Orthodox V

This is a lot of ground covered here and I am probably over reaching, some of this is stuff is pretty fresh in my head so it might be doughy in the middle. But see if you can catch the drift J

Continuing: The need for creeds, confessions, for historical context and not "just the Bible"

I want to talk about cannibals. This is not about the men’s interaction with the Sunday message at Legacy either. And any resemblance to Rob is purely coincidental. See how I look out for my pastor. (oops, I might have hit a school yard with that one)

Did the cannibals, the man eaters, in the New Hebrides’ ( S Pacific Islands) and in India during the 1800's have a world view more compatible with the Bible than us men of modernity?

Individualistic:
Example from the movie..." Over the next Mountain" Good movie, one missionary makes it in to these maneaters in India and winds up leaving a gospel of John with them. They develop a Christian tradition over the years. ( this missionary doesn’t find out till decades later that an impact was made) they have a multigenerational view of the family right out of the box. It didn’t have to be taught to them. I couldn’t believe it when I first saw it. It was not a point of the movie at all, but it jumped out at me. They were doing, what we are still trying to see clearly! They were doing it as Pagans! They had families, not families of individuals.

Their view of the family was already integrated before the gospel was brought to them.

Like the jailor in Acts. Does it ever occurred to us, that while witnessing to some father to make the statement that Paul made...."believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household." His household? We would never say that. From before the time of Christ to until the last few hundred years that was the normal understanding. A given.

So that Bradford when speaking of the pilgrims (1600's).... that they saw themselves as stepping stones for future generations...
(this man has read his bible) RC Sproul Sr's confession on how it was his son, sharing with him, (discipling) that opened up a truer and deeper understanding of the passages about the family. Listen to RC Sr, he doesn’t speak like he now understands a little better on the family but rather he is chagrined at how much he never saw and is exuberant to say “listen to my son..... “

We see families as individuals, not as covenant bodies as God created them.
We take this understanding into the church where it is then reinforced as we apply this concept to the very body of Christ. The church itself becomes just a larger facilitator for the individual.

Score: one to nothing, cannibals.

Fragmented, compartmentalized:

While reading about John G Paton and his missionary life in the S Pacific. Paton made a comment that harmonized with Otto Scotts observations when comparing paganism to Christianity, about what Christianity replaced. How there was no facet of Love between the pagans and their Gods. Only fear. Paton wrote……".their whole worship was one of slavish fear and, so far as I could learn, they had no idea of a God of mercy or grace"... pg72 "John G Paton Missionary to the s Pacific"
When he describes the natives, how their idols were everywhere and everything. There is no mistaking that their faith encompassed everything. They didn’t see life compartmentalized, or have a religious/secular part of their life as most modern Christians would see it.
If someone got sick, it was because someone put the mojo on them. And off to war they would go. They resisted Christianity because they knew the customs and traditions would be changed. Pg74

Paton declared to them… they would need to throw away their idols, and avow to be worshippers of the true Jehovah….That slowly progressively they unlearned their heathenism…

Someone gets saved today… they think they are adding something. The very best flavor. Like a ultimate gym membership. The Christian community as a whole has not unlearned our heathenism. We see life as fragmented and compartmentalized with a narrow range of life that God cares about.

Score: two to nothing, Cannibals

Modern humanism is fragmented, compartmentalized, individualized. It has always been normal for us. No one exhorted me to forsake my pagan ways of thinking . To give up my heathen way of looking at life. (ok, Rushdoony did, its easy to see why that man didn’t get invited to a lot of parties)

God made life, integrated. We look at his word and see topics. If we had held onto the creeds, confessions and the history, we could’ve given the cannibals a run for their money.