I can’t think of a more foolish attitude I harbor at times than when I look back on previous generations and assume they were ignorant, unenlightened, unaware and totally outside of what I’m thinking and experiencing today.
A lovely post from CyberBrethren, which articulates much of how I have been thinking and feeling recently.
If it were not for the writings of Spurgeon and other great men from further back in history, I would still be stuck in the ever decreasing circle of ‘works’ for salvation. Even preachers nowadays have left behind the wonderful accumulated wisdom of our Church forefathers, and we wonder why the church is adrift.
The body of Christ transcends time and generations and is supposed to be built up like a building, with the current generation sitting atop all of the preceding. To throw this away is to try to build a roof on thin air.
I can’t think of a more foolish attitude I harbor at times than when I look back on previous generations and assume they were ignorant, unenlightened, unaware and totally outside of what I’m thinking and experiencing today. I was reminded of something the British writer G.K. Chesterton wrote in his book Orthodoxy (Chapter 4):
“Tradition means giving a vote to most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead.” Chesterton goes on to say: “Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. All democrats object to men being disqualified by the accident of birth; tradition objects to their being disqualified by the accident of death. Democracy tells us not to neglect a good man’s opinion, even if he is our groom; tradition asks us not to neglect a good man’s opinion, even if he is our father.”
And here’s the rub. While it is absolutely true that previous generations did not have the same technologies or understanding of “how things work” in their world, but is there such a vast difference between 21st century people and those of previous centuries?
Tags: Christian Life