Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

• Romans 12:1-2

“ ‘We are like dwarves sitting on the shoulders of giants [the ancients]. We see more than them and things that are further away — not because our sight is better than theirs, nor because we are taller than they were, but because they raise us up and add to our stature by their enormous height.’ (Quoted by John of Salisbury, Metalogicon 3.4).”

• Tony Lane, A Concise History of Christian Thought

Peter Lombard (1100-1160) insisted that he was not an original thinker.  He built upon what others had written.  Even so, he is credited for having developed the system within the Catholic church of their seven sacraments.  Most protestant faiths have considerably less than that.  Being Presbyterian, we only recognize baptism and holy communion, with biblical proof that Jesus Christ endorsed the two.

St. Bernard had condemned Peter Abelard, but it was Peter Lombard that picked up his philosophy and built upon it.  But was Peter Abelard’s philosophy worthy to have been built upon?

Which brings me to the moral issue that this entails.

When we are looking at strong biblical theology, we already have a firm foundation.  Each generation may apply that foundation to the current trends, but as Paul said, we are not to conform to this world.  We need to have answers to this world’s arguments, but any building of a new foundation upon the old is dangerous ground.

If we are digging deeper into who and what God is, then we can dig forever and never be filled.  God is infinite.  Whatever understanding we achieve, there is still an infinite amount left over.  But is this building upon a philosophical foundation that is soundly based on Scripture?  If so, we may never reach our end until we meet God face to face.  Yet, it is a worthy endeavor.

But I have seen so many world issues creep into church discussions.  It filters into the business meetings of the church and those with a worldly bent (not spiritual or biblical), they will never accept a biblical argument.  With the business meeting deadlocked, it is the liberal who sees that he or she does not have the winning votes in the room, and they propose the situation get sent to a committee for discussion.  In so doing, they never lose in introducing heresy into the church.  They keep the heresy alive in committee discussions.

So, Peter Lombard is right when I, a mere dwarf, climb onto the Apostle Paul’s shoulders.  I can see very far, but if I climb onto a heretic’s shoulders I can see farther, but I am looking in the wrong direction.

Let us build our faith on the Bible.  Let us not conform to this world.  We will always be in conflict until we see God face to face, and our brother, Jesus, will give us a hug and tell us our striving was not in vain.

If you like these Tuesday morning essays about philosophy and other “heavy topics,” but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Tuesday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.