Solid Theology 4-26-25

There are Solid Theologians who offer an accurate view of our relationship with God. NT Wright is one of them.

He makes the case for God dwelling with us. 

Nicholas Thomas Wright (born 1 December 1948), known as N. T. Wright is an English New Testament scholar, 

Pauline theologian and Anglican bishop. He was the bishop of Durham and Lord Spiritual in the UK Parliament from 2003 to 2010. He then became research professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at St Mary's College in the University of St Andrews in Scotland until 2019, when he became a senior research fellow at Wycliffe Hall at the University of Oxford.

Wright writes about theology and Christian life and the relationship between them. He advocates a biblical re-evaluation of theological matters such as justification, women's ordination, and popular Christian views about life after death. He has also criticized the idea of a literal Rapture.

The author of over seventy books, Wright is highly regarded in academic and theological circles for his "Christian Origins and the Question of God" series. The third volume, The Resurrection of the Son of God, is considered by many clergy and theologians to be a seminal Christian work on the resurrection of Jesus.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N._T._Wright

NT Wright recognizes our talents as clues to God’s Plan for each of us. He believes that God “dwells with us”.

Wright’s views are expressed in the lyrics of the following hymn: Yahweh, I know you are near,

Yahweh, I know you are near,
standing always at my side.
You guard me from the foe,
and you lead me in ways everlasting.

Lord, you have searched my heart,
and you know when I sit and when I stand.
Your hand is upon me protecting me from death,
keeping me from harm.

Where can I run from Your love?
If I climb to the heavens You are there;
If I fly to the sunrise or sail beyond the sea,
still I'd find You there.

You know my heart and its ways,
you who formed me before I was born
in the secret of darkness before I saw the sun
in my mother's womb.

Marvelous to me are Your works;
how profound are Your thoughts, my Lord.
Even if I could count them, they number as the stars,
You would still be there.

Author - Dan Schutte

Comments

NT Wright is a realist who knows the limitations of his Episcopal Church History and correctly declares it “a mess”. I also know the failures of my Catholic Church History and the disastrous effects of Vatican II in 1962.

My experience in my relationship with God is a one-to-one relationship. When I was very young I prayed for Wisdom. I was encouraged to “be myself”. When I was age 10, I chose my occupation to become a Personnel Director in Manufacturing. My favorite subject in High School was Physics, because theories required proof. As I gained knowledge about the Universe and Earth I recognized the complexity of nature went beyond “evolution”. I focused on my talents and began working as a musician at age 14. I focused on my career interests and selected my own college curriculum. My career interests focused me on the development of “High Performing Teams”. I took all the relevant Personality Tests available and confirmed that I was “Self-Directed” and “Accomplishment Oriented”.

I was attracted to project work and served as an internal consultant and department head. I took each job to accomplish what the companies needed.  I helped operations managers to solve their problems. When I was done with what I came to do, I moved on.

I worked in 6 different industries over 28 years that included Electrical Equipment, Chemicals, a University, Food, Ag Equipment, Electronics and Defense Electronics. I gained the knowledge and experience needed to be a consultant.

When I was age 50, I was kidnapped by 6 Company Presidents to become their “Consultant”. I was hosting an AEA Board meeting and they said “Go on your own and we’ll keep you busy.” I had served on the AEA Board with them for 7 years and I knew them well. 

I ran my consulting practice from home and did my recruiting and project work from home. I went to customer sites as needed. I had no overhead costs, because my office was in my home. I was open for calls 24/7.  I retired at age 74. It was all too easy and too much fun. My client list had grown to 46 companies and I never made a sales call. All of my customers came from referrals. I had no employees and filed all my own taxes as a “sole proprietor”.

In 2009, my wife and I began receiving Social Security Retirement and I was able to cut my consulting time back to a 40 hour week. My customer base was shrinking due to consolidation and off-shoring. My wife cut back from 5 days of Dental Hygiene to 3 days.

In 2010, I started the Dunwoody GA Tea Party and launched this Blog to focus readers on accurate economic and historical data by year needed to spot trends and tie these trends to events.

We were guided by “God’s Plan”. I thought through every job change, routinely turned down promotions and completed what companies needed. I developed “Wisdom”. It was too easy. Now I look back and am grateful. God opened the doors to allow us to accomplish all that we did.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader