Praying to saints assumes that there are, in fact, human beings already in heaven. These human beings, however, would presumably not have a resurrection body since the final resurrection has not happened yet. So they are disembodied spirits, like Casper the Friendly Ghost, who hover and help whenever we call on them.
There are two notions of what happens to the believer immediately after death.
1. A few isolated Scripture verses seem to support the idea of an immediate experience of what Jesus described as “Paradise” to the penitent thief. The Apostle Paul says in one place that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. The reference to the “great cloud of witnesses” in Hebrews 11 is probably more poetic and figurative from the perspective of Hebrew culture.
2. The preponderance of the New Testament teaches the bodily resurrection of Christ and the fact that those who belong to Him will one day be resurrected as well. Usually the Apostle Paul describes death as sleep as we await the last day when Jesus returns and we will be raised bodily and then face the judgment. The Gospel hinges on the good news of Christ’s resurrection and what it means for us.
Praying to saints is built solely on the slim evidence of shoddy exegesis for position 1 above. The notion that people are currently living it up in heaven as disembodied spirits is more pagan and Greek in origin than Christian.
The reason the Bible says that Jesus is the only mediator between God and humanity is because Jesus is the only human currently in Heaven. How can saints hear our prayers when they have no ears? Humans have ears. I don’t know about angels or demons. But I do know that God created human beings with ears. Now, if the saints have ceased to be human, then they are of absolutely no use to believers on earth whose only hope is the resurrection.
At funerals we comfort one another with bad theology. We say Aunt Susie is in heaven with God when what we should say is that Aunt Susie, who died in the faith and fear of Christ, is in God’s care. Aunt Susie like all those saints can’t hear you if you called to her and if somebody came along and said, “You know you can talk to Aunt Susie”, you would be naturally suspicious that you were dealing with a charlatan and you would be right.
Who are the saints? You and I are the saints along with all those who have taken Jesus at his Word. You and I will survive our death only by hanging on to the One who has beaten Death and has interceded to God the Father for us. God gives the gift of faith in Jesus to those who will trust Him. The truly saintly people would never intercept a prayer intended for Christ. The notion is absurd and contradicts the very character that recommends them. True saints point us to the sufficiency of Christ to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
Praying to Saints: Part 3 - Salvation
Historically hagiolotry (the worship/veneration of saints) became a critical part of the doctrine of salvation for the Roman Catholic Church. Salvation (right standing with God) was conceived as a matter of earning points with God, called merits. You earned points if you did good things and you lost points if you messed up. This worked well for the power-mad papists who found a way to not only control the flow of merits but even found a way to sell them. Thankfully, The Roman Church reformed itself and repented of these heinous practices in response to Martin Luther’s recovery of the book of Romans and revolution his faithfulness caused.
But what has remained is the notion that salvation requires accumulating merit points with God. Now, most mortals are well aware that their sins far outpace their merits. So the bishops came up with an idea: you could pray to saints who had actually accumulated so many merits during their lifetime that they by-passed the judgment, went straight to heaven, and where they could now intercede for you. Since they didn’t need their points anymore, they might deposit some of their merits in your heavenly account. Of course, the greatest merit collector of all time is the Virgin Mary. So, you could never say enough prayers to the Blessed Virgin. God may have started your salvation by His grace, but if you want to keep your salvation,you better do more good works than bad works or else you will end up on the negative side of the ledger and lose your salvation.
The Reformers corrected this monstrous outrage against the sovereign grace of God by reaffirming the Scripture’s teaching in the imputed (declared) righteousness of God to those in Christ Jesus (Romans 4); that is, we are given the gift of faith by which we confess the sufficiency of Jesus and our sin problem is wiped away as far as God is concerned. We are fully justified by faith in Jesus (Romans 5:1, Galatians 3:24, et al). This was great good news and became the heart of the evangelical movement in the church, then and now. The doctrine of election and predestination was taught by the Apostles to correct the notion that the believer could never be sure of his or her standing with God (salvation). If you are trusting in the promises of God and believe that what Jesus did on the cross he did for you, then you are the recipient of grace and God’s effectual calling.
