Some Wonderful Quotes

These are some quotes I liked from the broadcast of Voice of Reason radio from clip two from the week of July 31, 2005. This clip featured questions and answers with Brian L. McLaren. You can access the broadcast here.

“I charge you before God that you follow me no further than you have seen me follow the Lord Jesus Christ. If God reveals anything to you by any other instrument of His, be as ready to receive it as you were to receive any truth by my ministry, for I am verily persuaded the Lord hath more truth yet to break forth out of His Holy Word. For my part, I cannot sufficiently bewail the condition of those reformed churches which will go, at present, no further than the instruments of their reformation. The Lutherans cannot be drawn to go beyond what Luther saw; whatever part of His will our God had revealed to Calvin, they will rather die than embrace it; and the Calvinists, you see, stick fast where they were left by that great man of God, who yet saw not all things. This is a misery much to be lamented…”

-John Robinson-

This first quote is from a pastor's comments to the pilgrims about to leave on the Mayflower to come to the new land in search of religious freedom. I love his comment about the progressive nature of revelation.

"the Lord hath more truth yet to break forth out of His Holy Word"

The modern church looks at the Lord's revelation as a static set of doctrines handed down to the church (whichever church that may be) and anyone who disagrees is considered a heretic. There is no room for individual understanding of God's word. Only the corporate church with its creeds and doctrinal statements can comprehend God's truth. No wonder those who were open to understanding God's word for themselves sought a new land where they could listen to His voice instead of the voices of the Scribes and Pharisees of their day.

I also like his view that our understanding of revelation didn't come to an end with Luther or Calvin as those who revere the reformation would have you believe. No man has seen all things and neither has any body of men. Each of us is responsible to God to come to our own understanding of the Scriptures as we study with Him.

Acts 17:11

Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.

Notice that these noble-minded folks were not examining creeds or commentaries or doctrinal statements. They were examining the Scriptures. Does anyone actually examine the Scriptures in our modern culture?

"The church is reformed and is reforming."

-John Calvin-

Isn't this one great? The church is reforming. The great John Calvin, himself, thought of the doctrine of the church as a fluid body of thought that is constantly changing. To bad his followers don't follow him on this.

"We're united to one another based on the life of Christ within us; not based on our light in Christ, of what we understand.

-Anthony Norris Groves-

Mr. Groves was a member of the Plymouth Brethren churches and one of the early dispensationalists. I love his statement that our unity is not based on our doctrine or our understanding of God's word but, rather, on the common life of Christ within us. Wouldn't it be great to fellowship in a church that held up the life of Christ and not a particular understanding of our light in Christ. Maybe then the world would look at our churches and look beyond the hypocrisy of our lives and see the very life of Christ.

John 13:35

"By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."