One
final thought from the American Episcopal Church for today. It was recently reported that, for them, the
decisions of their General Convention (their General Synod) were deemed to be
the most authoritative way of knowing God’s will.
Forgive
me, but that seems just a little arrogant.
I’m rather glad that the Church of England says clearly two things about
that:
1. The
Thirty-Nine Articles make it clear that Councils (and Conventions) can and do
err – no human ‘parliamentary’ decision can ever permanently and infallibly
reveal God’s will. They need to be
tested.
2. And
the place of testing is the Bible – which all the Anglican formularies have as
our primary source of authority. Rather
more objectivity and security in the way we do things, methinks.