Have you ever played that game?

ufonium2 said:

I have no problem with folks saying "I'll only do something if Scripture says so" or with you wanting to see proof of an Apostle doing something before you'll do it, as long as you are consistent. By that I mean there are probably lots of things you and your church do that don't fit either of those criteria. Do you have Sunday School? An organ or piano in your church? Those things aren't Biblical, nor do we have video tape of an Apostle doing them, but I don't see anyone getting worked up over them.

There's no instruction manual that lays out exactly what we're supposed to do to worship God. Some people say they only do what the Bible says. These are the same people who invented Sunday School and altar calls, so you can see that the logic is flawed.

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ufonium2 said:

Our Church is comprises four Apostolic Sees. So, when we say Christians were doing something in the first century we're not talking about random offshoot groups or individuals, we're talking about churches that were headed by Apostles. These Apostles and those who came after them met synodally (this actually is Biblical, the first synod is recorded in Acts) to ensure agreement on all doctrine, and nobody had a problem with icon veneration until 700 years after the Apostles. You would think that if the practice had sprung up out of nowhere in one See, that the others would have rejected it. Since the practice was approved by all five Apostolic Sees (including Rome) and nobody thought anything could be wrong with it until hundreds of years later, that would seem to indicate that there was a universal tradition of veneration from the get-go.

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