| | I've often felt that so many of us in the church, or at any rate the Christian religion, are trying to practice our faith without a real awareness of its history or self consciousness about our particular expression of the Christian faith. It seems like so many of us are not only ignorant of the church's history, but of the beliefs and historic practices of our own Christian traditions or denominational branches of the church of Jesus Christ. In the trend to identify oneself as "just a Christian" -- I suppose to promote "mere Christianity" -- people seem to think ignorance of your church's confession and history is a virtue. I see it differently. I think before we are to get anywhere together as one in the future, before we are to come to a common confession or understanding or anything on the order of a united "mere Christianity" that is actually Christian, we ought to be self-consciously aware of our church's creeds and practices and the historical moorings of our Christian tradition along with the over arching creeds, practices, and history of orthodox Christianity as a whole. Perhaps some of the present dissatisfaction with evangelical Christianity today stems from this non-denominational, anti-confessional, anti-doctrinal, historically ignorant stance. At any rate, I wonder.
I like these words from Dr. James A. Hughes on the message of historic Christianity, and the relevance of the past to the present
"This message, which is totally up-to-date and
gives meaning to life, is of course grounded in the past. But
many people today believe that the past has nothing to say to them.
They’re living only for the present. But the present has no meaning
apart from the past. A present not grounded in the past is an empty
present. And an empty present brings emptiness and uncertainty to people’s
lives. So it’s not surprising that there’s a search for certainty and
meaning in life... The great illusion of our day is that we are so different from those
who went before... There’s a continuity between the past and the present. We can’t
throw out the past and still live meaningfully in the present. The past
is speaking to us, and we need to listen." From: http://www.reformed.com/publications/flowofideas.php
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| | Posted 1/16/2008 1:25 PM - 73 Views - 4 eProps - 2 comments
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