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Thursday, December 15. 2016

Baby steps

From David Warren's Before the beginning:



 The advice of a solid old Anglican priest — back when the Anglicans had a use for solids — was to retain one’s balance. “Don’t try to do everything at once,” he said, after my conversion on that bridge over Thames. In particular, “Don’t try to believe everything at once. It is bigger than you, you shan’t be able to do it.” And, “Never abandon your skepticism. If it doesn’t make sense to you, leave it and get back to it later.” And, “The trick to walking, whether you are a babe or very drunk, is: one step at a time. Those who get ahead of themselves tend to fall over.”


Posted by Bird Dog in Religion at 17:17 | Comments (5) | Trackbacks (0)

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All good bits of advice.

However, an Episcopalian friend once told me that the central doctrine of C of E was skepticism. As a CS Lewis fan, I found that difficult to believe and even a little offensive. Over the course of two years' inquiry, I decided he was right.

If you choose to go Anglican, be skeptical of their skepticism, and understand that they are as fundamentalist as any Southern Baptist on that point.
#1 Assistant Village Idiot (Link) on 2016-12-15 19:00 (Reply)
The central doctrine of the Anglican Church is found in the Apostles Creed or Nicene Creed, and see the The Thirty-nine Articles of Religion. they regard themselves as orthodox and catholic, as a middle way between the Orthodox and the Roman Catholic.


your friend is wrong.
#1.1 Will Bithers on 2016-12-15 20:00 (Reply)
I wonder if you are taking AVI too literally -- there does always seem to be a gulf between what we profess and what we practice; between what we say we believe and what we demonstrate-our-beliefs-to-be. Demonstrating our beliefs by our actions, our worries, our disputes, and how we represent ourselves to others.
I think he might have been highlighting a group characteristic and its contrast with official doctrine by calling it "doctrine", rather than making an explicit claim about official dogma.

If one does an image search on "Episcopal Ad Project", what appears are images from a series of ads -- such as one with a detail of the 1632 painting "Christ Crucified" by Diego Velázquez and the text "He died to take away your sins. Not your mind".

This and many others of the series seem to give weight to AVI's premise that freethinking is fairly central in the values of the group, in spite of the creedal absolutes that one is taught as a confirmand.
#1.1.1 Douglas2 on 2016-12-16 01:05 (Reply)
perhaps. then again we are talking about Anglicans whose church is splintering worldwide over doctrinal differences caused by skepticism instead of obedience.
#1.1.1.1 Will Bithers on 2016-12-16 12:25 (Reply)
To put it simply the Anglican Church was formed as the Catholic church without the Pope and the Vatican influence. It morphed over time and today it is the church of gay.
#1.2 SweetPea on 2016-12-16 10:25 (Reply)

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