrenomanes or paiderasste, preferring instead the most ambiguous malakoi and arsenokoitai. Although if you spoke to many Christians you would imagine that the whole Bible was about hetero monogamy (hint: there is very little monogamy in the Bible). There are over two thousand entries on giving to the poor mind.

Then there's the whole thing about killing children. It's there, it's uncomfortable, and Christians by and large write it off as 'something people did years ago so we can move on from that'. The same attitude we take to slavery; again the Bible is pro slavery even giving instructions on how hard you can beat you slaves. As a pastor I have never had someone ask me what a good price is to sell their pre-teen daughter, again that's something we used to do years ago.

But who gets to decide what's a relic of the past and what should be applied to modern Christianity? And these are issues which affect you.

Spirituality is holistic. It is far easier to make quiet time with God when you're at peace that when you're being persecuted and told how much you're hated, so how we treat others will affect their spirituality.

You are all little theologians, in your own way. The worry is that because theology has become such a dirty word in church a lot of your theology is being given to you rather than you being encouraged to get and find out for yourself.

Is there an easy answer to this? Not really. Some of us take time to write pop-theology blogs where we try to explain things in really easy to understand terms. Then we get told that we're wrong because, in trying to simplify something, we have had to gloss over a big important subtlety. Or we can try to write academic works which you'll all ignore because, let's be honest, academic works are bloody boring. I struggle to understand them and I have been trained to read them, allegedly. They are also about weird subjects like 17^th Century Dutch art and weird Bronze Age stuff.

You're better than you think at all this theology stuff. You make decisions every day based on words about the Word of God. You might not know all the terms, the same way very few of us know how our mobile phones work really, that doesn't stop us from using them. I have no idea how Wi-Fi works but it magics videos to my telly, I still use it.

So please be encouraged. It's okay to talk theology, it's okay to read a book which deals with a tricky subject. Own it, discuss it, and maybe realise that you don't already have all the answers.