Do Not Disavow

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Do Not Disavow By: Rick Davis   When Charlemagne established law Salic in barb’rous land, The gospel flourished, and he saw Christ’s praise on every hand.   (“Do you approve his methods now?”) I do not disavow.   King Godfrey took Jerusalem From bloody paynim hands And brought a halt to Musselmen Invading Christian lands.   (“He did some mean things anyhow!”) I do not disavow.   King Richard with his scarlet shield And passant lions ‘bossed Rode forth again unto the field To regain what was lost.   (“His deeds at Acre you allow?”) I do not disavow.   Unto the Germans Luther brought The gospel full restored, And Calvin at Geneva taught The glory of the Lord.   (“The Jews? Servetus? Holy cow!”) I do not disavow.   Stonewall and Lee like knights of old Fought for their native soil, The true and lovely to uphold Against the tyrant’s spoil.   (“Those vile racists ...
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The Fruit of Bitterness

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In much of what Frank Schaeffer writes these days, one can see the bitter, little boy Franky peeking out from behind the curtain. It reminds me of many of C. S. Lewis's characters from the Great Divorce and the Screwtape Letters, as well as a bit of Eustace from Dawn Treader. From the root of bitterness toward his father, Francis Schaeffer, grew a bitterness toward his father's ministry, his father's politics, his father's theology, and now finally his father's God. Here is one of Frank's latest, and it incidentally demonstrates the very issue that my last post on Dante dealt with.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Rick, listen to the music, not the song. He is cutting at the mindlessness of committment with which evangelicals approach the Bible. He is not attacking the Bible outright.

He is attacking the hermenutics and the inconsistency with which evangelicals tend to apply the Bible.

If we were to consistently apply the Bible itself, alone, then Christians would be a lot more violent than we are.

However, we have the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church (Tradition) to tell us the correct hermenutic.

You will say then that undercuts the authority of the Bible. Yes it does undercut the authority of the Bible, but not God.

God is living, speaking to us in and through the Church. He uses the Bible, but the also uses the Church as a whole speaking to us thru Icons, Song, and Liturgy. He even God forbid, uses nature to speak to us.

As to the guidance and the certainty of rationalism, it goes out the window when you meet with faith. It doesn't mean that we cease to use our reason, we just don't make it the center of our lives. We make God the center.
27 August, 2010 10:42
Rick Davis said…
I have to disagree here. (And not only that the music can't be divorced from the song any more than words can be divorced from meaning.)

Twenty years ago this critique by Frank Schaeffer may have been against fundamentalist interpretations of Scripture, but he specifically attacks Scripture itself. He believes that the law code of the Old Testament, written by God Himself, is brutal and wicked. Frank is perhaps still Orthodox in name, but in practice he admits to only occasionally attending services. In addition he writes like an agnostic, is fully supportive of the gay rights movement, and has moved toward a pro-choice stance on abortion.

He believes that the Bible is not the word of God, and that Christians (of any tradition) should not think the Bible above criticism.

In short he may not be completely beyond the pale of Orthodoxy, but if I were Eastern Orthodox, I certainly wouldn't want him to be my spokesman.
27 August, 2010 15:12
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