Anglican Communion Covenant Digest for Today

A good discussion and summary with links over at the excellent and thoughtful Anglican Down Under here.

The thing that lit up for me in it all was this from the "Covenant Working Party Commentary on Revisions to Section 4:"

If, however, the canons and constitutions of a Province permit, there is no reason why a diocesan synod should not commit itself to the covenant, thus strengthening its commitment to the interdependent life of the Communion.”

Let's get at it!

A Jeremiah Prayer Point

Jeremiah chapter 6, verse 16, was my prayer for my family, God-children and all the people and church leaders in our bulletin intercession list, Archbishop Venables in the Anglican Cycle of Prayer, the SOMA and ANiC lists this morning...

Thus says the LORD: "Stand by the roads and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls."

O yes! to that, but the verse goes on...

But they said, "We will not walk in it."

LORD, in your mercy, may that not be true.

What might the "ancient paths" be for us? I'm thinking of the ways of the Bible and the Prayer Book, the 39 Articles and the Solemn Declaration. Hopelessly reactionary and old-fashioned, I know. Sigh.

On Biblical Inerrancy

I've started reading Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology: an Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. In it I find a compelling case for biblical inerrancy.

I also found reference to THE CHICAGO STATEMENT ON BIBLICAL INERRANCY. He had also referred to this in one of his talks to which I have referred below. More on the The Chicago Statement here.

Interestingly, well-known Anglican theologian, J. I. Packer was one of the people involved in developing the statement, as were Francis Schaeffer and R. C. Sproul.

Sadly, my denomination has lost its way in this area. Our methods of deciding what is, or is not, permissible and faithful to the teaching of Scripture, are such that, as the Chicago Statement states,

the Bible that God gave loses its authority, and what has authority instead is a Bible reduced in content according to the demands of one's critical reasoning and in principle reducible still further once one has started. This means that at bottom independent reason now has authority, as opposed to Scriptural teaching.

Read the whole statement here.