The Danger of Having Good Faith But Bad Theology

I recently heard the story of a man named John Liberber who had a daughter who was very sick.  Rather than take her to the hospital, he trusted God to heal his little girl, and prayed faithfully.  When the girl got worse and not better, he only prayed harder, but never took her to the hospital.  His daughter died, he was charged with manslaughter.  John’s only defense was, “God is my judge.”

Having faith in God is necessary as a starting point for the Christian life.  Without faith in God, no one can be saved.  We all base our actions, attitudes, and values on how and what we believe.   But if we base our life and values on bad theology, disaster is the result.  

When you stand before God, he will not ask you how you did on a theology exam, but will care about how much you trust him.  But belief without good theology can do great damage.  In fact, the more deeply you trust, the more dangerous you are — if you don’t have good theology.  If I have a concept of God that is radically false, it is possible that I am are gambling my life and soul on a lie.  This is where cults are born that lead people away from the truth of God.

Let me create an illustration that may help make this clear:  You have a pain in your stomach and go to a doctor.  You ask him what is wrong, and he says, Look, I did not pay much attention to all that medicine stuff in school….  I focus more on bedside manner and my interaction with my patients.  Let’s just cut you open and see what is going on in there.  Would you say ok?  Or run out of there?

So, let’s have not just strong faith, let’s have good theology too.  We must discipline ourselves enough to become students of the Word of God, study it, and base our lives and decisions on it.  It will be a benefit to you and to everyone else too.  God will not overlook unbelief.  and bad theology leads to disaster.

Luke 10:27      And he answered, “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”

What do you think?  I would love to hear your ideas.

Yours in Christ,

Larry Epps