I was reading an article yesterday about some of the current social turmoil in our country regarding same sex marriage, in which the headline said (in part) “The Theologian said.” Now according to my dictionary, a “theologian” is a person who is an expert in religious faith and practices, or an expert in understanding God.

Well, I guess I am not a theologian according to the world’s standards. The reason being is that this “Theologian” who was quoted in this national publication, said that God nowhere condemns certain lifestyle choices. She even quoted out of context a few Old Testament passages, while completely ignoring clear statements to the contrary throughout God’s Word in both the Old and New Testaments.

Our world likes titles! It loves people who have letters behind their names, supposedly proving they have achieved some higher level of understanding. That is the problem we see when we begin to heap respect and recognition on men and women because they have a title of some kind. The words they utter, the stances they take are accepted by many, just because they claim to be an “expert” is some area (perhaps a theologian). Many say, “Everyone has a right to their own beliefs,” and that’s true, as long as you are willing to accept the consequences of your decisions.

Jesus had some very clear words for people like this in Luke 11:52: “What sorrow awaits you experts in religious law! For you remove the key to knowledge from the people. You don’t enter the Kingdom yourselves, and you prevent others from entering.”

Now I don’t claim to be an expert, but I have read my bible through from front to back every year for over 25 years. I do put a fair amount of study into trying to understand God’s will for us today. What that makes me is a disciple of Christ, an ongoing learner, one who walks by faith and accepts God Word as true even if it different from what is “Socially accepted,” or “politically correct. It makes me a Christian who says that God is in charge telling our world what is right or what is wrong. It makes me one who believes that “God judges the living and the dead,” (1 Peter 4:5), and that we are all accountable to Him for our choices here on this earth.

Yes, people in our world want to believe what they want is right and nothing else matters. That’s not a new desire, the thought was planted in the mind of Eve in the Garden of Eden by Satan in the very beginning and he continues to spread the same lie. Jesus however did not agree, in fact he condemned the idea in Matthew 7:21. Notice his words (another clear proclamation of Jesus which the many “theologians” reject). “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

You may not agree with my thoughts and that’s your privilege to disagree. After all I’m no theologian, I’m just an old country preacher who keeps on reading his Bible and listening to God and trying his best to do “the will of my Father who is in heaven.”