All posts tagged canon

Lesson 34: How Do We Determine the Word of God – Canon

by Scott Noon on October 29, 2011 in Doctrine with No comments

The early church’s most obvious standard for controlling charisma is the canon or Bible. She approved certain sacred writings as norms for judging other versions of God’s Word.
When I read how much the excluded gospels move from the fantastic to the bizarre, I appreciate her wisdom.

Most people seem to believe the books of the canon are our only sacred writings. It is probably more accurate to describe them as the foundational texts that can be used to evaluate if others have any sacred worth. Canon means a kind of “yard stick” It measures things.

A problem develops if we regard the canon alone as God’s Word. Perhaps unintentionally we act as if God spoke 2000 years ago and then went silent. “Bible-believers” seem to do this when they make the canon the object of their faith rather than the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

This problem has been exacerbated in our time, because many people accept a fundamentalist understanding that ignores the canon’s nature and function. They give each word equal weight, relinquishing any means to resolve the different traditions and contradictory teachings in the 66 books. We all, including Satan himself, can cite scripture for our purposes. Indeed, right thinking people can disagree when reading the same passage.

In addition, the scientific mindset of our time has difficulty dealing with religious mystery that is ambiguous by nature. Demanding precision, a one and only” interpretation, it does not know how handle Jesus’ counsel to use love as the spirit of the law in confronting new problems. If we regard the Bible as a guide book offering specific directions, then we are helpless if it does not address contemporary issues. Many take this stance, claiming we have no right to address any problem that does not appear in the Bible.

All of this is compounded by the electronic media that uses texts in a very fluid fashion, encouraging a cut and paste mentality that reads the canon in terms of “what works for me”. Bible-believers can be as selective as anyone else when they use portions to buttress their own preconceived opinions. Many observe that this mentality has led to customized and even consumer- centered religion.

In the coming weeks, I’ll examine how the canon serves us well when it is supplemented and balanced by creed, clergy, custom, ceremony, community. Even though it remains the most basic of these elements, we fool ourselves when we pretend anyone of us uses canon alone.

Lesson 32: How Do We Determine God’s Word?

by Scott Noon on October 29, 2011 in Doctrine with No comments

Throughout our history the Church has determined what it accepts as the Word of God by balancing many elements of tradition: charisma, canon, creed, clergy, ceremony, custom, and community. She is constantly correcting the problems that develop when one or more of these gets out of balance. For instance, the Reformation attacked the Roman Church’s use of custom in a way that ignored the canon. Martin Luther tried to correct this by giving canon authority over custom. The problem was he, too, upset the balance by speaking of scripture “alone”.

Many of our modern problems stem from failing to appreciate the need for appropriate balance. Let’s take a few weeks to examine the problem. First, definitions are necessary.

Charisma: inspiration such as people feeling they are filled with God’s Spirit when they speak to either a one- time event or an ongoing issue.

Canon: the approved sacred writings from the past (The Bible) that are used as standards for judging claims for God’s Words in the present.

Creed: statements summarizing the very basic beliefs about God’s Word.

Custom: practices and teachings that have proved their value for a long time.

Clergy: officers given authority to proclaim and supervise God’s Word.

Ceremony: ritual that regularly repeats proven practices.

Community: the gathering of believers that Jesus defines as two or three gathered in his name.

If you understand these 7 “cs” work together, you can readily see the limitations of our modern denominations that limit our ability to speak God’s Word in unity. The Pentecostal churches promote undisciplined charisma, the Lutherans undisciplined canon, the Fundamentalists an undisciplined version of a modern creed, the Roman Catholics undisciplined clergy, the Episcopalians undisciplined ceremony, the Baptists undisciplined community, and everyone of us undisciplined custom.

Of course, my take is far, far too general. I simply want to emphasize that we have problems when we elevate one element of this tradition in a way that minimizes or ignores the others. My use of “undisciplined” simply points to this. I’ll get more precise about how each of these elements function in the coming weeks. Feel free to ask questions, make corrections, and expand my observation in the “comments”.

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