Why I am not a Theologian…

I have now sat through my first ethics class.  And I now see, more clearly than ever, that I am so very much further from being a philosopher or theologian than I ever realized.  This "being a student" thing will be quite enlightening, if in no other way than to help me understand myself more thoroughly.

So far, it is very clear that I like distinct, organized ideas.  I like piles.  I like categories.  I like order and structure and boxes.  I like to be able to sit back and look at things and understand where the lines are.  I like to be able to take a list of ideas and be able to organize them into piles so that they all make sense to me.

I don't like to receive a pile of thoughts that we're supposed to wrestle with and think through and try, somehow, to understand.  I have no idea what to do with that!  It feels like a useless old blanket in a crumpled heap on the floor (one I'd rather not touch).  It's just a jumble!  A mess.  I would much rather have a clean, fresh blanket, neatly folded and placed carefully where it belongs.  Organize those thoughts into clear, concise points for me and I can deal, but don't just talk at me for three hours nad expect me to get anything from it.

I think thi sis why I liked the sciences, maths, and English so much in high school.  There were right answers and wrong answers.  There were concrete laws and predictable results.  I knew where the boundaries were and could either choose to work within them or not, but at least I knew where I stood and would have an answer at the end of the process.

[{(a+b)/c}/{(r*g)/2}]*h=F

I can do this.  This makes sense to me.  I can work with this.  It's logical.  It has structure.  It has piles and boxes and systems and processes and answers!

So don't give me a three-hour "sermon" full of vague, abstract ideas and tell me to wrestle with it.  Give me practical.  Give me stuff that fits into boxes and can be neatly organized.  Then we'll be getting somewhere!