Bible Think Tank

This site is designed to help you interact with others about God's Word. I further some thoughts we developed during morning and evening gatherings at church. I have my NT translations from the original Greek to English. Also, I have book reviews and other current events.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Is This Still the Case?

I have been working on redesigning our denomination's Historical Society website. The old one is BFCHistory.org ... the new one will be there, but I am testing it now at my church site here. So I am reformatting all the library items and came across an interesting paper written for the Bethlehem Globe Times newspaper by one of our pastors, W.S. Hottel, in 1915. My question for you as you read is: would you still say that this statement is true of the Bible Fellowship Church as W.S. declared it true of our former incarnation, the Mennonite Brethren in Christ Church. Listen to what he says:

So then, it is at once discernible that the name "Mennonite" has been adopted and is held to merely for the sake of distinction and historical continuance. With the Mennonite Brethren in Christ, it is no barrier to prevent the incoming of new light from God, by way of advance knowledge, because of a deeper and clearer insight in to Divine revelation. The Mennonite Brethren are not a church bound down to the traditions handed down from their forefathers, others than those which are in full and strict accordance with the Scriptures. They always welcome new light from God, upon his word, gladly following and obeying it. Their apparent narrowness is not Godward but manward; they holding with a firm and tenacious grip of faith to the Divine Authorship and Authenticity of the Scriptures. To them the Scriptures are the ground of faith, their creed, and also the rule of life. Whatever in word, principle and spirit the Scriptures enjoin, they hold it to be carried out and obeyed in every day life and practice. In short, they stand for the spiritual illumination of the mind, its transformation by the power of the Holy Spirit, through the truth, so that the principles of God's word are inwrought into the mind, will and character of man, so that those who really and heartily accept the divine "form of doctrine" became living epistles "known and read of all men."

Do we, the BFC, always have an ear open for God to grant some new light? Is ALL we have the Scriptures and them alone as our creed? Do we add immutable statements on top of God's Word -or- is it Scripture alone?

I'd love to hear our responses?

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