Heretics are no new thing.
The best theological age ---- is now!
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Heretics are no new thing.
Is "theological knowledge" --of which it is claimed we have reached a height -- a mere accumulation of facts and non-facts, or is it that certainty of belief which begins with the fear of the Lord and ends in bringing forth fruit to His glory? If the latter, as the Scriptures themselves teach, then the only possible conclusion from a reformed perspective is that the present time is one of the "deep and darksome caves" of theological history.
Those heretics are a part of the fabric of the "right now" of theological knowledge.
panta dokimazete
Puritan Board Post-Graduate
It's a paradigm shift called the wisdom of crowds.
The Gospel is more global than ever before, and more expansive. It is also advanced notmerely in territory gained but also in more sure solidness gained from the past and the present... the quality of commentaries alone should be used as proof. Also background information, manuscript evidence all exceed the past ages.
No paradigm shifts for me, but only an optimism based on the Scripture that, even as we return to the past anchors of the faith, we develop those anchors deeper and our advance with the Gospel is not a mere advance in quantity but of quality.
Prufrock
Arbitrary Moderation
I still don't necessarily entirely agree, Rev. Winzer. Even if it's simply upon the fact that it's a pretty hard claim to prove that there are fewer godly men today then there were several hundred years ago, or that less fruit is being brought forth to the glory of God.
TimV
Puritanboard Botanist
If we make a list of countries, like Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Russia, Poland, Romania, Italy, Greece, Ireland, Britain, Ethiopia, Egypt, Syria, Spain, France, Holland, Switzerland (insert about 100 more) in which of these countries did Christianity come under the flag of a colonial power
When you crunch the numbers, or even look at a map of where Islam was the majority religion and is now no longer, you will have a different view, just as you now have a different view of
some other really, really basic history. History you don't get in American Arminian Baptist company.
There has always been a stream of good theology and many streams of bad theology and the bad theology of our day is a mere continuation of the bad theology of the past...but the church is overcoming it and still advancing.
However churches which are in serious doctrinal error outnumber churches that are not. There are divisions and subdivisions. If we are to come to the unity of the faith, at least in the USA and in Mexico, by and large we are going about it wrongly. There is less doctrinal agreement, and that results in practical division. And when this problem is recognized, some people think that the way to solve it is to have a non-doctrinal unity.
Here you set the church apart from a mainstream of theology that is "now." You have countered your own claim.
If we make a list of countries, like Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Russia, Poland, Romania, Italy, Greece, Ireland, Britain, Ethiopia, Egypt, Syria, Spain, France, Holland, Switzerland (insert about 100 more) in which of these countries did Christianity come under the flag of a colonial power
When you crunch the numbers, or even look at a map of where Islam was the majority religion and is now no longer, you will have a different view, just as you now have a different view of
some other really, really basic history. History you don't get in American Arminian Baptist company.
I was not influenced by Baptist arminian company.
The Orthodox and Catholic communities among the Muslim world are largely insulated closed-off bodies of believers. The largest recent growth among the unreached Muslim groups have been from evangelicals.
The majority of professing Christians now come from the Global South to include Africa, India, etc and almost all of these had missionaries come under the flag of trading companies and national powers. Many of the European countries became Catholic or eastern orthodox because their lands became catholic or eatern orthodox.
panta dokimazete
Puritan Board Post-Graduate
I guess what I am trying to say is that the church, through technology advancements, is able to expand the common culture more efficiently than ever before.
Yes, I have set the "church" apart from the mainstream of errant theology (i.e. not the church)
No, I actually think that more gooder theology is going to more people moreso than at any period of the history of the world. Our "divines" are not inferiors to the theologians of the Westminster days. We are making advances not only in practice and scope of our faith, but in quality as well.
But that errant theology is a part of the "right now" which you have have claimed to be "the height of theological knowledge."
panta dokimazete
Puritan Board Post-Graduate
Right, and the advancement of our "more gooder" theology to more people is being greatly facilitated by the Internet as a knowledge resource, aggregator and disseminator.
Yes, and true hearted followers of the Christian faith and life aligned themseves to the Reformation theology, not in the bewildering notion that their present offered the height of theological knowledge, but because it is true.
Hmmm...I am not sure thatmakesmy point though because the net (like the Roman road) is only a means to get the GOspel to others easier, but does not change the quantity of believers necessarily or the quality or surety or clarity of our beliefs to all peoples and languages.
Prufrock
Arbitrary Moderation
I don't know: let's rejoice in the forward spread of the gospel, in the growing re-interest in orthodox reformed theology and practice, and be grateful for the understanding that we've gained from the Reformation and since the Reformation -- for the godly fear which this knowledge has taught us, the godly practice which it has produced, and the godly teachers that continue to teach us and others today. I mean, this website alone has 663 reasons (according to the members list) that I am confident about the "theological state" of today -- Christ's church will always find itself in a world of unbelief and corrupt teaching (Just think of what the apostles and their successors had to deal with!), but he is always at the head, and we should rejoice in the time in which he has placed us in the world where we, the church, can serve as his witness. There's my 2 cents.
The Catholic lands and Orthodox largely fought the Muslims but did not effectively evangelize them.
Again, the majority of beleivers are now in the Global South and their first contact with Christianity was often by traing ships of the colonial powers.
panta dokimazete
Puritan Board Post-Graduate
For those who do not think that the Gospel is always advancing, was the Teformation an advance? And do all advances end at the Reformation?
In a sense all "advance" is really getting back to the NT, but our knowlege of that era has increased this century moreso than in the middle ages under Rome and even moreso since the Reformation.
Also, the Bible is being translated into many languages. I would assert that a worldwide church of many languages is not merely an advance in quantity but also of quality. A global perspective of the Gospel is an qualitative advance over a description of the Gospel forged in Europe.
In a sense all "advance" is really getting back to the NT, but our knowlege of that era has increased this century moreso than in the middle ages under Rome and even moreso since the Reformation.
Also, the Bible is being translated into many languages. I would assert that a worldwide church of many languages is not merely an advance in quantity but also of quality. A global perspective of the Gospel is an qualitative advance over a description of the Gospel forged in Europe.
The problem is not with the concept that the gospel is advancing, but with your criterion for determining an advancing gospel. The latter end of a timeline is not a valid criterion. Ephesus lost its candlestick. We deem that the Reformation brought the church out of darkness because it shone the light of the truth on the church, not because the sixteenth century happens to be later than the fifteenth century.
When I see Jesus reigning in Christendom's theological institutions I will know that we are in a glorious age of church history.
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