My good friend, Hainds Laird, shared with me an illustration told him by a wise mentor. Our election is like a poker player being dealt a royal flush. Nothing can beat that hand. We don't sit around debating why everyone didn't get a royal flush or how could a loving God not deal everyone a royal flush. Here's the only thing you have to remember: when everyone else is trying to get a better hand, DO NOT DISCARD. God wants you to know that in Christ we have received everything we need to come to the end of life possessing all the merit we need to please God and enter into His reward. No dead saint can add anything to improve that hand and no living churchman can prevent you from losing the game. When temptations come, as they will; when mistakes happen, as they will; when sin derails, as it will; it is required of us this one thing – that we not discard the eternal merit of Jesus we have been given. And we have the Lord’s promise that when we are so foolishly tempted to discard what God has given, His Holy Spirit will be there to kibitz us to glory.
In the final lesson on this subject, we look at how hagiolotry darkens the doctrine of the resurrection.
But what has remained is the notion that salvation requires accumulating merit points with God. Now, most mortals are well aware that their sins far outpace their merits. So the bishops came up with an idea: you could pray to saints who had actually accumulated so many merits during their lifetime that they by-passed the judgment, went straight to heaven, and where they could now intercede for you. Since they didn’t need their points anymore, they might deposit some of their merits in your heavenly account. Of course, the greatest merit collector of all time is the Virgin Mary. So, you could never say enough prayers to the Blessed Virgin. God may have started your salvation by His grace, but if you want to keep your salvation,you better do more good works than bad works or else you will end up on the negative side of the ledger and lose your salvation.
The Reformers corrected this monstrous outrage against the sovereign grace of God by reaffirming the Scripture’s teaching in the imputed (declared) righteousness of God to those in Christ Jesus (Romans 4); that is, we are given the gift of faith by which we confess the sufficiency of Jesus and our sin problem is wiped away as far as God is concerned. We are fully justified by faith in Jesus (Romans 5:1, Galatians 3:24, et al). This was great good news and became the heart of the evangelical movement in the church, then and now. The doctrine of election and predestination was taught by the Apostles to correct the notion that the believer could never be sure of his or her standing with God (salvation). If you are trusting in the promises of God and believe that what Jesus did on the cross he did for you, then you are the recipient of grace and God’s effectual calling.
My good friend, Hainds Laird, shared with me an illustration told him by a wise mentor. Our election is like a poker player being dealt a royal flush. Nothing can beat that hand. We don't sit around debating why everyone didn't get a royal flush or how could a loving God not deal everyone a royal flush. Here's the only thing you have to remember: when everyone else is trying to get a better hand, DO NOT DISCARD. God wants you to know that in Christ we have received everything we need to come to the end of life possessing all the merit we need to please God and enter into His reward. No dead saint can add anything to improve that hand and no living churchman can prevent you from losing the game. When temptations come, as they will; when mistakes happen, as they will; when sin derails, as it will; it is required of us this one thing – that we not discard the eternal merit of Jesus we have been given. And we have the Lord’s promise that when we are so foolishly tempted to discard what God has given, His Holy Spirit will be there to kibitz us to glory.
In the final lesson on this subject, we look at how hagiolotry darkens the doctrine of the resurrection.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Praying to Saints: Part 2 - The Scriptures
What do the Scriptures say about praying to saints? Although there is no specific, clear-cut commandment such as, “Thou shalt not pray to saints,” the Scriptures do address the subject from several different perspectives. But let’s start with the justification for this practice from the Roman Catholics and their agents inside the Anglican Communion.
Because Romanists accept church tradition as equal to the authority of the Bible, the first reason they cite for invoking the saints is “church tradition that is goes all the way back to the earliest days.” As we have seen previously, the early church, even the New Testament church, was filled with teaching that invoked censure by the Apostles. So I am not interested in appeals to traditions if those traditions contradict canonical Scripture.
