“Time and the river flowing” is another saying. I will venture a guess that you are talking about the Church. Yes, I agree that the Church is like a flowing river with many currents, always moving forward in time. The question is: How? How does doctrine develop; how does the Church move forward in time?
Christ began the Church with his Apostles. In the Creed we say the “apostolic church.” It is the teaching of the Apostles that holds the “river” of the Church within its banks, and allows it to move forward. In the Lutheran Church, ELCA, doctrine is developed by an assembly of “the faithful” chosen by quotas (Could you say: the “‘Apostlehood’ of All Believers”?). As we have seen, with this system, church doctrine follows the culture… but like small tributaries of a river, springing out of it and eventually drying up because they have left the river bed.
February 18, 2012 at 11:32 am
“Time and the river flowing” is another saying. I will venture a guess that you are talking about the Church. Yes, I agree that the Church is like a flowing river with many currents, always moving forward in time. The question is: How? How does doctrine develop; how does the Church move forward in time?
Christ began the Church with his Apostles. In the Creed we say the “apostolic church.” It is the teaching of the Apostles that holds the “river” of the Church within its banks, and allows it to move forward. In the Lutheran Church, ELCA, doctrine is developed by an assembly of “the faithful” chosen by quotas (Could you say: the “‘Apostlehood’ of All Believers”?). As we have seen, with this system, church doctrine follows the culture… but like small tributaries of a river, springing out of it and eventually drying up because they have left the river bed.