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From: tld@ssc-vax.UUCP (Thomas L Davis)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Centrality of the Incarnation
Message-ID: <803@ssc-vax.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 2-Feb-84 15:52:29 EST
Article-I.D.: ssc-vax.803
Posted: Thu Feb  2 15:52:29 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 8-Feb-84 05:50:53 EST
Organization: Boeing Aerospace, Seattle
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A turtle only makes progress by sticking his/her neck out, so
I am going to leap into the Creation Science discussion with
some observations of my own.

>From "The Book of Common Prayer", 1979, Seabury:

The Holy Scriptures (pp. 853-4)

Q. What are the Holy Scriptures?
A. The Holy Scriptures, commonly called the Bible, are the books
   of the Old and New Testaments; other books, called the
   Apocrypha, are often included in the Bible.

Q. What is the Old Testament?
A. The Old Testament consists of books written by the people of
   the Old Covenant, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to
   show God at work in nature and history.

Q. What is the New Testament?
A. The New Testament consists of books written by the people of
   the New Covenant, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to
   set forth the life and teachings of Jesus and to proclaim the
   Good News of the Kingdom for all people.

Q. What is the Apocrypha?
A. The Apocrypha is a collection of additional books written by
   the people of the Old Covenant, and used in the Christian
   Church.

Q. Why do we call the Holy Scriptures the Word of God?
A. We call them the Word of God because God inspired their human
   authors and because God still speaks to us through the Bible.

Q. How do we understand the meaning of the Bible?
A. We understand the meaning of the Bible by the help of the Holy
   Spirit, who guides the Church in the true inerpretation of the
   Scriptures.

Lambeth Conference of 1888
Resolution 11 (pg. 877-8)

That, in the opinion of this Conference, the following Articles
supply a basis on which approach may be by God's blessing made
toward Home Reunion:

(a) The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as
"containing all things necessary to salvation," and as being the
rule and ultimate standard of faith.

(b) The Apostle's Creed, as the Baptismal Symbol; and the Nicene
Creed; as the sufficient statement of the Christian faith.

(c) The two Sacraments ordained by Christ Himself -- Baptism and
the Supper of the Lord -- ministered with unfailing use of
Christ's words of Institution, and of the elements ordained by
Him.

(d) The Historic Episcopate, locally adapted in the methods of its
administration to the varying needs of the nations and peoples
called of God into the Unity of His Church.

"Miracles", by C.S. Lewis, Macmillan, 1978

Chapter XIV The Grand Miracle (pg. 108)

The central miracle asserted by Christians is the Incarnation.
They say that God became Man. Every other miracle prepares for
this, or exhibits this, or results from this. Just as every
natural event is the manifestation at a particular place and
moment of Nature's total character, so every particular Christian
miracle manifests at a particular place and moment the character
and significance of the Incarnation. There is no question in
Christianity of arbitrary interferences just scattered about. It
relates not to a series of disconnected raids on Nature but the
various steps of a strategically coherent invasion -- an invasion
which intends complete conquest and "occupation." The fitness, and
therefore credibility, of the particular miracles depends on their
relation to the Grand Miracle; all discussion of them in isolation
is futile.