Study of God or Knowing God
Theology: Theo means “God”; ology means “study of”, so theology means “the study of God”.
Unfortunately with the world of Western civilizations, theology has become pure academic which most churchgoers have no idea what it means. As an undergraduate course, one studies the books of the Bible, etc., but at the graduate level, theology, where so called Biblical scholars give their interpretation of the scriptures, mirrors the Pharisees and Sadducees of Jesus’ day. When I took a course in Biblical Theology, I had to read many paragraphs two three times before grasping the meaning of the passage. By the time I finished, I knew little about who God is, but much about what man thought of God.
When Moses climbed Mount Sinai, he “met” God, and when descending that mountain he “knew” more about God than he ever did before because he had just “experienced” God. God explained to him who He is, because His name was “I Am”! The rest of Moses’ life God reveals who He is! “I Am your deliverer, your savior, your banner, your strength, your healer, etc.” God’s statements were simple, very clear, and left no room for debate, for He said, “I AM”.
God allows us to go into the Holy of Holies, His Presence, when we worship Him. It is there, in His Presence, that He reveals Himself to us in a way that is relevant to our personal lives. Would not experiencing God who teaches us who the “I AM” is rather than studying exegesis or passages by renowned men claiming to be theologians, men who study who God is.
I have personally learned that most of my theology, academically, gets thrown out the window when I truly “experience” the “I AM”. Relationship is always better than rhetoric. I want to “know” God rather than “know about” God.