Reformed Living

A true Church is any group of people who confess faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and regularly assemble in His Name to worship God and to hear the Gospel preached and the Scripture expounded.  They are Baptized and observe the Lord’s Supper.  This is a minimalist definition- the basic Essentials of a true Church.

A complete Church would be organized under the leadership of a 3-fold ordained Ministry (Bishop, Priest, Deacon) in historic continuity with the ancient Church. Its Doctrine would be Apostolic and Creedal; its Worship Liturgical and its Ordinances (Baptism and Lord’s Supper) sacramental. This describes a classic Anglican Church.

The Catholic and Reformed Church (an Anglican Church) has historic continuity with the Church of England and the Archbishop of Canterbury and through that it has continuity to the Church in England and those who brought the Faith of the Early Church to the British Isles by the 3rd C

The true, complete, Catholic and Reformed Anglican Church has Liturgical and Eucharistic (Sacramental) Worship according to a Book of Common Prayer which is faithful to the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and the Doctrine of the 16th C Protestant Reformation (as stated in its 39 Articles of Religion)

I believe in the 5 Solas of the Reformation: Salvation is based on Sola Scriptura | Soli Deo Gloria | Solo Christo | Sola Gratia | Sola Fide |  I take them to mean the following-

1.  Salvation is based first and foremost on what the Bible teaches about Salvation. Scripture is the primary, ultimate, central authority on the subject- Sola Scriptura ("Scripture Alone"). This is known as the Formative Principle- The authority of Scripture determines (forms) all Doctrine. No Doctrine is binding on Christians which can not be derived from Scripture.  All Evangelicals say this.   But how is the Bible interpreted?  This is the crux of many differences among Christians.  The whole canonical Bible is the Word or Revelation of God written. I use the context of the entire Bible to understand any Doctrine, not just the New Testament and certainly, not just a few select verses.  I interpret the text of the English Bible using the classic grammatical-historical (not literal, but common-sense and appropriate-to-the-particular-genre-of-the-passage-at-hand) method.  But  Sola Scriptura does not mean only Scripture.  The Reformers set great importance on the inner witness or illumination of the Holy Spirit for understanding of Scripture.  They also made use of Reason and Tradition for their interpretation.  Many who claim Sola Scriptura actually approach the Bible and interpret it through their predetermined Theology or doctrinal tradition.  In practice that Theology, usually based on a  Confession of Faith, is the real, ultimate Authority for Faith and Practice, not the Scripture. This is a mistake which I try to avoid.

This week, some 500 "socially engaged Buddhists" are meeting at a Buddhist Study Center near here to discover and share ways of making a positive difference in our world,  They are listening to speakers and conducting workshops about doing more to eradicate such problems as world hunger and poverty, racism, global warming and, of course, war.  Buddhists are secular and do not believe in any traditional "God". They will not be promoting Religion or doing any evangelism.  Many Christian groups these days share they same agenda and goals and they, too, rarely mention their Faith and do no evangelism.  What is the difference between the groups? Are the Christians, for all practical purposes, acting like Buddhists?  There are many worthwhile and compassionate works being done in the world by many, compassionate people.  Good, but our distinct responsibility and privilege is to preach Christ.  The Buddhists may help people dig wells and get clean water, but they will do nothing to help them find the Water of Life.  That is our "Job One".