Monday, March 23, 2015

I like that

Scot McKnight has a post of a recent interview with J.I. Packer concerning Anglicanism. This paragraph caught my attention:
[I]n Anglican circles, any question can be asked and the Anglican ethic is to take the question seriously and discuss it responsibly. There are, of course, Protestant churches which, I think you have to say, are always running scared and as soon as a question of this kind – a real puzzle of our Christian truth, of the ways of God – is raised in their circles, they bring out the big stick. “Now you mustn’t talk like that, you shouldn’t be concerning yourself about that. Just stay with the ABC of the Gospel and Bible truth”. Theological reflection is discouraged rather than helped on its way. That makes, I believe, for real immaturity. So I celebrate the fact that Anglicanism, characteristically is rational and reflective and believes in the discipline of debate and sustained discussion, believing, you see, that like panning for gold, the gold of truth will be distilled out through the discussion and the dross of error will be panned away.
<idle musing>
Yep. Especially in the U.S., people are afraid of questions. It might require thinking! And, even worse, it might upset my neatly laid out (but largely unthought, unexamined, and unbiblical!) way of living. We can't have that!
</idle musing>

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