Gravity Always Wins

If there is one thing nature has taught us it is this: things change. Change is an inevitable part of life. However, we try to fool ourselves into thinking this is not true. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the sharp increase in cosmetic surgery in the last twenty years. Try as people may to outwit the changes that come with age, Radiohead reminds us, “… gravity always wins.”

You just can’t escape change. It’s natural and it’s part of life. When we get right down to it, most everyone would agree with this reality with one glaring exception, their theology. Most do not want to think about theology changing ever. To even think about it generates fear, and fear generates anger, and anger gets expressed against anyone suggesting a new way of thinking or asking questions about why we have always thought this way.

This attitude toward theology comes about because even though we change, the world changes, and culture changes the Bible tells us that God doesn’t. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. When someone then suggests a new understanding, or even asks a theologically provocative question it sends ripples of fear through people.

Perhaps this is because we are trained throughout our whole life to adhere to the status quo. We are taught about “the way things are.” We are told “we have always done it this way.” We are told “I thought the same thing at your age.” All of these common comments are telling us to get in line and blend in. This is true in life and in theology.

In my experience the Evangelical Church has spent much of its time telling people why what they believe is true. This is then followed with telling others why they should believe it too. And this is no passive endeavor. This kind of talk is done with militant language. We are to be warriors for Christ. We are to defend the faith.

“Onward Christian Soldiers” notwithstanding, many today are “marching out to a war” that is just being fought anymore. This is because humans continue to do what humans have always done; we change. When we change, so does our theology.

We must remember that theology itself is a creation of human beings. Many want to say that their theology is based off the Bible, and is therefore not a human endeavor, but “biblical.” This attitude grows out of a belief that they are right when it comes to theology. Because they are right, and God does not change, then neither should their theology.

Yes, there are things about which the Bible is rather clear. More surprising, however, is how little the Bible is abundantly clear about. There are many aspects of theology that are left to us to discuss and contemplate. And over the years many of those aspects have changed and morphed. This does not mean God changes, but the way we as people relate to him and speak to him will change and does change. But this should not frighten us.

It does not mean we must forsake all former theology. Rather it is renovating and building on what has come before us. Some things will be replaced and some things will be new, but the shape will be the same.

None of this is because God has changed, but because our world, our culture, and we have changed. And when we change, the way we speak of God, and understand God changes too. We resist this with every fiber of our being, because in many ways we are more dedicated to our theology than we are to God himself.

Try as we might to fight this, it is pointless. Instead maybe we should join the conversation in an effort to help color, shape, and design a deeper understanding of God. To join in this conversation is to be faithful to who we are. We can do this with confidence because our greater faith is in God, the unchanging one. Either way, we must make a choice, because no matter how hard we fight against it, gravity always wins.