While my somewhat detached writing tone might suggest this blog is only an intellectual exercise, I wanted to state for the record the severity of the topic at hand. Theology was once called the "queen of sciences" [1], and for good reason; knowledge about God and truth related to him are of monumental importance. Ignorance, fallacies, and heretical beliefs have the highest potential of harm. This is no theory, this has struck my own church. The harm done was non-trivial, splitting members off and throwing doubt into the life of some of them.
The knowledge that one is wrestling with truths that lay at the foundation of one belief system, conscious of the possibility that one could already be slipping into heretical beliefs is not pleasant knowledge. I know for a fact that I already have disagreements about core doctrinal areas with the leaders of my church. Things like the canon of scripture, communion, baptism, church authority and the like are important, and thus I wrestle with them despite the risks. Knowledge of God is of the utmost importance, knowing what you believe and why you believe should be the driving force in a person's life until they find full confidence in those beliefs.
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