church history

Sunday, December 25, 2005 T: 17 57
Thursday, December 29, 2005 T: 11 59

Dear readers,

It came as a gradual surprise when I realize that more and more people seem to read my blog. Anyway, thanks for reading and do comment so that I do know you are there.

I understand that a couple of you post replies and seem to get none from me. This I apologize. I will try to make an attempt to.

Finally, the next entry (below) may prove to be a bit hard for comprehension and understanding due to my pathetic grasp of the language. Do point out key mistakes that I have. Thanks.

Sherman

There are some who fear reaching books like the Da Vinci Code, Harry Potter etc because it may cause repercussions to their Christian faith. [Though to this, I have a cynical response since from the Calvinistic point of view, if such blaspheme causes one to ‘fall off the cliff’, chances are high that he or she isn’t a Christian to begin with. On the other hand, if it raises just doubts and questions that can be easily be answered by mature, doctrine-sound Christians, then he or she would be further rooted in Christ altogether.] But if I would to say that History can even be more stumbling than these ‘anti-Christ’ books, would you believe me? Harry Potter and the other books no doubt are fiction. Dan Brown’s books, with an early disclaimer mentions that some of the names and societies listed in the book may be true (which spark off the questioning of the Cannon), have distorted the truth altogether. The Chinese call this ‘duan zhang qu yi’. Church history on the other hand is a book based on reality, supported by witnesses and evidence. Like Science, the very notion that it can be proven (though to a lesser extent) means that it can be more capable of distorting the image of God, doing harm to the faith in Christianity.

Over the holidays, I have spent much time reading Christian books. Most recently, I have completed Lion’s Handbook of History of Christianity. More or less, it provides a brief concise of the progress of the church right after Christ’s death, from the times of Acts to the present, modern age. It is remarkable to note the power of Christianity right from the start, especially when Constantine came into power and make the church into the official religion. That begins an age when even kings have to take into consideration the church and the pope.

Yet throughout the history, especially post 500 A.D, it is dismal to note the decline of the church. It did grow in power, in the size of its congregation and members, but people begin having wrong ideas about the Bible and the Cross. The catholic (mainstream) church begins engaging in more and more rituals, even resorting to violence in response to the opposition, people of which they pronounced heretics. Some they banish and exile, others they executed and flamed. As time continues, sure enough, different opinions resulted in arguments, later battles (better known as crusades) and even war, dividing the church instead of promoting growth. And indeed, it is curious to note how people from the past till now always slough their lives out searching for the confirmation of salvation, mostly through religion, when the answers seem to be right in front of them. In a way, the idea by philosophers that religion is just a form of escape or a way of instilling moral values is perhaps consequential of such. Worse still, it leads people to a wrong perception of the faith and the truth. And indeed even in this present day we must still be wary of false teaching, for it stumbles and leads us to a false reality. We also hear of non-believers criticizing the church as a hypocritical community, viewing Christians as a bunch of arrogant individuals who believe that others will be banished to hell, even more depressing when they highlight the unthinkable acts of Christians (or at least people who claim to be) and condemned it thus right from the start. And I say to you, as Christians, if we continue to live in our old self when at the same time proclaiming that we are believers of the faith, then perhaps we are very much equal to the false prophets who misled the congregation into accepting false doctrines since in the same way, we misled others into thinking Christians are just a group of self-righteous and pride people!

I find it possible to attribute the cause of the decline of the church to simply the lack of entry to God’s word. In the old days, writing materials is scarce and expensive, and history records that a scholar would find himself fortunate to have a few books of Scripture. Consider this fact today, when each of us probably have a few different versions of the Bible, we are indeed a fortunate bunch. Back then, chances are the wrong interpretation of Scripture by the leaders would very much go uncorrected by the mostly poor and uneducated citizens. And even if there is one or two, they would sadly be condemned as heretics. The church is after a very powerful political power in the olden days, and the pope perhaps possess power more than a king himself. Gradually, legalism grows with the questionable theology based solely on tradition, quite much like the Pharisees of the past I would say. There is even an increasingly amount of immorality too within the clergy and the lay people. And that’s probably when the great German Reformer, Martin Luther, steps up to present his 95 Theses on scriptural grounds. JI Packer greatly sums it all up in his book, “God Has Spoken”.

