An amendment
I have received feedback on what you have read so far from trusted friends. They agreed with the points that I've made, but pointed out a flaw in its overall message. I would like to address and explore this important aspect of my argument which I have overlooked.
My friend pointed out that my definition of new Truth is rather vague. And vague is not good when teaching any lesson, let alone a Biblical one.
So what precisely do I mean by discovering new Truth?
I have already made it clear that I do not mean a new Scripture. But I also want to make it clear that I do not mean that something explicitly condemned as sinful in the Bible can suddenly become good and virtuous. If we allow that, subjectivism will tear the Church apart and we might as well not have a Bible at all. We are seeing this today, particularly when it comes to sexuality, and you can bet that God will not long tolerate his holy word being manipulated to suit human agenda.
Secondly, do not get the idea that in our search for Truth we will uncover some entirely new concept which had never been thought of at all. The history, laws, sins and virtues are mapped out clearly and to their full extent in God's word, and all of our growth as a Church is rooted in them.
But now, we have reached that lovely word which is the crux of where I am coming from: growth.
Growth can be defined, in a sense, as building on success. It is a fundamental aspect of all aspects of our world. A successful branch of a tree sprouts new branches, and those branches sprout still more. Each floor of a skyscraper is built upon another which has already been successfully built and inspected. Modern filmmakers, writers and game designers employ the techniques which began as successful experiments by generations of their predecessors.
New Truth, then, is not some entirely new, self-sustaining idea, existing independently in its own sphere; such an idea is absurd as, say, marketing a state-of-the-art washing machine as the latest video game ystem. Rather, new Truth is like a young branch emerging from the limb of a tree: it is God helping us to understand a new dimension of an eternal Truth.
Look at it this way: when we look at the sky through a powerful telescope, we are looking at precisely the same sky that people were looking at two thousand years ago. But thanks to that telescope, we now understand what we are looking at to a level those people could not have imagined. You can bet that when a close-up view of Jupiter or the Sombrero Galaxy was first seen, the observer knew they were seeing something new.
And such is the way with Truth! Through the troubled history of humanity God and man have engaged in something resembling a dance. As we have advanced as a species, God has continually blessed humanity with new scribes, through whom beautiful new Truth is discovered in his word and in the world around us. From the writings of St. Augustine, to the theses and five solas of Martin Luther, to the apologists of the last two centuries, to the magnificent array of our modern translations of the Bible, God has made his plan for humanity ever more vividly clear.
That is what I mean by new Truth. Not some unprecedented universe of theology, but the progressive expansion and refinement of what we already know. The slow, loving process by which God reveals himself to his people.
I have received feedback on what you have read so far from trusted friends. They agreed with the points that I've made, but pointed out a flaw in its overall message. I would like to address and explore this important aspect of my argument which I have overlooked.
My friend pointed out that my definition of new Truth is rather vague. And vague is not good when teaching any lesson, let alone a Biblical one.
So what precisely do I mean by discovering new Truth?
I have already made it clear that I do not mean a new Scripture. But I also want to make it clear that I do not mean that something explicitly condemned as sinful in the Bible can suddenly become good and virtuous. If we allow that, subjectivism will tear the Church apart and we might as well not have a Bible at all. We are seeing this today, particularly when it comes to sexuality, and you can bet that God will not long tolerate his holy word being manipulated to suit human agenda.
Secondly, do not get the idea that in our search for Truth we will uncover some entirely new concept which had never been thought of at all. The history, laws, sins and virtues are mapped out clearly and to their full extent in God's word, and all of our growth as a Church is rooted in them.
But now, we have reached that lovely word which is the crux of where I am coming from: growth.
Growth can be defined, in a sense, as building on success. It is a fundamental aspect of all aspects of our world. A successful branch of a tree sprouts new branches, and those branches sprout still more. Each floor of a skyscraper is built upon another which has already been successfully built and inspected. Modern filmmakers, writers and game designers employ the techniques which began as successful experiments by generations of their predecessors.
New Truth, then, is not some entirely new, self-sustaining idea, existing independently in its own sphere; such an idea is absurd as, say, marketing a state-of-the-art washing machine as the latest video game ystem. Rather, new Truth is like a young branch emerging from the limb of a tree: it is God helping us to understand a new dimension of an eternal Truth.
Look at it this way: when we look at the sky through a powerful telescope, we are looking at precisely the same sky that people were looking at two thousand years ago. But thanks to that telescope, we now understand what we are looking at to a level those people could not have imagined. You can bet that when a close-up view of Jupiter or the Sombrero Galaxy was first seen, the observer knew they were seeing something new.
And such is the way with Truth! Through the troubled history of humanity God and man have engaged in something resembling a dance. As we have advanced as a species, God has continually blessed humanity with new scribes, through whom beautiful new Truth is discovered in his word and in the world around us. From the writings of St. Augustine, to the theses and five solas of Martin Luther, to the apologists of the last two centuries, to the magnificent array of our modern translations of the Bible, God has made his plan for humanity ever more vividly clear.
That is what I mean by new Truth. Not some unprecedented universe of theology, but the progressive expansion and refinement of what we already know. The slow, loving process by which God reveals himself to his people.