The Anglo-Catholics use the book of Revelation to justify their notions of saints in heaven, specifically a misinterpretation of Revelation 4-5. Some equate the saints with the 24 elders sitting on the thrones while others refer to “the prayers of the saints rising like incense” (Rev 5:8) as justifying the intercession of saints on our behalf. It is interesting that many of these churchmen would take literally the words of Revelation 5 while spiritualizing the interpretation of the rest of the visions of the Book. In any case, there is no mention of saints in heaven communicating with the earth; their prayers are directed God-ward. Incense doesn't fall.
Let’s look more closely at what the text says. In the great worship scene of Revelation 5, the 24 elders (never identified in the Book) each carries a bowl of smoking incense. The author adds the interpretive phrase “which are the prayers of the saints,” a clear allusion to Psalm 141:2. Now immediately after this, in the very next verse, the elders sing a paean of praise to God for redeeming people from the entire world and making them “a kingdom of priests to our God and they shall reign on the earth (emphasis mine).” Most scholars understand that the visions of Revelation are not in a chronological order. The events of chapters 4&5 take place chronologically in the new heaven and new earth following the return of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, and the final judgment.
But even if that analysis of Revelation is wrong, one of the most basic lessons of Bible interpretation is you use the parts of the Bible you do understand to interpret the parts you don’t understand. Roman Catholics skip this step and if confused appeal to church traditions. Praying to saints grew out of the pagan custom of ancestor worship practiced by most cultures which some in the Church sanctified as a way of making converts. But what about the clear teachings of the Bible to help us interpret the teachings we may find confusing?
Here’s a pretty clear text from the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the young preacher, Timothy.
Wowzers – that’s pretty clear. There are not a bunch of mediators between us mortals and heaven, there is only one. Prayers directed heavenward are heard by only one set of ears, those of Jesus. We know from Colossians 2:18 there was a “tradition” of worshiping angels (spiritual beings) in the early church which was roundly condemned by the Apostolic tradition. Are we to believe that the Apostles would sanction prayer to dead Christians?
The Old Testament pronounced curses on those who practiced the sin of communicating with the dead as though they were alive and able to communicate with the living (Deuteronomy 18:10). These people are abominations before God (of course, the TEC has actually blessed some things God has called an abomination).
But at this point there's not much difference between the TEC and the Romanists. They both set aside the clear teaching of Scripture in favor of human traditions as an authority equal to the Bible (the TEC modern traditions, the Romanists older traditions).
In the next part of this article, we will look at how praying to saints and hagiolotry (worship of saints) compromises the doctrine of salvation and the hope of the resurrection.
Because Romanists accept church tradition as equal to the authority of the Bible, the first reason they cite for invoking the saints is “church tradition that is goes all the way back to the earliest days.” As we have seen previously, the early church, even the New Testament church, was filled with teaching that invoked censure by the Apostles. So I am not interested in appeals to traditions if those traditions contradict canonical Scripture.
The Anglo-Catholics use the book of Revelation to justify their notions of saints in heaven, specifically a misinterpretation of Revelation 4-5. Some equate the saints with the 24 elders sitting on the thrones while others refer to “the prayers of the saints rising like incense” (Rev 5:8) as justifying the intercession of saints on our behalf. It is interesting that many of these churchmen would take literally the words of Revelation 5 while spiritualizing the interpretation of the rest of the visions of the Book. In any case, there is no mention of saints in heaven communicating with the earth; their prayers are directed God-ward. Incense doesn't fall.
Let’s look more closely at what the text says. In the great worship scene of Revelation 5, the 24 elders (never identified in the Book) each carries a bowl of smoking incense. The author adds the interpretive phrase “which are the prayers of the saints,” a clear allusion to Psalm 141:2. Now immediately after this, in the very next verse, the elders sing a paean of praise to God for redeeming people from the entire world and making them “a kingdom of priests to our God and they shall reign on the earth (emphasis mine).” Most scholars understand that the visions of Revelation are not in a chronological order. The events of chapters 4&5 take place chronologically in the new heaven and new earth following the return of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, and the final judgment.
