Do Women in the Church Really Know God?
I grew up in the church attending every Sunday service, Sunday school, vacation Bible school and confirmation classes. I loved God and thought I knew all there was to know about him, but I was wrong. Throughout my life, I have learned that I don't know enough about God and I never will. Each stage of my life has taught me that there is so much more for me to learn. There were times when I was doing the bare minimum in my Christen life and thought I was fine. But looking back, I realized I did not prioritize God our Father and I was not growing in Christ. Overtime, I have come to realize the importance of knowing God. The importance of spending time with Him, and the peace that comes from a personal dependence in God.
Growing up, I thought that Biblical study was for the men, the leaders in the church. I never thought there was a need for me to know more about God. I never felt a need to strive to grow closer to him. But boy was I wrong. Women should be taught about God. Not just the basics, but deep theology just like men. But what exactly is theology and why is it important for women to know? Theology is simply the study of God.
Why the study of Theology is Necessary
The study of theology for all members of the household including men, women and children, is not just a side issue of the Christian faith but is a central necessity. Theology is the building block of our faith. How can we follow a God that we do not take the time to know? Our God has given us His infallible Word to study to learn more about him. Much like children need to be taught the alphabet and phonics before they can read on their own, we need to be taught theology. Once we have the basics of theology we can dive deeper into God's word. God has called us to grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior. Our primary way to grow in our knowledge if we spend time studying him through the reading of his word, prayer and serving him.
2 Peter 3:18 but to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever.
If we do not know our God then how can we call ourselves Christians? Being a Christian is not meeting with God when its quiet, meditating in nature or singing songs. Being a Christian is about belief in Jesus Christ as our savior, being saved through faith and our relationship with God our father. Every other relationship in our lives will end. We will lose friendships, parents, spouses and children but we will never lose our relationship with God. You will spend eternity with Him if you are His child.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God Ephesians 2:8
Think back to when you were first in a relationship with your spouse. If you're anything like me, you wanted to spend all your time with that person. You talked on the phone, emailed, texted and hung out together as often as you possibly could. A relationship starts by getting to know the other person so you can learn to love them, enjoy them and serve them to your best ability. Our relationship with God is very similar. We need to spend time with him, getting to know him so we can love him, enjoy him and serve him better. When you have a personal relationship with God our father, you want to learn more about him. That is the study of Theology.
Theology through Scripture
Studying Theology is very simple, but also complex. It is wonderful how God makes his word accessible and yet complex for a lifetime of growth. As I grew in my knowledge and love for God I also grew in my ability to learn from scripture. If you are new to studying God, the first place to start is by reading scripture.
The unfolding of your words gives light. It imparts understanding to the simple
Passive Reading
There are 2 different types of reading that occur in my life and maybe they happen in yours too. First, we have the passive reading. This usually occurs when I am focusing on something else. I sit down quickly read a chapter for the day, close the Bible and go on my way. Typically, I do not remember much of anything that I read during this time. This type of reading is bound to happen, but it is not ideal for us. Like when you eat a quick meal, but other times you savor, sample and slowly enjoy your food. That's ideally how we should be reading scripture. Sometimes we'll need a meal that's quick to keep us going. At other times we have time and space to engage deeply with God's Word with active minds and contemplative hearts.
Active Reading
The second way to read scripture is active reading, the most beneficial way to read scripture and to learn more about God. Active reading requires paying attention to what you are reading, asking questions of the passage, and then asking questions of God about your own relationship to him. Active reading is what you typically think of when you think of in-depth Bible study. This may seem like a lot of time that you don't have, but trust me, you can make it happen!
I am not perfect, and I do not spend 30minutes reading scripture alone on a daily basis. At this stage of life I'm typically spending about 5-10mins alone reading scripture. In addition to my reading alone I also get to spend time almost everyday in family worship where we sing together, read God's word together and discussing scripture together as a family. Is that perfect? Nope! I need to spend a lot more time with God and show Him that he is the priority in my life, but I am a sinner and I do my best. And this is one way we trust God! We trust God that he will grow us even in the midst of failures and successes.
Nobody ever outgrows scripture, the book widens and deepens with our years. Charles Spurgeon
Theology through Catechisms
Once you are in the habit of actively reading scripture, you can turn to other resources to help you learn more about God. One of those resources is the catechisms. If you've never studied a catechism, it's simply a succinct question and answer style of teaching and learning theology. There are a bunch of different catechisms, but two in particular that we would recommend you study: The Westminster Catechismand the Heidelberg Catechism. These are reformed protestant catechisms that we as a family have benefited from in multiple church settings over the last 2 decades. Both of these catechisms are set up in a question and answer format. They also provide scripture proofs for the questions they are answering.
When studying the catechisms, my advice is to go through it systematically starting at question one. You can use the shorter version which will go less in depth and is a great reference and starting point to learning more about God. Once you have read the question and answer, then take some time to think and pray on what you just read. What has this revealed to you about God that you did not know? Do you agree with the answer? Then read the scripture proofs. This will show you where in scripture the answer is coming from.
Theology through Books
As I studies using the above methods, I realized that I was looking for more about God. I wanted to know more about him and his Word. This led me to seek out other resources to help me in my study of God. One of those resources is to look for solid theological books. Just like there is passive and active reading of scripture, there are books that will provide a quick thought and others that will require more thought.
There are MANY different types of theology books, and not all of them point to God. Just because a book is popular doesn't mean that it point you towards God. One of our favorite bookstore to purchase books from is Heritage Books. You would be in a good position ordering any of their theology books.
Some books we would recommend on theology are:
Women are not inferior to men by Gods design. We have been made to have the knowledge and personal relationship with our God. As women, we need to get away from thinking we need women only books and Bible studies. Instead, lets realize that we are Gods children just as men as and should spend our time in theological study. Whether your single, married, young or old, you are called to spend time knowing God.
Check back throughout the month of May for more posts on theology.
