Our legacy system
2007-03-07As an IT worker, I’m familiar with legacy systems. These are programs or hardware that have been used by a business for so long that it is cheaper to continue to use them than replace them. Admittedly, this isn’t always a bad thing, as something that was built to last can be a good thing. And yet, at the same time, there is often a sense of “fear and loathing” when discussing legacy systems. Often, there is an increasing disconnect between what the legacy system was designed to do and what the business actually needs. Also, older systems speak different languages than newer systems or do not take advantage of genuine advances in computer technology. As a result, it can be increasingly difficult to integrate a legacy system with newer systems. And, of course, eventually the legacy system will need to be replaced, and the longer you wait, the more difficult and expensive it will be.
The Westminster Standards are Presbyterian legacy systems. Until we understand and acknowledge this, we will make little progress in impacting the world around us.
you know, some might take your arguments and expand them to say that the Bible is a legacy system and that God needs (or maybe is?) to have a different, completely from the bottom re-written, way of talking to our generation and those to come.
Obviously there is an argument against that thinking–but I don’t think comparing IT/legacy systems to our systems of theology is uniformly apt.
What about architecture? What about clothing?
Man is roughly the same as he has always been. Society changes and culture changes over time, but it doesn’t change completely. We’re still in fallen man 1.0.
You may be right in what you’re positing here–but merely setting up an analogy that may or may not be a true comparison doesn’t make the argument.
Actually…no.
The Bible is for all times and for all ages. It is the Word of God and applies to all men and all times.
The Westminster Standards are not. That’s the point.
Rather, the Standards are an application of the Word of God to the questions of a particular time and place. That’s a good thing, but the questions of that time are not the same as the questions of today. Thus we need to do the work of applying the Word of God to our present day.
Ergo, your reductio doesn’t work.