But even if that analysis of Revelation is wrong, one of the most basic lessons of Bible interpretation is you use the parts of the Bible you do understand to interpret the parts you don’t understand. Roman Catholics skip this step and if confused appeal to church traditions. Praying to saints grew out of the pagan custom of ancestor worship practiced by most cultures which some in the Church sanctified as a way of making converts. But what about the clear teachings of the Bible to help us interpret the teachings we may find confusing?
Here’s a pretty clear text from the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the young preacher, Timothy.
“There is one God and one mediator between God and people, the man, Jesus Christ…” (1 Tim. 2:5)
Wowzers – that’s pretty clear. There are not a bunch of mediators between us mortals and heaven, there is only one. Prayers directed heavenward are heard by only one set of ears, those of Jesus. We know from Colossians 2:18 there was a “tradition” of worshiping angels (spiritual beings) in the early church which was roundly condemned by the Apostolic tradition. Are we to believe that the Apostles would sanction prayer to dead Christians?
The Old Testament pronounced curses on those who practiced the sin of communicating with the dead as though they were alive and able to communicate with the living (Deuteronomy 18:10). These people are abominations before God (of course, the TEC has actually blessed some things God has called an abomination).
But at this point there's not much difference between the TEC and the Romanists. They both set aside the clear teaching of Scripture in favor of human traditions as an authority equal to the Bible (the TEC modern traditions, the Romanists older traditions).
In the next part of this article, we will look at how praying to saints and hagiolotry (worship of saints) compromises the doctrine of salvation and the hope of the resurrection.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Praying to Saints: Part 1
Perhaps nowhere is the split between Reformed, evangelical Anglicans and Anglo-Catholic, sacramentalist Episcopalians more pronounced and pernicious than around the notion of praying to saints. On the surface this appears to be a secondary or even tertiary matter of doctrine. But it goes to the heart of each group’s theology and practice and makes clear why a New Reformation is needed among Anglicans in America.
I recently became embroiled in a situation at the Anglo-Catholic church where I currently play the organ. An adult Sunday School class began a study the saints. I was surprised to learn in the first session that we were not merely going to examine the example of these heroes of the faith, but, in fact, were being encouraged and taught how to pray to them. The saints are very much alive in heaven now, it was said, loving us and wanting to help us with the most mundane of life’s vicissitudes. The teacher proclaimed that St. Francis had helped him find his lost keys that very morning.
This teaching comes straight from Roman Catholicism as the Episcopal Church has canonized no one. I searched the entire Prayer Book for one example of a prayer to a saint and found nothing. The Prayer Book stakes out the same position as that of the Bible, that saints are the people of God at all times in all places and we pray to God that we might follow their holy example. Examples! They are never portrayed as disembodied spiritual mediators deserving of our adoration. Not even the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The Roman Church and their agents inside the Anglican Communion deny that they worship saints. They do so by parsing the word worship into the ancient Latin distinction between latria and dulia. God is worshipped; saints are venerated. This argument is a medieval syllogism. The issue isn’t the definition of worship. The issues involved in praying to dead saints strike at the heart of Biblical orthodoxy: the doctrine of Scripture, the doctrine of salvation, and the doctrine of the resurrection and afterlife.
To be continued ….
I recently became embroiled in a situation at the Anglo-Catholic church where I currently play the organ. An adult Sunday School class began a study the saints. I was surprised to learn in the first session that we were not merely going to examine the example of these heroes of the faith, but, in fact, were being encouraged and taught how to pray to them. The saints are very much alive in heaven now, it was said, loving us and wanting to help us with the most mundane of life’s vicissitudes. The teacher proclaimed that St. Francis had helped him find his lost keys that very morning.
This teaching comes straight from Roman Catholicism as the Episcopal Church has canonized no one. I searched the entire Prayer Book for one example of a prayer to a saint and found nothing. The Prayer Book stakes out the same position as that of the Bible, that saints are the people of God at all times in all places and we pray to God that we might follow their holy example. Examples! They are never portrayed as disembodied spiritual mediators deserving of our adoration. Not even the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The Roman Church and their agents inside the Anglican Communion deny that they worship saints. They do so by parsing the word worship into the ancient Latin distinction between latria and dulia. God is worshipped; saints are venerated. This argument is a medieval syllogism. The issue isn’t the definition of worship. The issues involved in praying to dead saints strike at the heart of Biblical orthodoxy: the doctrine of Scripture, the doctrine of salvation, and the doctrine of the resurrection and afterlife.
