RLGN 489-D05
Religion Capstone
Theological Position Paper
LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Submitted to Dr. Whitehurst
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
The end is near, like Paul, I have fought the good fight and I am finishing the race, kind
of. Not to the extent of Paul and the fight he fought and the race that he ran, but my fight of
finishing my degree is almost there and it has been quite some four years. This assignment is a
great reflection of what I have learned during my time at Liberty University. I will write a brief
description of a few theological topics from my memory with a verse to help support it.
Metaphysics is broad category within the parameter of philosophy. Metaphysics is the
main branch of philosophy. It is hard for me have clear and concise definition of it but there are
some keys words that help me to describe what it is. Metaphysics involves; Existence, identity,
personal identity, time, cause and effects, and free will. I simple terms, metaphysics deals with
things that exist and how they exist. Metaphysics has to do with things that do not change.
God has always existed, he has never changed, and he will never change,
“In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was
God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and
nothing was created except through him. The word gave life to everything that was
created, and his life brought light to everyone.” (John 1:1-4)1
Epistemology is the study of knowledge. Epistemology is the answers to how do we
know things or how do we know what is true. Am I alive or am I living in a dream? How do I
know what is real or what is false? This is the premise for the study in epistemology.
“for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made
the things we can see and the things we can’t see, such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers,
and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him.
He existed before everything else and he hold all creation together. (Col 1:16-17)
1 All passages are in the New Living Translation unless otherwise noted.
Moses penned the Psalm, “Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth
and the world, from the beginning to end, you are God.” (PS 90:2). We know these things
because God’s word tells us so.
Axiology is the study of value or something’s worth. This is the study of what shapes our
value of something. When we tell a child to do something or not to do something, they will ask
why or how come? The child is asking for reasoning behind the action that is being asked of.
What is the value or meaning for a child to not touch a hot stove? The value or reasoning is for
the child to not burn their hand. One would also ask why should we behave a certain way.
Someone is trying to find out what is the value in being a good person. A verse that comes to
mind in regards to this study is when Moses is talking to the burning bush, who is God, and God
tells Moses to go before Pharaoh and tell him to let the Hebrew people go. Moses is protesting
the situation and Moses is asking God who Moses should reference the people to and God is
telling Moses, tell them “I AM WHO I AM” is sending you to free the people. God put value in
His name to represent Moses’ action of freeing the people. God is the creator of all things and
causes all things to be
The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he
sustains everything by the might power of his command. When he had cleansed us from
our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in
heaven.
God created everything for His purpose, therefore everything has value.
Ministry Praxis in the regard to education is the application of a theory or how a skill is
practiced. In this context, it would mean ministry work. This is accomplished in the form of
educating believers in how to relate what they understand into their daily lives. Jesus gave his
disciples a command before leaving them, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new
disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.” (Mathew 28:19-20). As followers of
Christ, we are commanded to be disciple makers. We are to teach them what Jesus has taught.
Ministry praxis in how it relates to leadership assumption is the practice of preparing
leaders for ministry work. We are to teach and prepare leaders with sound knowledge of God’s
word and help them with the skills to teach others. Everyone has gifts and talents that we need
to explore and find out how to use them for Kingdom’s purpose. Paul wrote the church in
Ephesus about the importance of equipping those for ministry work, “Now these are the gifts
Christ gave to the church, the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and
teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church,
the body of Christ.” (Eph 4:11-12). Christ gave us the ultimate gift, we need to express out gifts
that He has bestowed upon us.
This assignment was a good refresher in my ability to remember some of the important
theologies that have been taught over the past four years. I do look forward to researching
more of the theologies that were presented, metaphysics, epistemology, axiology, and ministry
praxis, to get a better, more thorough understanding of them.
