Brothers,

Its getting a bit tiring to constantly have the "Stool" attacked. (The
modernists added a 4th leg, experience, decades ago and see where it got
us.) Normally when it is attacked (on the so-called conservative side) it
eventually leads someone to throwing out Tradition and/or Reason, which is
really what Mrs. Newton has done in her article. When Blessed Hooker set
forward the idea, the whole purpose was to show that we needed all 3. It was
never meant to show that Tradition and Reason were "co-equal" with
Scripture. What is important is that we cannot separate ANY of these things
from each other. Mrs. Newton's article likened Tradition to the color
padding on a bar stool and that anyone can pick whichever they want (which
makes it adiaphora). Poppycock! Tradition, at its bare minimum, is the
consensus of the Church and keeps us from going off half-cocked on personal
interpretation of Scripture and the like.

Mrs. Newton goes on to say that she slides off a 3 legged stool because it
is wobbly (the stool being meant for uneven floors) [What in the world was
she doing to slide off?! :-)]. She wants to stand firm on the Rock of Jesus.
Okay, fine...that is good tent meeting stuff but it misses the point.
Scripture, Tradition, and Reason were given us by God precisely to help us
to be stable in this oh so uneven and sinful world in which we live. They
become the stepping stool to climb onto the Rock, if you will.

AAAAhhhhhh. Now that I've slammed modernists and conservatives and got to
use the word Poppycock, I feel better now. (Its the morning after the Annual
Meeting, after all....grumble, grumble).

Erich+

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "The Rev. Charles A. Collins, Jr., S.B.R." <evanglican@...>
To: <co-anglican@...>; <faithandlife@...>
Sent: Monday, November 24, 2003 2:17 AM
Subject: [FaithandLife] Sitting on the Wrong Stool


