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Talk:Religious Society of Friends (view source)
Revision as of 02:19, September 21, 2007
, 02:19, September 21, 2007→This is a liberal article
:Can you give specific examples of what in this article you find to be too liberal? [[User:DanH|DanH]] 21:57, 20 September 2007 (EDT)
:Can you give specific examples of what in this article you find to be too liberal? [[User:DanH|DanH]] 21:57, 20 September 2007 (EDT)
Sure
1) Historically, Quakers did not have "testimonies." We had what was called "our ancient testimony." The "testimony of simplicity" is a mid-20th century replacement for the historic emphasis of plainness, a form of religious nonconformity practiced by the colonial Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Quakers, and Baptists.
2) The reason for not taking oaths has always been set forth as following the direct command of Christ Jesus in Matthew 5:32. What is posted here is a secular argument that was historically used but was not the primary reason.
3) Friends were historically very much opposed to sex outside of marriage; David H. Fischer has a long analysis of this in his book ''Albion's Seed''.
4) While we have always believed that all people have equal access to God, our historic beliefs did not include acceptance of all creeds or redistribution of wealth. One reason for the Puritan and Quaker use of numerical calendar units was to eliminate the names of pagan gods from our speech.
5) The reference to the Balby letter should state that this is a reference to Paul's writing that "the letter killeth but the Spirit giveth life." This was never intended to be an excuse for unholy living, as the earlier portions of that letter attest.
6) The William Penn reference should be kept in context. The thesis of his most famous book, ''No Cross, No Crown'', is that each of us has a spiritual obligation to take up the cross of Christ daily in our lives. William Penn was not a Unitarian in theology. The passage is a weak example of his theology.
7) Two-thirds of Quakers worldwide accept the inspiration of Scripture.
8) The reference to direct revelation needs to be explained. Historically, Friends believed that God continues to reveal *Himself* to humans. The current liberal understanding of revealing new *doctrine* is specifically repudiated in the early Quaker book Barclay's Apology and is not accepted by Conservative Friends, the Friends United Meeting, or Evangelical Friends. [[User:Chronicler|Chronicler]] 22:19, 20 September 2007 (EDT)