Mouw's Musings - Talking Past Each Other
THE HEIDELBLOG - Talking Past One Another?
I didn't know Rich Mouw has a blog. Indeed, a number of evangelical scholars maintain blogs... In a recent entry he responded to criticism of his essay in The Christian Century proposing that Protestant re-think their approach to the mediation of the saints. I am one of those critics...
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I've reflected on the phenomenon of prayer to the saints since my Baptist friends asked me about it in high school. It seems to rise from the Christian experience of life regardless of what doctrines one affirms.
My grandfather loved me, and then he died. Does this love continue after death or not? The promise I have received in Christ Jesus assures me that this love continues.
Is is wrong to love my wife, my friends, my grandfather? Is God jealous that I love these gifts of his love for me? And if I love men and women whom I have never met in the flesh, is this unnatural or is it a testament to the power of God who wills that his children be one as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one?
If devotion to the saints is transactional (as iMonk has explained the term), then to hell with it. Prayer to saints (even admiring Christ in them) may not be efficient, but it is beautiful.
Fred
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