My credo is sola scriptura but, even so, that (IMHO) must needs be tempered with the interpretation of Scripture by others, lest one become a heretic. And so, there is a place for tradition as a check against ‘private interpretation’. Even so, I also believe in semper reformanda, as long the change brings one closer to God and truth.

In times before, certain traditions were handed down orally and others in writing. These methods have their own specific problems; either can be manipulated by man or fall victim to errors in perception, translation, or transmission. In this, the information age, we have new and sharper techniques for the preservation and dissemination of information. Like a sword, they too are double-edged. Instead of static portrayal of customs, for example, we have full-color video, with Surround Sound and in 3-D. We also have the means of manipulating and manufacturing video such that it is impossible to discern the difference between that which is authentic and that which is not.

Now, what I’m wondering is how you think this is going to play out. Will the church become less dynamic and stagnate as a result, with each sect becoming even more polarized in its thinking and traditions than it already is? If so, could it be that we have seen the last ‘great awakening’ in the aftermath of the last two world wars? The church today appears to be so fragmented, and so tenaciously holding to its fragmented beliefs, that persecution will not unite it. Then again, why would the world need to persecute the church? There are so many flavors and styles that there is not so much a single target to hit; rather, there are so many targets of varying size and mass.

The South lost the civil war, in part, because each of its states was so deeply committed to independence that they could not unite to defeat the North. Has the church become ‘The South’, unable to unite against the rest of the world, ‘The North’? Can, and should, it unite? Obviously, it cannot, or at least will not, ‘win’, according to The Book of the Revelation—the victory will be won by Jesus Christ. But should it try?