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What is theology and why is it important? Is Obi-Wan Kenobi the best Star Wars content yet AND way deeper than Darth Vader and a lava planet? Pastor Fredo Ramos explains!
#theology&show
At Sandals Church, our vision is to be real with ourselves, God and others. This channel features sermons and teaching from Pastor Matt Brown and other members of the Sandals Church preaching team. You can find sermon notes, videos and more content at http://sandalschurch.com/watch
What is up everybody? My name is Pastor Fredo from Sandals Church. Coming to you here on this YouTube channel and I wanna welcome you to the Theology and Show. It's a show here for you in which we combine both the lofty and the regular by talking about trends, reviews, TV shows, movies, and yes, theology. And so today it's our first episode.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Welcome to episode 1. We're starting from grand 0, and, our goal today really is just to walk through what is theology. That's our question. What is theology? Cue the, but we're after simply that question.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Theology, I'll give you a simple working deck definition that I find helpful, and it's this. Theology is the applying of all of God's words to all areas of life. So theology is the practice. It's the discipline of applying all of what God has said and revealed in his word to all areas of life reality. The the world that he actually has made given to us and even spoken through.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:I say it in that way, and I stress the word applying because for some, theology is primarily just an academic discipline, and trust me there is academia to be involved. Right? We take God's word. We take verses. We take terms, ideas, and we systematize them.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:We put them into words that feel very academic. We write academic textbooks on theology. Do you have systematic theologies? You have biblical theologies. Right?
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And so there is an academic work to it, but it's not just that. Right? Oftentimes when you open up a textbook and it says what is theology, it'll break down the 2 Greek words, Theos and Lagos and say, God, the study of. And so theology is the study of God, and that is a helpful definition. No doubt, but it's much more than that.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Theology is an application of what God has said in life to us through his word and applying that to our lives to the world around us. Right? And so it's much more than just an academic exercise For a lot of us, it's also a contemplative spiritual one. Right? So theology helps us to seek further understanding to the things we already believe.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:There's one individual in church history. His name is Anselm of Canterbury. He famously used this phrase, faith seeking understanding. Alright. So he's wanting to start with the assumption that he believes in God and theology is a way for him to better understand that which he believes about God.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Faith seeking understanding. So it can be contemplative. It can be formational and and help us. Theology also is a way for us to, correct both ourselves and the church. Right?
Pastor Fredo Ramos:So in that sense, theology is acting as kind of a a measuring rod or a stick if you will that helps us to understand what the church is doing right, what it's doing wrong, how it might better proclaim what God's word is saying about all areas of life. Theology can also be a bridge. Theology can be a bridge to help those who are unsure about Christianity or just learning about God or curious about God. Right? Theology is a bridge in a way that, you think of traffic going both ways.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Right? So theology as a bridge serves as bringing content this way, bringing truth this way, but then also responding to truth coming this way. Right? And so theology at times can be a way for people who maybe have struggled with God or heard wrong things about God or wrong things about what the Bible says. And theology can be corrective and, and act as a bridge in that kind of way.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Also, I think theology relates to, culture. Right? Theology speaks into the natural sciences, the social sciences, and also just what you and I experience within the culture of our lives and the cultures that we live in. And so that way we're taking God's word and we're applying it to, areas of culture, whether it be, what we hear in music, what we hear, from education, what we hear from, media. Right?
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Culture is simply, the environment in which all of what we produce is utilized and valued. Right? And so theology speaks into that that big playground if you will. And I think that's what makes it really, really enjoyable because here's the thing, theology is also contextualized for where we're at. Oftentimes, we tend to, maybe learn a theology from a particular camp or a particular, vantage point, and then we tend to think that that's the absolute perspective on all other vantage points.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Right? And I wanna say no. Theology has its own limitations. Right? And so think more of a landscape, this massive landscape in which we're all coming to theology with our particular vantage point and perspective and point of view and even time and place.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And so because of that, theology is also a bit limited, and so it's important for us to maintain a kind of humble posture in which we can learn from, different kinds of theology, Roman Catholic theology, evangelical theology, reformed theology, Lutheran theology. Right? There's all kinds of different words that are attached to theology, and so I think a humble posture and approach as we think about ground level what it is is understanding that it's a landscape. And over the years, over the centuries, a lot of different people have contributed to it, from their own vantage point, from their time in history, from their particular culture. And I think some of the best ways that we can do theology is when we take all of what God has said and we apply it to this particular moment that we find ourselves in.