Posted on 03/11/2010 8:46:21 AM PST by CondoleezzaProtege
1. We must value the spiritual contributions of different men and different periods of time within church history, but never idolize them.
2. We must be willing to look at both the good as well as the faults of our spiritual and theological heroes.
3. We must seek to guard ourselves from the error of a party-spirit as well as from making a virtual pope out of Calvin or Luther – something which, by the way, the apostle Paul explicitly told us not to do (1 Corinthians 1:10-13; 3:1-6; 4:1).
4. When we fail to realize the faults of our spiritual/theological heroes, or when we are guilty of idolizing the past, we end up:
A. Making man the measure or standard of righteousness, instead of the Lord Jesus Christ.
B. We fail to see the progression of church history and end up chained to the past – not recognizing that each period of history has its own unique contribution and blessing (including ours in the twenty-first century).
C. Romanticizing the past ("the good-old days"). We end up viewing history from a romanticized perspective, rather than from reality, which includes both great achievements as well as great down-falls. If even the Bible records the failures and sins of the greatest saints (e.g., David, Peter, et al.), why should we then ignore the faults of lesser saints throughout church history (e.g., Calvin, Luther, et al.)? Perhaps one of the major reasons why God allowed the failures of various biblical characters to be recorded, is so that we would not idolize such persons nor form theological parties around them.
(Excerpt) Read more at gracegems.org ...
ping for later...i like the title...
The corollary is: Just because Luther made anti-Semitic comments does not make all Christian anti-Semites, it means Luther was a fallible human. Especially since our Lord and Savior was born Jewish, and his early followers were Jewish as well.
Well, of course, the author intended to exclude Missouri Synod - early service (red hymnal)- Lutherans.
Almost, but not quite. True justice, not true peace. There will never be true peace until Christ's established Kingdom.
And that Kingdom, I reckon, will come from True Justice (the rod of iron).
“That is the truest and best religion which does most to spread real, true peace”.
The Zen Buddhists would claim that as their own, or maybe the Dalai Lama.
Hmmm...the Kingdom of God/Heaven is here already - it's in a believers heart, within a person. That is true peace - peace with God by believing and obeying the Good News of Jesus the Christ.
True justice is not here, and it won't be accomplished until God's judgment on the final day. It's God's justice, and not of man's making!
But, I think I understand where you're coming from :-)
IOW - Christianity is really a Jewish sect ... the grafted in branch Jesus talked about.
In a very limited sense, Christianity a Jewish sect. However, it is more than that, and to reduce it to just that sentiment is miss the reason why Christianity exists.
Yes. And if you doubt that you're obviously an undtermensch who isn't living in grace. /s
I’m sorry but basically it’s just that. It has expanded from the first few followers who were Jewish into what we have today. Just because GM produces many different cars they’re still GM cars ... when Christendom began to become more and more political than religious the persecutions of the Jews became more intense and basically divorced itself from the original .... what would you call Jews who believe in Jesus and formed their own group within Judaism?
That's funny. I hadn't heard about many of these "Jews" being around when ya'll made trinitarianism official about 300 years later. :-)
Seriously, when Jesus said "Before Abraham was, I AM", what did he mean by that? Who was he declaring himself to be?
If you want to better understand the differences, please read Romans or Hebrews, written in the First Century AD.
What I’m saying is that Christianity came from Judaism ....
Your analogy comparing different brands of GM cars is false. The analogy would be that a group of GM employees left, built their own factory, and began making cars. At the same time, they hired a bunch of ex-Ford and Chrysler employees to learn their way of making cars. The new cars are no long GMs, but something different.
As Jesus said, "You do not put new wine in old wineskins."
Don't find those writings to be inspired.
Inspired or not that wasn't the point. Where were all these trinity adoring "Jews" when it became official?
I don't find the writings of Julius Caesar inspired, but I do think they are an accurate summation of his thoughts. Are you saying that the narrative as described by those who followed his are incorrect, or just not inspired?
Yours is a better analogy than mine. Good. But I think my point still stands. Christianity today bears no resemblance to the early church - in any Christian denomination (read Acts). It’s funny to see some church message boards say “Founded AD32” After the death of the Apostles anybody with an idea came up with their own interpretations of Christianity... and those that disagreed were apostates and heretics and subsequently killed ....
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