“I know for myself what it is to enjoy the Bible – that is, to be glad at finding God and being found by Him in and through the Bible; I know by experience why the psalmist called God’s message of promise and command his delight and his joy, and why he said that he loved it (Ten times in the book); I have proven, as have others, that as good food yields pleasure as well as nourishment, so does good word of God….Bible study will only give enjoyment if conforming to our Creator in belief and behavior, through trust and obedience, is its goal.”

And indeed, what a blessing it is to have God’s Revealation with us! In the midst of all that arguments about doctrines, be it the Trinity, predestination or even the most recent of all regarding the ordination of women, it is reassuring to know that we have the number one authority with us – God’s Word Himself! And this is the criteria which will differentiate the servants of the gospel to that of Satan. It is Scripture that shall correct all wrong assumptions, and it is the infallible Scripture that shall allow Christians today to share the same faith as Paul, John and the rest of the apostles.

The Enlightenment movement in the 18th century has brought about critics to the fundamentals of the compilation of 66 books we call the Bible. People question the Canon and thus the reliability of Scripture. Some deemed Christianity just a belief concocted for religious purposes. And with the quick advance of Science, it seems no surprise that the church begin losing in attendance, and evangelism turns out to be more difficult than before, demanding logical and intellectual answers to Darwinism and Canonization. To me, the historical evidence of the presence of the books is already present. The huge number of greatly similar manuscripts of the books written around 0-300 A.D discovered already can satisfy that. After all, it is hard to believe that people can actually make up something that flawless. Besides, if it is bullshit, it would have received much condemnation and objection by the people. On the contrary, the church grew in power and numbers since. A greater concern and query lies however in the canon, as to who acknowledges the list of books that are to be in Scripture. Some pointed out that the canon involves a list of strict criteria which the early church follows in determines its position, though this does bring in doubts. Nevertheless, the canonization of the Bible is no small feat, and to me, the notion that churches all over the world actually agree on this 66 books shows something no short of a miracle and the inspiration of God. For more details, http://www.pastornet.net.au/rtc/canon.htm is a help website. I quote the conclusion.
“The Church has dealt with this situation as does one who knows and points to a certain person as father or mother. Such a knowledge rests not on demonstration but upon direct experience; it is most closely connected with one's own identity. In this and no other way must we picture the knowledge and 'decision' of the Church concerning the Canon.48In this way the history of the canon a posteriori supports the redemptive-historical a priori. Yet it remains a confession of faith that the canon of the New Testament corresponds exactly to Christ's canon. Their identity cannot be absolutely established by historical study. Historical evidence and "proofs" take us only so far. As in so many other areas there comes a point where it becomes a matter of faith. Our theological presuppositions and the historical evidence dovetail, but not perfectly. While our view of the canon does greater justice to the historical process than do, for example, the views of Harnack and the Roman Catholic theologians, we do not claim any infallible criteria of canonicity. In the end, with Ridderbos, we must acknowledge in faith that the empirical canon coincides with the canon of Christ. We can be absolutely certain and not just "practically" certain about the status of the canon,49 but our certainty does not depend upon our study of historical data, but it comes from our faith in the sovereignty and providence of God. “

As we move into the new millennia, the church will see no end to an opposition. Perhaps today, the heard voice of human freedom and liberty has seen to it that churches receive lesser persecution than before, at the very least in the first world countries. Yet the new century also brings along intellectual thought which bases truth on logical reasoning and evidence. Faith, something that presents who knows ages ago, seems to be an abstract and foreign concept altogether. “Without doubt, claims for Christian revelation must cope with an exceptionally relativistic environment, coming to terms with the New Age, energetic cults, thke new physics, the insights of post-Vatican II Roman Catholicism and the strongest face-to-face encounters with the living and powerful religions in centuries.”

“These will be critical issues that must be embraced within the next chapter of history. They are of such profound nature as to challenge shallow pragmatisms and to driver men and women back to asking fundamental questions about purpose and reality. If the Christian church fails to meet such questioning with answers of sufficient dept and conviction, it will have failed at a vital turning point of human history.”

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Present and Future – John Briggs
Revelation of God – Peter Jenson
Formation of New Testament Canon - Stephen Voorwinde
God has spoken - JI Packer