History Speaks: From Repentance to Penance

note: One of the great benefits of reading history is being able to watch the evolution of ideas and their consequences over the course of long periods of time. D’Aubigne is a master of tracing and portaying such things, and what you find below is a helpful example of it. -jr

“What most of all deformed Christianity was the system of penance which rose out of Pelagianism. Penance at first consisted in certain public signs of repentance, which the Church required of those whom she had excluded for scandal, and who were desirous of being again received into her bosom.

Truly, if religion languish in the closet, it will quickly die in the family.

-John Flavel Works VI p128 

Sometimes it’s time to shut up.

Talking is not the problem. The problem is when incessant talking becomes a cover for indecision or even cowardice…It’s death by dialogue. The conversation never stops after affirming the historic position. There will always be another paper, another symposium, and another round of conversation. The moratorium on making pronouncements will only be lifted once the revisionist [or progressive or liberal] position has won out. Every doctrine central to the Christian faith and precious to you as a Christian has been hotly debated and disputed. If the “conversation” about the resurrection or the Trinity or the two natures of Christ continued as long as smart people on both sides disagreed, we would have lost orthodoxy long ago.

Kevin DeYoung, “What the Bible says about Homosexuality,” pg. 76

ed. note: For various reasons, generally we only quote from brothers whose presence on this earth is now a slab of etched granite and some yellowing pages. But this seemed especially poignant and useful (notice how I avoid the term “relevant” with great determination, if not skill), so I offer it here as food for thought.