To be continued ….
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Public Prayer
One of the surprising things I learned from J.I. Packer's class on the Puritans (via Reformed Theological Seminary on iTunesU) was the manner of their public prayer.
Several years ago a group from our church went to Guatemala where we worked with folks of a local village to build housing. At our mid-week worship service together I was intrigued with how these evangelical Christians of Central America prayed. A leader was invited to the pulpit in front to lead the prayer, but as soon as he began, everyone joined in praying aloud. The sanctuary echoed with many voices lifted heavenward, each praying as God led them.
Interestingly enough, this is exactly how the Puritans prayed in their English churches. How different our notions of public prayer have become. In most churches today, instead of saying, "Let us pray," what we are actually saying is. "Now, let's listen to so-and-so pray." This practice of solo prayer comes from the growth of the role of the professional priesthood who were thought to have a bit of a better connection both to educated language and to God's presence. But the earliest Anglican Reformers encouraged everyone to pray aloud, whether in a whisper or with emotional intensity. The purpose of the prayer leader was not to silence the rest of the congregation, but by his or her intercessions to prompt the direction others might take in their own prayers.
I have to admit that silent prayer actually makes it more difficult for me to pray. I listen to what the leader is praying and, at best, when my mind doesn't wander, might nod or say to myself (some prayer that!) a silent Amen. But mostly I just listen and give an polite Amen at the end. I'm not sure this pleases God as I am not really praying. To pray "mentally" is nowhere practiced or encouraged in Scripture. Jesus prayed aloud and taught his disciples to pray by "saying" not by thinking. The Church of Acts 2 on the Day of Pentecost sounded like a rabble of drunks to the by-standers when they prayed and praised God. It wasn't that they were tipsy, but it is likely they were all singing and praying simultaneously.
When someone leads in prayer, practice at least mouthing the words of your own petitions and thanksgivings. Get in the practice of articulating your own communication with God in the presence of others. Self-consciousness before God is the Devil's distraction. Lose your self in the sure confidence that God is listening to you. Prayer isn't thinking to yourself or saying something silently. Isn't that the same inner voice that tempts you and me? Perhaps if we let our lips actually speak what is in our hearts, our faith will transcend mere thinking to take root in our actions.
Several years ago a group from our church went to Guatemala where we worked with folks of a local village to build housing. At our mid-week worship service together I was intrigued with how these evangelical Christians of Central America prayed. A leader was invited to the pulpit in front to lead the prayer, but as soon as he began, everyone joined in praying aloud. The sanctuary echoed with many voices lifted heavenward, each praying as God led them.
Interestingly enough, this is exactly how the Puritans prayed in their English churches. How different our notions of public prayer have become. In most churches today, instead of saying, "Let us pray," what we are actually saying is. "Now, let's listen to so-and-so pray." This practice of solo prayer comes from the growth of the role of the professional priesthood who were thought to have a bit of a better connection both to educated language and to God's presence. But the earliest Anglican Reformers encouraged everyone to pray aloud, whether in a whisper or with emotional intensity. The purpose of the prayer leader was not to silence the rest of the congregation, but by his or her intercessions to prompt the direction others might take in their own prayers.
I have to admit that silent prayer actually makes it more difficult for me to pray. I listen to what the leader is praying and, at best, when my mind doesn't wander, might nod or say to myself (some prayer that!) a silent Amen. But mostly I just listen and give an polite Amen at the end. I'm not sure this pleases God as I am not really praying. To pray "mentally" is nowhere practiced or encouraged in Scripture. Jesus prayed aloud and taught his disciples to pray by "saying" not by thinking. The Church of Acts 2 on the Day of Pentecost sounded like a rabble of drunks to the by-standers when they prayed and praised God. It wasn't that they were tipsy, but it is likely they were all singing and praying simultaneously.
