Scripture, Tradition, and Reason Puppet Show (Episcopal)

[eleanorayoulateagain]

I liked this video very much. Thank you for sharing it. I am about to join my local Episcopal Church and am very excited about it. I've never belonged to a Church before, and I am very excited to be doing so now.

[supernatural2029]

Father MATThew is the episcopalian a copy of the Roman catholic? I am catholic but I found your church similar in your priest clothes and temples but they don't have images like a catholic church or devotions..

[concord1775]

The Episcopal Church was created when the Church of England in America broke away after the American Revolutionary war in the same way that the Church of England was formed what it broke away from the Roman Catholic church back in the time of King Henry VIII of England. That's why all the services and clothes are basically similar, but the influence of Protestantism took away much of the images and 'decoration' often found in a Roman Catholic church. At least that's how I understand it.

[shamalama68]

@concord1775 I think you understand very well! As an Episco myself, I would add that there is "high church", in which the services, the "decorations", and vestments (clothing) are nearly identical to a Catholic church, and "low church" which is very plain, and would look more similar to maybe a Presbyterian or Congregational church. All within the Episcopal church. So it has something for everyone. We're not big on the Virgin Mary and we don't recognize the authority of the Pope, either :-)

[shamalama68]

@supernatural2029 I'm Episcopalian. Very briefly: the "clothes" (vestments), the liturgy, ceremony, "decorations", are all nearly identical to those in the Catholic church. Mostly English in style, however. We're not big on statues… we don't have confession booths. The role of the Virgin Mary is not nearly as great. We don't recognize the authority of the Pope re: dogma. We kneel to receive Communion, and we take both the wine and the bread.

[shamalama68]

@shamalama68 Oh and we LOVE to sing hymns! Some of the greatest church music has come out of the Anglican/Episcopal church. We also allow women to be priests.

[johnmciann]

What exactly does it mean to have too much reason? I can see the danger of being too literal, or of being too traditional, but not in being too reasonable.

[Hotora86]

Maybe not being too reasonable but reasoning too far and ending up with inhuman theories like the one Hitler used. Racism did evolve from pseudo-science and misinterpretation of philosophical writers like Nietzsche.

On the other hand, German fascists still said "Gott mit uns" (God is with us) while they were slaughtering innocent Jews and most of them were in fact Christians. So I don't know if they lacked Scripture, Tradition or Reason...

Father Matthew, a little help here?

[johnmciann]

Well, the Nazis did have Matthew 23:37-38, and they had Martin Luther, who in 1543 wrote "On the Jews and their lies", so scripture and tradition were both firmly in place.

You do the math.

[lutherheggs]

I think too much reason would be expressed were I to hit drunks sleeping on a park bench with a claw hammer while reasoning doing this would make the park more palatable to the rest of us.

[PhoenixIgnis]

I got what you meant by the video, nice to see someone religious acknowledging their reasoning. Can you give an example of when reason goes too far though?

I personally do believe it can be warped and effected by what your exposed to, thus explaining for myself (in a personal way, no one has to agree) why a murderer would think what he or she is doing is ok in cases other than mental illness.

But in cases where someone is raised in the right environment I don't see why reason would be bad.

[Uglytastic]

You're insulting reason by including it with your deluded, pathetic 'scriptures' and 'traditions'. Slavery was supported by scripture, not to mention traditional. Your Bible is neither infallible, nor is it the word of your genocidal maniac imaginary friend you call 'God'.

You're religious, and it is mentally disabling, on the order of a genuine disease.

[FatherMatthew]

Yikes! Slavery was also defeated by Christians, too. Remember Wilberforce? It is his day in our church. I agree that the bible is not infallible, that would be idolatry. And that genocide is wrong. I read the bible through the lens of Jesus, with an unabashedly critical eye. Faith is not a disease or a cultivation of the imaginary. It susses out the the truth, when done well. Take care, and be well. mm+

[dutchguy]

Hallo Father Matthew, I just realized that the "Reason" component is what many American fundamentalists are missing out on. I remember those Episcopal Church ads from Reagan-era: "He died to take away your sins, not your mind." This is a great video and it makes it "safe" for curious to check out Jesus and Church. I have a total mankrush on you, Father, but only in a spiritual sense of word. I still don't understand about the hooker arguing with a three-legged stool? Like a Dutch folk tale?

[jedi0424]

good video though :)

[jedi0424]

well it is Hooker with a little bit of a difference......besides which not many ppl (including myself) have made it through all eight books of the "Lawes".... it's not so much that we are given reason to understand Scripture as it is as part of God's natural law....Hooker's arguments for the use of reason had much more to do with defending Episcopal authority (against the Genevan model) and in defending the Sacraments (in Scripture)

[FatherMatthew]

Well said.

[inxsroolz]

Interesting--but not Hooker.

[FatherMatthew]

Please say more, I'm interested.

mm+

[GoodAvatar]

You have got to be the most non-traditional christian priest I've ever seen. Good for you. Your humor makes your point much more poignant. As an atheist, I do appreciate your non-comformity, and I'm glad you're so open minded and intelligent. Your messages of morality do not go unnoticed.

[hungaryfish]

ya he is it really makes his videos really great very traditional priest can be hard to understand sometimes

[WingsTM]

I love how you tie it all together! Now I can explain to some of my friends who aren't Episcopalian how important Tradition is, along with Scripture. =D

[ddelray]

Dude you are recycling your material :D (this is one of my favourites though !) Am all for more stick puppet shows...

[FatherMatthew]

The last one malfunctioned, so I had to reissue it. Lost all the other comments, though. :(

[dutchguy]

So are you saying that the Word actually became flesh and not paper?

[squitmaa]

Well said.

[zzbullan]

its so simple when you use puppets