The ghosts of the past
Was browsing through a website, monergism.com. It seems to me that the past will just not die down. Consider this parallel controversies in church history.
1. Augustine vs. the Pelagians, Semi-Pelagians. Historical verdict: Augistine won. Hmm....
2. Luther vs. the Roman Catholic Church. Historical verdict: Depends on which side you are on. If you are a protestant, then Luther won. But if you are a RC, nobody won. There was a RC counter reformation anyway.
3. Arminianism vs Calvanism. Historical verdict: Still undecided. Actually should this one come in number two or number three?
4. Monergism vs. Synergism. Historical verdict: This one is a fairly recent one (I think!) and represents a controversy within the evangelical camp! Oh dear...
(5). Paul vs. the Galatian Judaizers. Actually I hesitate to put this one up. But we all know that this one should be number one since it was the first of these kind of controversies. But anyone who has been following the idea's of the New Perspective would say that this controversy is more about convenant membership rather than a faith vs works issue as we understand it today.
I gave myself away, yeah all five are a variant of the faith vs. works debate-which basically sums down to-what evidences do I have here on earth to decide whether or not I am going to heaven when I die?
These are the ghosts of the past I say, demons of the Christian culture and history that refuse to die. Somehow, some smart alec in any age will just pick this up and start picketing. It's destructive power comes from the fact that it divides rather than edifies and becomes a white coral, which seems beautiful but is actually dead.
1. Augustine vs. the Pelagians, Semi-Pelagians. Historical verdict: Augistine won. Hmm....
2. Luther vs. the Roman Catholic Church. Historical verdict: Depends on which side you are on. If you are a protestant, then Luther won. But if you are a RC, nobody won. There was a RC counter reformation anyway.
3. Arminianism vs Calvanism. Historical verdict: Still undecided. Actually should this one come in number two or number three?
4. Monergism vs. Synergism. Historical verdict: This one is a fairly recent one (I think!) and represents a controversy within the evangelical camp! Oh dear...
(5). Paul vs. the Galatian Judaizers. Actually I hesitate to put this one up. But we all know that this one should be number one since it was the first of these kind of controversies. But anyone who has been following the idea's of the New Perspective would say that this controversy is more about convenant membership rather than a faith vs works issue as we understand it today.
I gave myself away, yeah all five are a variant of the faith vs. works debate-which basically sums down to-what evidences do I have here on earth to decide whether or not I am going to heaven when I die?
These are the ghosts of the past I say, demons of the Christian culture and history that refuse to die. Somehow, some smart alec in any age will just pick this up and start picketing. It's destructive power comes from the fact that it divides rather than edifies and becomes a white coral, which seems beautiful but is actually dead.
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on Monday, May 09, 2005 at 4:28 PM.
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