When someone leads in prayer, practice at least mouthing the words of your own petitions and thanksgivings. Get in the practice of articulating your own communication with God in the presence of others. Self-consciousness before God is the Devil's distraction. Lose your self in the sure confidence that God is listening to you. Prayer isn't thinking to yourself or saying something silently. Isn't that the same inner voice that tempts you and me? Perhaps if we let our lips actually speak what is in our hearts, our faith will transcend mere thinking to take root in our actions.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Who Were the Puritans?
I spent three years in one Presbyterian seminary and four years in another and in all that time I was never taught that before they were called Presbyterians they were called Puritans. This from the excellent iTunesU class (via Reformed Theological Seminary) on History and Theology of the Puritans taught by J.I. Packer. The term "puritan" was a put-down (like the word "Christians" in first century Antioch) so those first English reformers decided to change their brand and took on the name Presbyterian.
Unlike the Anglican church with its feudal hierarchy of bishops, priests, and deacons, the Puritans were more federal in their church administration. Puritans elected boards of elders to govern local churches and authority rested in the presbytery, a convocation of pastors and lay people from a geographic region.
The Puirtans wanted to purify (hence the name) the English Church of any vestige of Roman Catholicism. They abhorred the mass as re-sacrificing Christ over and over again. Without a sacrifice, the notion of priest became unnecessary. They simplified worship to remove anything not aligned with the New Testament. The preaching of the Word took central place in Puritan worship. Their Westminister Confession and Catechism became the standard of Reformed theology.
Dr. Packer observes the Puritans lost every political and ecclesiastical battle they waged. Indeed, many of the negative stereotypes we have of Puritans today come from the organized disparagements mounted by the Church of England. Presbyterianism died out in England although it took strong root in Scotland and by this route came to the Americas.
Many of the great English writers and thinkers were Puritans, including Milton, Bunyan, and Cranmer whose Prayerbook is still the standard of worship for Anglicans around the world.
Unlike the Anglican church with its feudal hierarchy of bishops, priests, and deacons, the Puritans were more federal in their church administration. Puritans elected boards of elders to govern local churches and authority rested in the presbytery, a convocation of pastors and lay people from a geographic region.
The Puirtans wanted to purify (hence the name) the English Church of any vestige of Roman Catholicism. They abhorred the mass as re-sacrificing Christ over and over again. Without a sacrifice, the notion of priest became unnecessary. They simplified worship to remove anything not aligned with the New Testament. The preaching of the Word took central place in Puritan worship. Their Westminister Confession and Catechism became the standard of Reformed theology.
Dr. Packer observes the Puritans lost every political and ecclesiastical battle they waged. Indeed, many of the negative stereotypes we have of Puritans today come from the organized disparagements mounted by the Church of England. Presbyterianism died out in England although it took strong root in Scotland and by this route came to the Americas.
Many of the great English writers and thinkers were Puritans, including Milton, Bunyan, and Cranmer whose Prayerbook is still the standard of worship for Anglicans around the world.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
What is a Reformed Anglican?
Anyone living in North Texas knows how hard our water is due to all the limestone in our substrata. It leaves lots of calcium carbonate buildup. Imagine a man built a fine shower of in-laid marble (you can guess where this idea came to me). But for some reason the man never cleaned the shower. As time went on the crud built up thicker and thicker until the original marble was obscured by the accretions of years of neglect.
This is analogous to the situation of the apostolic tradition in the Christian church. The doctrine taught by Jesus and passed to the apostles became covered over with centuries of cultural compromise and doctrinal accretions. By the 15th century, the beauty and power of the original work was completely buried. The Reformation was an attempt to remove the hard-caked layers of stone-cold tradition to restore the glory of the original. Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, and Cranmer did one thing above all others: the Reformers put church tradition in its proper place, not as equal to Scripture, but as subservient to Holy Writ. Neither did they invoke reason as a separate channel of revelation, but to take captive to Christ every thought (2 Corinthians 10:5).
