Geek Theology

Most people who read my blog are geeks. My guess is that most of them are church geeks like myself who either volunteer or work full time doing IT work for their churches. I think we’re a pretty diverse group as far as denominations go, but I would guess that the largest contingent of church IT geeks who occasionally visit my blog come from some sort of evangelical protestant background. I do know that there is at least one representative from Orthodoxy (hi Andrew) and I recall communicating with at least one Roman Catholic IT geek. I myself belong to an evangelical quasi-Baptist church after having made an exodus from Seventh-day Adventism.

One thing I have noticed is that we as a group tend to talk mostly about geeky things even though we identify ourselves as Christian geeks. I’d like to change that. Geeks need other geeks to discuss theology with.

I have been thinking a great deal lately about tradition (see my food blog) and its tremendous value. I have thought much about what protestants threw out in the protestant reformation and why we did so. There seem to be three groups (Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and to a degree Anglican/Episcopal) that retain ties to the traditional heritage of the church. Most others seem to have discarded it without reservation.

The dividing line seems to be the protestant doctrine/teaching of Sola Scriptura. That is, that doctrine should be established purely from the written word of God and not from the traditions, oral or otherwise, of the church. That the written word of God is a tradition kept on paper rather than in our hearts, minds, practices and speech is often left unsaid. At this point I’m not even sure that such a doctrine can be supported scripturally (which would be a fatal flaw). It even seems that Sola Scriptura could be blamed for the creation of heresies like Seventh-day Adventism.

Now I am not saying that I think Catholicism or Orthodoxy are perfect and that we protestants should all jump ship. I believe the reformation was an important and necessary event. But however much benefit it has brought, it has caused at least as much damage. The church is in a multitude of fragments and there is not much that can be done to put the pieces back together. As Paul said in Romans 16:17, “I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.”

My intention is not to cause division among us, but I would like to hear from like minded geeky individuals from other backgrounds on why Sola Scriptura does or does not make sense. My hope is that as geeky IT people, your thoughts will be logical and rational.

Thoughts?