Lots of people describe themselves as “spiritual.” They have real spiritual experiences that point beyond the here and now and intuit a great force that binds us to each other.
Very few people describe themselves as “religious.” To be “religious” has two major flaws. First, it seems to boil down beautiful and complex spiritual experiences into sterile dogmas. Second, it seems to be too discriminatory toward other faiths.
Seen through this lens, there is no point in studying God. Each person should ascribe to the spiritual experience they have and leave each other to do the same. In fact, that seems to be the consensus approach among modern people.
But this is a very strange conclusion.
On the first point, there is a big difference between a faith experience and reading a book or reciting a dogma. It is a movement from something greater to something lesser or from something real to something less real. Mere Christianity uses the metaphor of standing on the beach of the Atlantic Ocean (i.e. the God experience) and then looking at a map (i.e. the theology). Theology is not God, all the dogmas and doctrines are only a map of God. But they’re useful because that “map” is a compilation of experiences across time and cultures. That “map” will help you understand where you’re going.
On the second point, it seems quite strange to avoid being religious and avoid theology because there are differences of opinion. We’re not bashful about studying and refining and furthering our point of view in other modes of understanding…economics, leadership, politics (especially politics). There are real theological questions that can’t be answered with a Michael Scott-like fuzzy response, “Yesssh” Is there a God? Does God have a plan for human salvation? Did Christ really mean “no one comes to the Father except through me”? These questions are impossible to discuss if they’re only matters of personal opinion (i.e. the “spiritual”). Theology, though, enables us to compare “maps” to discover which one is more accurate and will get us home.
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