Roman Catholics and many Episcopalians often justify their disregard for the clear teaching of Scripture by invoking the traditions of the early church (worship of saints, prayers to Mary, justification by works, etc.). "This practice goes all the way back to the first and second century," the priests tell us. That may be so, but you can't read the New Testament without becoming aware of the many warnings to the earliest believers from the Apostles that there are lots of evil practices loose in the early church (2 Peter 3, Jude, and many more from Paul). Citing ancient traditions accepted by some bishop or another does not make a practice orthodox if it plainly contradicts Scripture.
So as a Reformed Anglican, I place myself in the 500 year tradition of those who have sought to make the Church and our reason accountable to the Word of God. The Reformers called this doctrine "Sola Scriptura" (the Scriptures alone). This is clearly expressed in Article VI of the 39 Articles (the constitution and creed of Reformed Anglicanism):
This is analogous to the situation of the apostolic tradition in the Christian church. The doctrine taught by Jesus and passed to the apostles became covered over with centuries of cultural compromise and doctrinal accretions. By the 15th century, the beauty and power of the original work was completely buried. The Reformation was an attempt to remove the hard-caked layers of stone-cold tradition to restore the glory of the original. Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, and Cranmer did one thing above all others: the Reformers put church tradition in its proper place, not as equal to Scripture, but as subservient to Holy Writ. Neither did they invoke reason as a separate channel of revelation, but to take captive to Christ every thought (2 Corinthians 10:5).
Roman Catholics and many Episcopalians often justify their disregard for the clear teaching of Scripture by invoking the traditions of the early church (worship of saints, prayers to Mary, justification by works, etc.). "This practice goes all the way back to the first and second century," the priests tell us. That may be so, but you can't read the New Testament without becoming aware of the many warnings to the earliest believers from the Apostles that there are lots of evil practices loose in the early church (2 Peter 3, Jude, and many more from Paul). Citing ancient traditions accepted by some bishop or another does not make a practice orthodox if it plainly contradicts Scripture.
So as a Reformed Anglican, I place myself in the 500 year tradition of those who have sought to make the Church and our reason accountable to the Word of God. The Reformers called this doctrine "Sola Scriptura" (the Scriptures alone). This is clearly expressed in Article VI of the 39 Articles (the constitution and creed of Reformed Anglicanism):
Holy Scripture contains all things necessary to salvation; so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith.So let whatever tradition or pronouncement that is refuted by the clear Word of God be regarded by us as so much soap scum that needs cleansed by the washing of the pure water of the Word (Ephesians 5:26) and as the accretion of hard-hearted faithlessness chiseled away by convicting grace.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Dr. J.I Packer's Course on the English Puritans
If you haven't yet discovered iTunesU, it is a wonderful resource of information and learning. I particularly recommend that you visit Reformed Theological Seminary's iTunesU page. Lots of free stuff on Reformed theology and history. There are two offerings you simply must commit to listen to.
First, search for Dr. J.I. Packer's History and Theology of the Puritans. These 17 lectures were recorded in 1988 by the venerable evangelical Anglican whose book, Knowing God, is a modern Christian classic. Packer debunks the myths told about the Puritans by their detractors in the Church of England and spells out the rich legacy they bequeathed to us in theology and practical application of the Scriptures to holy living in the real world. The recordings are not high definition by any means, but the content is high quality and well worth your listening and devotional attention.
Second, you might want to check out the class on C. S. Lewis by Dr. Knox Chamblin. Twenty seven pod-casts take you through the story of his life, his theology, and his ethics. And it's all free! You can register and take the courses for credit, too.
I turn off the radio in my car and listen to these inspirational and informative lectures as I drive. Turn off the TV for one night a week and train your mind in the richness of God's love and purpose for our lives. The Puritans would be proud (but only in the right sense of the word). ;-)
First, search for Dr. J.I. Packer's History and Theology of the Puritans. These 17 lectures were recorded in 1988 by the venerable evangelical Anglican whose book, Knowing God, is a modern Christian classic. Packer debunks the myths told about the Puritans by their detractors in the Church of England and spells out the rich legacy they bequeathed to us in theology and practical application of the Scriptures to holy living in the real world. The recordings are not high definition by any means, but the content is high quality and well worth your listening and devotional attention.
