Man-made or divine, from Scripture or from history, nothing is sacred once mixed with the cocktail of freedom. Lawlessness brings with it the spiritual gift of immediate and total authority.… Whatever else anyone has to say, they cannot assail the firm belief in Christian freedom and your soul's liberty.
Receiving the past is what makes us who we are. It forms us as something bigger than ourselves. It helps us grow on a foundation raised above isolation and ignorance, and it aids us in passing on what we learn to those who come after us. The handing down of statements, beliefs, legends, customs, and information from generation to generation is exactly what Dr. Luther once pointed out God wants all Christians to do when he wrote, "God solemnly commands us in Deuteronomy 6:6-8 that we should always meditate on His precepts, sitting, walking, standing, lying down, and rising. We should have them before our eyes and in our hands as a constant mark and sign." (Large Catechism, Longer Preface 14).
- "Humility" is knowing that truth can never really be known.
- "Mercy" is looking the other way when your friend is active in what those old, legalistic people would dare to call sin.
- "Wisdom" is knowing that all those traditions and doctrines that were here before you were most likely made up by ignorant, totally bigoted people and don't really have a point anyway.
Receiving the past is what makes us who we are. It forms us as something bigger than ourselves. It helps us grow on a foundation raised above isolation and ignorance, and it aids us in passing on what we learn to those who come after us. The handing down of statements, beliefs, legends, customs, and information from generation to generation is exactly what Dr. Luther once pointed out God wants all Christians to do when he wrote, "God solemnly commands us in Deuteronomy 6:6-8 that we should always meditate on His precepts, sitting, walking, standing, lying down, and rising. We should have them before our eyes and in our hands as a constant mark and sign." (Large Catechism, Longer Preface 14).
Jonathan Fisk, Broken, 210-211, 212
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