Gnostic Talk
Great posting over at Watersblogged today.
It’s a subject that is really a bit of a pet peeve of mine, I guess, in that whenever I hear folks say “God told me/us to do …” or “When I do *****, I can really hear God talking to me…” or “I prayed about it, and God told me what to do…”
Here are two quotes from Watersblogged, where Bob encapsulates quite nicely my feelings on this subject:
It’s amazing, the misguided tendency so many American Christians have to identify subjective emotional impressions with the voice of God. They never seem to wonder whether it might not more likely be the voice of their own heart, seeking an excuse to do what it wants to do. Even the conscience- though it’s always a sin to violate it- can be badly formed, and thus dead wrong. Even the conscience is not, itself, the voice of God.
and
This is not to say that God cannot, obviously, do whatever He wants. It is to simply observe that He has promised to speak to us in only one place: His Word.
And, in fact, that Word is quite clear that we men are not to add or subtract from it. (Deut 4:2, Rev 22:18-19)
But we can’t help ourselves. We want to feel special. We want to be connected. Our sinful nature dictates it. Our emotions thrive on it. Our logic embraces & justifies it.
But it’s not what God has told us He will do. To state that our experiences dictate otherwise is a sinful & obstinate declaration.
May God give us the faith to keep us from this, and all other, sin. And may God direct all of us towards proper contemplation of our sinful natures during this Lenten season. Amen!
-ghp
Simpler is better
Here’s a blog topic, twice removed…
Watersblogged! summarized nicely the principle underpinnings of a longer posting/discussion over at Be Strong in the Grace, (see - there’s the twice-removed! 
) that generally centered on the topic of scriptural inerrancy. The eight bullet points underpinning the discussion are:
- The Bible in its entirety is the inspired, inerrant Word of God. The Scriptures are to be used to interpret Scripture. The Holy Spirit is the true interpreter of the Bible. The Holy Scriptures are profitable “for teaching, for refutation, for correction adn for training in righteousness.” The Bible is the supreme and final authority in all theological matters.
- The entire Bible is Christ centric. The Old Testament is fulfilled in the New Testament. Christ is the center of the Bible and of all interpretation. The centrality of justification by faith is the chief article of biblical revelation. In the Holy Scriptures, God speaks a word of Law and a word of Gospel.
- The Bible comes to us in human speech, so the laws of human speech (grammar, syntax) are to be observed. (This point stresses the important of knowing Hebrew and Greek.)
- All doctrines must be based on clear passages. Obscure, figurative, and symbolic passages are to be understood in the light of clear passages.
- Scripture is to be interpreted by the Analogy of Faith (the sum total of all clear passages).
- No passage is to be taken out of its context.
- Each passage has one spirit-intended meaning.
- The literal meaning is the usual and normal one.
This is simple and straightforward, and squares with what God has revealed to us in the Bible.
And that, my friends, is why so many folks rebel against it. We like complex, especially when the complexity depends on us or our abilities.
It’s why the Historical-Critical Method (short-form definition, longer-form definition) rose to ascendancy throughout the 20th century, and still reigns supreme amongst the theological intelligentsia. Why work to accept what God’s Word clearly tells us, when we can reinterpret it according to whatever human whim is currently in vogue?
These people make me cranky…
-ghp
Liturgical Truth
FatherDMJ (of LiveJournal’s Uneasy Priest fame) has posted an entry that speaks much truth. I’m begging his indulgence by quoting the whole chunk of text upon which I wish to comment..
My reprinted copy of Paul Lang’s outstanding book “Ceremony and Celebration” arrived Monday. I’ve read it before but a re-read is always a good idea. Lang is brilliant. He dares to be a true Lutheran in every sense of the manner with reference to the liturgy and ceremonial. His defense of Lutheran ceremonial from our confessional writings places ALL the burden of proof for so-called “Contemporary Worship” on those who claim to see the Book of Concord and Blessed Martin Luther say that tinkering with the liturgy or that liturgy is something that can be changed and reformed at anyone’s whim. I know of some pastors who will say the Confessions and Luther defend the right of a congregation to change corporate worship to suit cultural or other needs. Those folks are wrong. Using those documents to prove something wrong is wrong. They run against the grain of thousands of years of consisent church practice. To do such a thing would be disastrous for unity in the Church.
Which leads me to another point. It is becoming very difficult to argue such matters these days because the world has bought into the lie of “all truth is relative”. Putting it another way, as the theme song from “Diff’rent Strokes” says, “What might be right for you/May not be right for some”. Absolutes are absolutely forbidden. Everything is up for reinterpretation according to culture and especially according to getting people in church.
Lutherans are apologizing for being Lutheran. That’s the bottom line. It’s like saying “I’m sorry for breathing in oxygen.” Es ist ein undig.
How do we fix it? We don’t fix it by ourselves. We hit our knees and pray the Lord God to strengthen our preaching and teaching with a ready defense using His Word and the Lutheran Confessions (the correct interpretation of Holy Scripture). The ship wasn’t turned overnight but it happened quite quickly. It won’t be a quick return.
Patience: the most despised virtue of all. I don’t have much of it. God grant me a double portion of it as long as I live.
Now, there’s a whole lot of good stuff, however, I think it can be distilled into the following points:
- Liturgical integrity has meaning and importance.
- Change for the sake of change is hurtful to faith.
- Culture does not dictate orthodox doctrine.
- Relativism is evil, and religious relativism particularly so.
- We need never apologize for having been given the Truth - indeed, we dare not do so!
- We’ve been on a long journey downward.
- Heterodoxy emerges more quickly than Orthodoxy can be reclaimed.
- God will give us the patience & strength to stay the course & fight the battle.
Apologizing for being Lutheran. May God keep me from ever falling prey to that snare!
-ghp
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