SEEKING GOD AND CONTENTMENT

WOMEN NEED THEOLOGY

Go to any search engine and put in the words "women" and "theology", and you'll find plenty of articles with the title "Women Need Theology".  In the past 10-15 years, it's become a topic that has become a topic that's gained much attention in Christianity with the list of questionable women's Bible teachers getting longer and longer by the day.

What IS theology?

"Theo" is Greek for God, and "ology" comes from the Greek word "logos" which means "words", so basically theology is words about God or the study of God.

Why do women fear theology?

Women for the most part recoil at the thought of studying theology.  They've traditionally gravitated towards Bible studies that stir up the emotions instead of stimulating the mind /intellect.  Because of this, many of the popular women's Bible teachers focus on emotional fluff instead of going book by book, verse by verse explaining/interpreting the text.

Tell any woman she needs theology and you'll probably hear many excuses as to why she doesn't want to study it:

"Oh, all that stuff just goes over my head."
"Theology is for the men and pastors."
"It's so boring.  It doesn't excite me."

Or how about this one:  "I just don't think I'm smart enough to learn it."

Wow!  We've spent many decades trying to convince everyone we're just as smart as men, but suddenly we don't have the brains when it comes to theology?  Have you ever read a Bible verse several times but come to it again and the proverbial light bulb goes off?  Suddenly it all makes sense and you say, "I understand it now!!"  Our ability to understand and properly learn theology doesn't depend upon our fragile, finite minds.  The Holy Spirit will give us the ability to learn what we need to know, in His time.  God rewards those who diligently seek to learn more about Him.  It's not His goal to hold things back from us.  Granted, there are still things about God that are and will always be a mystery, but if we desire to know more about God, He will be faithful to give us understanding on the other things.

Why is it necessary for women to study theology?

Well, mainly, because as Christians, we're already theologians.  How can we claim to have a relationship with Christ and say we love Him but won't put in the effort to learn more about Him because we think it's boring or too hard to learn?  The Bible says we're to love God with all our heart, soul, MIND, and strength.  It's a contradiction to say we love God but won't make any effort to learn to know Him in a deeper way.

Secondly, women are more easily deceived (remember Eve??).  Satan knows women are the more "emotional" gender, so he's been successful in deceiving women with emotional fluff, feeding our need for studies that hit us in our feelings instead of challenging our brains.  Churches of late have designed worship services that place the importance on "experience".  These churches have convinced many people that thinking is "bad", so you should just check your brains in at the church door.  Whereas, worship to them is all about "feelings" and if you don't experience that emotional high (via emotionally stirring music, for example), then you haven't really worshiped.

Another reason women need theology is because as Christians, we need to know WHAT we believe and WHY we believe it.  First Peter 3:15 says, "But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who ask you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect."

All of us have something we're interested in.  It could be a specific sports team.  It could be a hobby, like sewing; it could be a specific event such as the sinking of the Titanic, or the mysterious disappearance of Amelia Earhart.  Whatever our interest is, we'll spend hours digging and searching for as much information as possible about that particular thing.  For some people, it becomes an obsession.  They eat, sleep, and breathe whatever it is they're obsessing over.

So why do we obsess over things that in the grand scheme of things won't matter, but won't put any effort into learning more about God. the Creator of all things, the One who decreed that His Son, Jesus, would come to die on the cross to reconcile us, who were His enemies, to Himself?  Satan like nothing more than to turn our attention off of God and onto things that matter.  It brings to mind the last line in the chorus to "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus', where it says, "and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace."  When we make Christ our priority and focus our attention on learning about Him, the things we've been focusing on will suddenly not seem so important anymore.

Women NEED theology.  Women NEED to get out of the mire of shallow, emotional fluff, and engage their brains with the deeper things of God, because the more we stimulate our minds by learning about Him, the more our emotions become engaged when we see how much He loves and cares for us.