a relationship with god is not established syllogistically neither are one's relationships to others and especially not one's

initiation into a faith community the communal & cultic (liturgical) precede both code (moral) & creed formatively and these nonpropositional aspects of the journey will not only enjoy this primacy formatively but often will be emphasized throughout most believers' transformative journeys we are belongers & desirers long before we ever become behavers & believers (often barely so at that!) and all of this is reflected in the fact that theology is far more a practical science, far less a theoretical one, enjoying much more performative than informative significance, clearly being much more an existential enterprise than a speculative exercise for example, exactly what people imagine they are doing onto-theologically or metaphysically when praying in tongues or during a 20 minute nondiscursive sitting, even if technically in error, will generally be more than compensated for thru the values they will realize via participation in community, sacraments & eucharist, which also happen to be mysteries that very few of the faithful can account for in error-free theological propositions either, but not to worry (it just ain't that important!), for ... god is not a syllogism love is not a syllogism faith does not primarily belong to academics & theology-wonks few religious values are realized foremost thru rationalistic formulae and, whenever such takes center stage, it deserves a quick deemphasis (no, i didn't say negation) that's why heresy-hunting is ordinarily a losing proposition (for the nonpropositional is what primarily orients us existentially) that's why not even moral theology can succeed primarily syllogistically via arcane metaphysics & essentialistic definitions ... and, when it does so pretend, it just leaves people dumbfounded at the profound existential disconnects from their concrete lived experiences!

exhibit A - the contraception debate

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