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And so our goal as we interact on the show is to provide, connecting points where we take what God has said and we we draw it out to where we're at in life, where we're at in culture, and where I kind of find myself, right now and maybe where some of you do is just enjoying a ton of content from Disney plus, and especially from the world of Star Wars. And one particular show that just dropped and a lot of people have finished. Hopefully, you finish because if not, I'm about to spoil some things, but it's a show Obi Wan. It was such such a great show visually, some of the sites, some of the scenes of new planets and worlds was just stunning to watch. I thought sonically like the sound that we got to the show felt fresh, but also very true to the original world that we know this the universe that we know in Star Wars.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Then of course the characters were great. Ewan was back as Obi Wan. He did a fantastic job and and one of the more compelling parts of the show for me was, of course, the the ending duel between Vader and Obi Wan. Not only was that stunning and breathtaking, but their dialogue was so rich. Obi Wan at one point brings himself to a place of confession, theological term, and apologizes to Anakin.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:He even calls him Anakin. Anakin almost in a sense rejects his apology and says you didn't make me this way. Right? And, kind of embraces the darkness that he himself chose. Like, it's such a profound moment between the 2 of them that actually leaves Obi Wan no longer calling him Anakin, but saying surely his friend is lost and he refers to him as Vader at the end and and walks off.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Right? It's there's such a great dialogue there that I think even as a Christian, as a theologian, I can learn from. But the part that I really, really loved from this show, was when Obi Wan encounters this inquisitor named Reva. Now we learn about Reva in the early episode. She is dead set on finding Obi Wan.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:She's got like this bent, this kind of vengeance about her, and we're curious as to why that is. Well, it turns out she was a young link back in Coruscant when it was rated by Vader. And so even though she is an inquisitor, she's not just hunting Jedi. She's actually hunting Vader as well. And so there's this moment where in her anger and vengeance because of the way that she's been treated, she actually finds out where Luke Skywalker is hiding, goes after this boy, but then in this moment of vulnerability decides not to take him out.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:She brings him back to Obi Wan, and she doesn't know what to do with the pain that she's experienced, which I think is such a human, connecting point for a lot of us. I mean, we what do we do with the pain that we've experienced? And and Obi 1 acknowledges that, yes, she's seen a lot, been through a lot, and the time where she was a youngling and couldn't defend herself and couldn't protect her friends from dying from evil vader, he says, you have honored their deaths by showing mercy because she decides not to continue the ongoing cycle of punishing other people. And I think that's such a profound thing. In a lot of ways, I think Obi Wan emulates the way of Jesus with that very statement.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:You know, oftentimes when you're watching the show, it feels as though Obi Wan only got 2 options. You either do this or you do that, but he always seems to find a third option out. He only seems to find another way forward. Right? Even in the way that he's training Anakin, he acknowledges Anakin's raw power and strength, but he finds a way to overcome his enemies, his enemies without defeating them.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And y'all, I think there's so much gospel truth in that. There's so much theological truth in that about who God is, who's able to overcome his enemies without defeating them, but loving them, redeeming them, saving them. That's at the heart of the Christian message. Right? And so when you think about theology as applying all of God's word to all areas of life, we just a little bit of theology right there.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:We applied areas of scripture that talk about the way that God deals with love and justice and people and their imperfections and their sins. Right? That's a hot button word, but he does so in a way that is transformational, and and in a way that I think is unique to the Christian message. And we just did a little theology work right there. But, yeah, I love Obi one's line of, man, you have honored these people who you love and grieve over by showing mercy and compassion.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Life. Wisdom of God. It's the word of God shaping our very lives. Right? And in a sense, all of us are doing theological work every single day.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:By that, I mean, you and I are coming to truths and maybe even falsehoods about who God is and what he has said in our everyday life. And so the goal is to apply what he actually has said and allow that to correct us, to shape us, to form us, and to lead us into a place where the psalmist talks about God, you are awe inspiring. Right? What is theology? Theology, ultimately, and finally, theology is an opportunity for us to bow before God, the God who is revealed in scripture and say you are awe inspiring because of your mercy, because of your compassion, because of the way that you have revealed yourself as, yes, our creator, as the one who we answer to, but ultimately as the one who our souls long for.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:There is both a tenderness and power and holiness about God, and I think what makes the Christian God unique and Christian theology so unique is this profound connection between those two things. This great invisible God who is so beyond us is also so close to us and comes to us and is revealed to us through his son, Jesus. And so, man, I hope that you guys follow along with us theology and show. We're going on a journey where we combine both, yes, the the loftiness of God, the bigness of what theology can offer in teaching us things, but also connecting it to everyday life. Because, man, we want we wanna learn things, yes, but we wanna learn things that actually shape who we are in our everyday lives.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And so we're be talking about movies. We'll talk about sports. We'll talk about, why I think Kobe should be talked about in the all time great conversation along with all these newbie kids talking about Steph Curry. Yes. Steph is great, but, yeah, we'll get into all of that.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:We hope you join us. Peace. Thank you so much for watching the Theology and show. Please like and subscribe. Stay tuned to everything that we got going on.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:We have so much coming and I cannot wait to get it out to you. So make sure to keep following us. Peace.