Regulative principle article

[arapahoepark]

Came across this at the Aquila Report, yet again.
What do you all think?
Must All Regulative Principle Churches Look the Same? | 9Marks

 

[irresistible_grace]

I agree with some of what Mr. Lee had to say but also disagree.
My heart would NOT be broken if I went to China or Africa & they worshipped exactly like me.
We have the same Scriptures to "Regulate" our worship. To me it would be beautiful!
One holy catholic church worshipping the one true God the same way ... no bongos necessary!

 

[Peairtach]

If you're in Scotland you can wear the kilt , or if in the City of London you can wear a pinstriped suit.

This is one reason that worship services may be too similar the world over, for people with the money to travel; everyone's adopting homogonised dress. With globalisation every area of life is becoming homogenised.

As long as you're singing the Psalms a capella, in your own tongue, you can choose your own tunes, Scottish, English, American, African, Chinese, or whatever.

You can also have your own style of church building using local materials.

No need for bongos or hymns.

After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. (Rev 7:9-10)

 

[Andres]

From the article:

One criticism of the regulative principle is that it doesn’t allow for much diversity among our churches. Some argue that the regulative principle only produces one kind of church, and if we all subscribe to it our churches will look exactly the same.

If the whole point of the RPW is to worship God the way He commands, then why would it be a bad thing if all our churches subscribed to it?

 

[Philip]

However regulative all of Christ's church becomes together (May the LORD hasten the day), churches will still meet at different times, cover different texts and subjects in the sermons, sing psalms with different tunes, worship in different languages, etc.

To flesh this out (granting an EP interpretation of the RP), I don't know that an acapella service in sub-Saharan Africa would bear a whole lot of resemblance to one on the Island of Lewis. Even if they were using the same tunes it would look different (acapella singing is a long tradition down there).

There is, I think, substantial leeway within the confines of the RP (even narrowly defined, as I am taking it for the sake of argument) that no, our churches will not look identical, nor should they.

 

[Backwoods Presbyterian]

As to Austin's point (he is a smart fellow ) the form and content of worship will be the same in Lewis and in South Sudan, which is what the RPW is mainly concerned about. Certainly the way in which a South Sudanese RP sings acapella will be different from one in Lewis, but that is a circumstantial difference, not an elemental one.

 

[Philip]

I find myself wondering to what degree this difference in attitude is a moral difference. I do not disagree that our churches (especially across cultures) can be expected to look circumstantially different and that this is not a problem, but I wonder why we as a people value diversity so much more highly than unity in doctrine and worship.

My question is why we must pit them against one another. Diversity is only valuable if there is essential unity on the faith once delivered to the saints and likewise unity is only valuable if it is over the Gospel. The "diversity" that one sees, for instance, in a mainline church is much more uniform, narrow-minded, and culturally tied-down than one will find among orthodox believers, but this is only because we understand that Christ is at the center.

If the elements are prayer, the reading, and preaching of Scripture, singing praise to God, and the sacraments, that leaves a lot of circumstance. Decent and orderly worship sounds good, but can look very different in different cultural contexts.

 

[Philip]

My question is why we must pit them against one another.

I think you're right, Philip. Ultimately we don't want to pit them against each other, but nevertheless it is interesting to me that our culture values one so highly compared to the other.

Well we certainly say we vallue unity, we just reduce it to pretending our differences aren't real and singing "kumbaya" over s'mores and scotch.