tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1938983304459855111.post6349486336790124019..comments2023-04-02T07:03:21.099-05:00Comments on Principium Unitatis: Christ founded a visible ChurchBryan Crosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13269970389157868131noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1938983304459855111.post-68395373390193148672008-05-11T13:35:00.000-05:002008-05-11T13:35:00.000-05:00In as much as Protestantism is a rejection of auth...In as much as Protestantism is a rejection of authority outside the individual, each individual is his or her own 'church' because each individual is free to define, follow and make his own religion and so also his own religious group, with its own doctrines, practices, habits, tendencies, etc. Each individual is his own authority, not just with respect to whether to *accept* an object, but to the extent of *making* his own object, which he will then keep more or less to himself or his local peer group, or, more boldly, make a 'church', i.e., religious group, out of, with the hope of creating a following. Do we accept what was given, make our own, or follow another who has made his own? Is the authority that defines the object *in us* or *in the Church* that Christ started through the Apostles? For Protestants, the authority is ultimately individual and so the religion is ultimately defined by the individual. It is not a religion given, but a religion made. To the extent that there is a Church, it is one without authority and so really no Church at all in the biblical sense. The individual, not the Church, is the pillar and bullwark of truth. He tries to get traction by acting like he or his position is the true church, but, in fact, he is his own 'church', which is not a church outside the individual with authorit over and against the individual, but a church that he has created in himself. The term 'church' is kept, but evacuated of substance, which is one of the habits of Protestantism. The last threads of substance are Christ and the Bible. The last strands of unity are Christ and the Bible [faith in both]. But a faith in Christ is shared by many, including Protestants, JWs and Mormons, all of which probably claim a personal relationship with Christ while having radically different ideas about Christ. Further, a faith in the Bible is shared by the same groups, all claiming its authority, while all are free to add, substract, change or interpret it in radically different ways. In the end, the individual is being asked to make his own religion within the context of faith in Christ and faith in the Bible, but the variety and diversity that results from the different interpretative possibilities is mind-boggling, even while they all claim to be following the Bible and Christ, having faith in both. The only thing that is required is that one follows these two, but within those two the differences are enormous, giving rise to a salad bar of different religions, all of which have as their authority a person who *made* his own religion through his own authority within the context of some sort of faith in Christ and the Bible, but outside the context of the authority of the Apostles and subsequent hisotrical apostolic succession. Again, we can make our own, follow someone who has made his or her own, or follow the line of apostolic succession. <BR/><BR/>EricEric Telferhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10747957049183341114noreply@blogger.com