4thMo. 2015 Blog Posts (6)

So, are we doing anything more than playing semantics? What difference of understanding is to be gained by looking at things from one point of view or the other? 



Consider Epistle XXXII in Vol. VII of the Works of Fox, "When your minds go forth from the pure spirit of God and are drawn out from it, there the image of God comes to be lost, in those whose mind goes out from the pure to lust after that which is in the fall, which may appear like truth in the notion..."



Make…

Even though Fox spoke and wrote about the spirit of God, at times calling it the Holy Spirit, or the Holy Ghost, what he has to say and how it relates to the gospel is all Hebrew, there is not a shred of similarity with Holy Spirit Christianity. For example: "For though I read the scriptures that spake of Christ and of God, yet I knew Him not but by revelation as he who hath the key did open and as the Father of life drew me to his son by his spirit." (Works, Vol. I, p. 75) Fox asserts that…

Some years ago, while attending a lecture series given by Lewis Benson, I asked how we could convince Holy-Spirit-Christians that what Fox was saying was substantially different than what they were saying. Lewis replied that, given my background from evangelical Christianity, he hoped that I could provide the answer. I could not then articulate what I felt to be a great difference between Fox's proclamation that Christ has come to teach His people Himself and the gospel of Holy Spirit…

I have had a sense that this discussion about the early Friends not practicing the ritual of taking the bread and wine is not complete, but I have not seen where it should go until now. We have said, "Paul wrote..." and "Paul must have meant..." in our grapplings with the subject. We have looked at various passages from the works of Fox showing how scripture had been opened to him. This morning I was shown what to do with all this.

There is a beautiful passage from Vol. 4 of Fox's…

Here are the quotes from Lewis Benson that deal with how Christian community stands in relation to the Scriptures. I wish I could have quoted the entire works I cite, but space only allows excerpts. However, I encourage all to go and read the original articles by Lewis.

A Universal Christian Faith by Lewis Benson, p. 48

When the church declines or disappears from the historical scene, the problem of renewal is…

The following list of references are not meant to be exhaustive, merely representative. Most are organized by stating a principle (P.) and an answer (A.). Other places have an objection (O.) and answer. These are mostly passages from Fox's answers to anit-Quaker tracts and books. 

I promised Jim Wilson that I would include some quotes from Lewis Benson. Those will appear in a separate posting. This one is a bit long as it is.

vol. iii, p. 152

P. He saith, ' They lay in wait…