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When discussing theology, I've come to realize that not only is personal study of doctrine a necessary component to faith, but it is something that shouldn't be kept to oneself. I want to share my journey, both past and ongoing, into the realm of theology. Through this, I hope that you will gain insight into the Christian faith as a whole. Before reading anything else, I suggest you read the introduction and definitions (found in the pages tabs above) so you may better understand where I am coming from in everything I write. Because many of my posts are on heresies, there is also a page above with a family tree of heresies and links to all the posts I have so far on the topic.

11 August, 2012

An Introduction

Before I begin posting, I feel it necessary to give you my perspective.  As with any person, I come into everything with a bias.  This bias does not discount the writing, the speech, the discourse, or whatever else it is, but without understanding the worldview that shapes every word that is formed in whatever medium you come across it in, you cannot fully understand what the intent is behind those words.

My name is Sarah, I am 23 (as of this writing) and I am a cradle Lutheran. I was baptized in a Missouri Synod Lutheran Church in Colorado Springs on June 10, 1989, fourteen days after I was born. I was communed for the first time in the same church I was baptize in on Pentecost in 2001, and confirmed three years later in May 2004 (and married in that same church just a few months ago). My parents firmly believe in life-long catechis (as do I), and I have been immersed in God’s Word, the Small Catechism (in particular) and the Book of Concord (in general) for many years (being homeschooled helped significantly with this).

I am what would be considered an extremely conservative, confessional, quia Lutheran. "Quia" means that I believe the Book of Concord to be accurate because it is supported entirely by Scripture (the alternative is to be a "quanteus" Lutheran, which means that they believe the Book of Concord to be accurate insofaras it is supported by Scripture--they are considered to be the more liberal side of Lutheranism and likely subscribe to the Variata, which is the watered-down, Calvinist-flavored Augsburg Confession). I subscribe to the Unaltered Augsburg Confession (UAC), which is the one presented by Lutherans at the Augsburg Council in 1530. I believe in extremely traditional services and in-depth exegesis in sermons and Bible Study. I don't want to feel good or get feed fluff in church--I want to be made uncomfortable and challenged just a little bit every Sunday.

I may post commentaries here on various topics, I may pose questions from time to time, I may post lists and I even might be controversial.  I’m not really sure what all I will share, nor how regular it will be.  I’ve never been a faithful blogger.  I’m hoping this will be a better, more constructive outlet than Facebook, though, where I tend to make my friends grumpy with me over theological posts.

When I originally started this blog 5 years ago, it was meant for me and two friends (a Catholic and a Calvinist) to post weekly on the same topic from our differing perspectives.  I’m sad that didn’t work out, but happy to finally make use of this blog that has been sitting here for so long.  One of the things that happened, though, before we decided to try this was one of them, my Catholic friend, asked me which I would pick: the Good, the Beautiful or the Truth. I chose the Truth. Since all three of us chose a different one, we intended to use them here as our names. Mostly I share this because I wanted to tell you why I picked the Truth: because in all things, the good and the beautiful, I find truth. In fact, I don't think I could appreciate the other things without truth. Truth is paramount to me, perhaps because I was a debater, and thus I seek the Truth and evidence of it in everything. So now you know.

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