“If we insist on going back to something in the past, perhaps we should go back to the beginning, rather than getting off conveniently at some 18th-century plateau (or 16th or even 12th).”
Larson, Osborne, The Emerging Church (1970), p83
From today’s reading at Our Daily Blog
Technorati Tags: emerging church
Ahh…the old “restoration plea.”
From someone in a tradition that has made restoring “the ancient order of things” its highest goal, I can say that simply “going back to the beginning” is neither easy nor should it be our highest goal. What has resulted in Churches of Christ (my heritage) are lots of sectarian, legalistic, “we’re-right-and-you’re-stupid” churches and people, and the burned-out wreckage of those people who have been negatively affected by such influences.
Trust me, I’m a house church guy like you are, Andrew…but I get a little nervous when folks start throwing around phrases like “going back to the beginning.”
steve
what i found interesting about this post from 1970 was not so much a plea for restoration (neither am i a restorationalist) but a warning not to stop off at the most popular historical destinations along the way.