The Crow Bait Approach to Theology

Crow bait. 

That’s how many people treat the search for truth.

They pick and choose from the scraps of spiritual roadkill that has been leftover from the centuries.

Imagine the thrill of discovering something you think that nobody else has found. A doctrine. An insight. A proposition.

Suddenly you can think that your profound insight must be true simply because of the thrill that you get in discovering it.

But what you miss is that your insight isn’t profound. It is isn’t right. It isn’t true.

It’s crow bait. And you’re the crow, eating roadkill.

This is a danger to watch out for in your own life but also in the lives of others.

What are some of the scraps which people will pick up and chew on in their religious flight?

• The bible is filled with mistakes, so is not to be trusted.

• Jesus was a special man, but he wasn’t God.

• Jesus death on the cross was divine child abuse.

• The Old Testament is immoral. Mass judgement from an angry god.

• Jesus died on the cross so everyone is going to heaven.

• Same sex attraction is okay; a person is just born this way.

All of these scraps are wrong. They’ve been debunked over and over throughout the centuries. They are like so much roadkill, scattered and splattered.

But when a person acts like a crow, they live their life on the eternal search. Search. Search. Search.

There are women who do this. They are called “weak women” (γυναικάρια), literally “silly little women”. They are ever “always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.” 2 Tim 3:7.

Like crows flitting about from one doctrine to the next. Interested in Eastern Orthodoxy. Then interested in Enneagram. Then Calvinism. Then Roman Catholicism. Then being an Exvangelical. Then being a Buddhist…

You get the idea.

Men are susceptible to this. James warns against the man who is “ a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.“ (James 1:8). Such men are like those who can then have “eyes full of adultery and unceasing sin, enticing unstable souls “ (2 Peter 2:14). It’s all crow-like behavior that can turn from picking scraps of doctrine to picking scraps of human lives.

This is why it is bad for people to say, “It’s all about the journey.” No. The journey that does not end up in a settled destination of peace and security, accepted before the face of God, such a journey is a restless living hell of the crow.

No more crowbait.

And don’t let your friends be picking at the roadkill of debunked philosophies.

Say no to crowbait.

Ok. So no more crowbait. What should you 'feed on’?

Feed on the bread of life, Jesus Christ. That means metaphorically, get to know him, learn about him, and communicate with him as a real, true being, who is unseen, yet is as real as the people in the next room. Rely upon him, rest on him, obey him and follow him.

How do you do this? Read the Holy Scriptures.

A few to inspire you:

Joshua 1:8
This Book of the Law must not depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in all you do.

Psalm 25:5
Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; all day long I wait for You.

Psalm 63:5
My soul is satisfied as with the richest of foods; with joyful lips my mouth will praise You.

Psalm 63:6
When I remember You on my bed, I think of You through the watches of the night.

Psalm 112:1
Hallelujah! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in His commandments.

Psalm 119:14
I rejoice in the way of Your testimonies as much as in all riches

Matthew 11:28-30

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

All of these describe the Psalm 1 man of whom it can be said, “his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” (Psalm 1:2)

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