> Brethren,
>
> I found this article interesting.  Click on the link for an interesting
> illustration accompaning Mrs. Newton's column. My own prefered analogy is
of
> a tricycle with Scripture being the large front wheel -- without it you
> don't get anywhere and fall flat on your face!
>
> Soli Deo Gloria!
>
> Drew Collins
> DSE, REC
>
> http://www.adventbirmingham.com/advent/articles.asp?ID=1486
>
> Sitting on the Wrong Stool
> by Janice Newton
>
>
> I have often been troubled by the three-legged stool concept of Bible,
> tradition and reason as the stable grounding for the Christian faith and
for
> the Christian's faith.
>
>
>
> I have a three-legged stool at home and when my young grandchildren climb
on
> to it, it is so unstable that it tips over. It is not a good place to try
> and sit. Three-legged stools were designed in olden times to enable the
> stool not to wobble when placed on uneven floors. If the basis for our
faith
> is already unstable, maybe we want to compensate by giving our explanation
> of it as three-legged, so it won't wobble so much when tested. However, as
> Christians we have a much more secure base upon which to build our faith.
We
> build on the rock that is Christ, upon his words that supply the firm
ground
> for our belief. [1]
>
> I remember in my teenage years how we would leave the young peoples Bible
> Study on a Saturday evening and congregate in our favourite place - the
> coffee bar at the end of the High Street. There the high stools with
yellow,
> red, green and blue seats were bright and attractive. Their support was a
> strong steel pole that brought a stylish, shiny appeal to the whole place.
> Raised above ground level we would sit and discuss everything, from the
> passage of the Bible we had been studying to the latest in fashions and
> music, whilst solving the world's problems, which our parents had failed
to
> address!
>
>
>
> It is bar stools like these that seem to me to represent a truer picture
of
> the basis for discerning our true Christian inheritance. As God's people
we
> are set in the world, in the hustle and bustle of ordinary life. We need a
> secure basis for our faith so that we are not blown about by the latest
fads
> and theories. [2]
>
> God has given us the book of books as our inheritance. Through it the God
of
> Truth has communicated with his people down the ages. This is not a God
who
> lies. He has not misled those Christians who taught us the truth and gave
us
> examples to follow. He does not change his mind on a whim or a fashion or
a
> desire to show how intellectually clever he is.  In the Bible God speaks
to
> his people, whether they like what they hear or not.
>
>
>
> Thus the Bible is like the solid, single supporting leg of the stool upon
> which we sit. Just as the steel bar stools were set in immovable concrete,
> so, our God has given us a stable support in his word, both in The Word, -
> our Saviour Christ [3]- the scriptures given for our learning[4]. These
are
> our main and solidly founded support. Nothing equals them. From the
> beginning they speak of Christ and Christ used them as his yardstick. [5]
> How much more should we, his disciples.
>
>
>
> However, God has also given us means for making that scriptural word
> understandable. Tradition is one of those means. Different people in my
> youth group chose a different coloured stool to sit on. We each had our
> favourite colour. Thus, with tradition. This adds colour to the church. In
> our denominations, in our reading of the early church fathers, in our
choice
> of creeds, we all find the ones we like most. The ones who provide the
most
> comforting or challenging way of helping us unravel some of the truths
about
> God.  The padded seats of the bar stools in their vibrant differences
> provide a comfortable place to sit upon a Bible which often challenges us
to
> be uncomfortable about our prejudices, judgments and ideas. We could sit
on
> the Bible pillar alone, but the padding of tradition makes it easier. We
> have the rich inheritance of former learning to prevent us making the same
> mistakes of heresy and apostasy. Tradition helps the sometimes painful
truth
> of God to become absorbable. Tradition helps us to observe the truths of
God
> within the conduct of worship and fellowship in a way that leads us to
> acknowledge how the old truths have meaning for our lives today.
>
>
>
> God's Bible truths should lift us above our earthly selves towards our
> Maker. The coffee bar stools were too high to slide on easily. In order to
> perch on them, we needed help to lift ourselves off the ground. There was
> always a ring around the steel pillar to aid us, to lift us up and to keep
> our feet firmly based on the metal, so that we neither swung needlessly
> around nor fell off. [6] The steel ring of reason helps to keep our
thought
> and intellect firmly concentrated on the truth as we look at the Bible.
>
>
>
> Reason is a God-given, creative part of how God made us like himself in
the
> very beginning. He intends us to be a thoughtful people. However, that
> thoughtful reasoning is a support. It is not equal to the mind of God and
> Christ as revealed in His word. How arrogant of humankind that we think we
> can re-interpret the truths of God to fit our sinful circumstances, in
order
> to justify our actions and thoughts. How meager is our judgment of what is
> best, when all along God has a better, fuller life to offer us. How
> egotistically self-centered is our failure to listen to his loving desire
to
> transform us through the forgiving, cleansing actions of Christ, who died
to
> save us.
>
>
>
> The three-legged stool only serves to instruct our arrogance. It sets two
> man-centered concepts, tradition and reason, against the God-centered
Bible.
> It provides a false analogy whereby the created being raises itself to
claim
> equality with the Creator. The ring near the base of single legged bar
stool
> reminds us that our reason is only a support to interpret the word of God.
> The padded seat provides some traditional comfort as we tackle the hard
> issues of that word challenging us. The steel beauty of the single pillar
of
> the Bible is the major support and strength of the Christian Faith. This
is
> where God speaks to his people. Let us be humble enough to learn from him.
> How magnificently, wondrously awe-filling it is, that our God communicates
> to his people through His written word and reveals the truth about His
> Living Word, our beloved Savior, Jesus Christ.
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
>
>
> [1]Matthew 7.24
>
> [2]1 Tim. 1.3-6
>
> [3]John 1.1
>
> [4]II Tim. 3.14-17
>
> [5]Luke 24. 25-27
>
> [6]Ephesians 4.13-15
>
>
>
>
> The Rev. Charles A. Collins, Jr., S.B.R., M.Div.
> Hospice Chaplain
> 289 Hastings Dr.
> Goose Creek, SC 29445
> Home: (843) 832-6408
> Office: (843) 554-4048
> E-mail: evanglican@...
> Weblog: http://www.palmettoanglican.blogspot.com/
>
>
>
> "If there were any word of God beside the Scripture, we could never be
> certain of God's Word; and if we be uncertain of God's Word, the devil
might
> bring in among us a new word, a new doctrine, a new faith, a new church, a
> new god, yea himself to be a god. If the Church and the
> Christian faith did not stay itself upon the Word of God certain, as upon
a
> sure and strong foundation, no man could know whether he had a right
faith,
> and whether he were in the true Church of Christ, or in the synagogue of
> Satan."-- Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, Reformer and Martyr
>
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