Second, you might want to check out the class on C. S. Lewis by Dr. Knox Chamblin. Twenty seven pod-casts take you through the story of his life, his theology, and his ethics. And it's all free! You can register and take the courses for credit, too.
I turn off the radio in my car and listen to these inspirational and informative lectures as I drive. Turn off the TV for one night a week and train your mind in the richness of God's love and purpose for our lives. The Puritans would be proud (but only in the right sense of the word). ;-)
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
RAF
I'm Dr. Dave Barnett and I'm starting this blog to help the many, many people who are either thinking about leaving or have already left the Episcopal Church in the United States (TEC) because it has abandoned their Godly heritage in favor of a pluralistic miasma of clap-trap humanism that not only denies the Scripture, but denies the Lordship of Christ. Unfortunately the alternatives for those who are evangelical and Reformed in their purpose and theology are extremely few, especially in North Texas. I know many have fled the TEC in the Diocese of Dallas by making pilgrimage to the Diocese of Fort Worth (as I did a year ago) only to discover that the Ikerites are neither evangelical or Reformed and in fact adhere to the myth of what they vainly call the three-legged stool; that is, that Scripture is but one authority along with church tradition and human reason. The outcome of this is that the Diocese of Fort Worth in its worship and practice is much closer to Roman Catholicism than it is to the Reformation Anglicanism as it is practiced around the world.
This blog carries Reformed in the title because many of us adhere to the 39 Articles of the Anglican communion, still the rule of faith and practice for Anglicans everywhere but in the US, it seems. Anglicans are Reformed because we believe the Scriptures are the only rule of faith and practice (what the Reformers called Sola Scriptura). Think about it: if you can't be saved by going to Church; and if you can't be saved by your own human reason, but you can in fact be saved by trusting in the the enduring and infallible Word of God, why would so-called Anglo-Catholics adhere to the bankruptcy of Roman teaching that tradition is equal to Scripture? The upshot of this in my own congregation is that we were taught in a recent Sunday School class that not only should we pray to saints, but that saints are omniscient. This would be laughable if it didn't call into question how people are saved and the whole nature of our resurrection hope.
Laying anything alongside Scripture as the church's authority has never lead anyone to orthodoxy but ultimately to superstition, heterodoxy and denial of the very things on which the Anglican Church was founded.
We are praying about starting a Bible-study group in the DFW metroplex to re-discover the truth of God's Holy Word of God in the context of historical Protestant Anglicanism and how believers may APPLY the truth of that Word to our living, worshiping, and the Kingdom mission.
I will be posting resources for study here on the RAF blog and keeping you informed of "what seems good to the Holy Spirit and to us."
Dr. Dave
This blog carries Reformed in the title because many of us adhere to the 39 Articles of the Anglican communion, still the rule of faith and practice for Anglicans everywhere but in the US, it seems. Anglicans are Reformed because we believe the Scriptures are the only rule of faith and practice (what the Reformers called Sola Scriptura). Think about it: if you can't be saved by going to Church; and if you can't be saved by your own human reason, but you can in fact be saved by trusting in the the enduring and infallible Word of God, why would so-called Anglo-Catholics adhere to the bankruptcy of Roman teaching that tradition is equal to Scripture? The upshot of this in my own congregation is that we were taught in a recent Sunday School class that not only should we pray to saints, but that saints are omniscient. This would be laughable if it didn't call into question how people are saved and the whole nature of our resurrection hope.
Laying anything alongside Scripture as the church's authority has never lead anyone to orthodoxy but ultimately to superstition, heterodoxy and denial of the very things on which the Anglican Church was founded.
We are praying about starting a Bible-study group in the DFW metroplex to re-discover the truth of God's Holy Word of God in the context of historical Protestant Anglicanism and how believers may APPLY the truth of that Word to our living, worshiping, and the Kingdom mission.
I will be posting resources for study here on the RAF blog and keeping you informed of "what seems good to the Holy Spirit and to us."
Dr. Dave
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