Welcome. I imagine that you friend was partial to Common Sense's endorsement of the Septuagint. But the work is a sequel, of sorts. Have you yet read his premiere work, Will the Real Heretics Please Stand Up?
I am reading it but have yet to finish it.
Hello, dear Tre. I am impressed that you have set out on a such a noble, lofty, and worthwhile pursuit while still in your youth. That really great to hear!
May you never lose your love for the Lord Jesus Christ and your desire to grow in knowledge and obedience to Him, dear one.
Dear brother Errol has given you some excellent advice and you will find much more eye-opening fellowship in dear brother Bercot's book Will the Real Heretics Please Stand Up . As brother Errol stated, Common Sense
was a sequel of sorts to the Heretics book and it really helps to have read both of them.
In addition, all readers of Common Sense really should download the free audio message from Scroll Publishing entitled "Reflections on Common Sense". In this free audio message, brother Bercot shares his own honest assessment of Common Sense , including the places where he believes he went too far in Common Sense , and the reasons he decided to take Common Sense out of print.
You can find a link to this free audio message at: Resource on scrollpublishing.com — https://www.scrollpublishing.com/store/product3219.html .
An exciting journey awaits you and your wife, dear brother! May our dear Lord richly bless both of you as you seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.
Thank you, Charles! I’ll certainly be finishing that book and listening to that message. Lord bless.
Thank you, dear one. I wish that the existence of that free audio message was better known. Perhaps your friend that is an inquirer in the EO church will benefit from that message as well.
God bless you richly for your precious seeking heart. May you not stop seeking until you have found the pearl of great price. As one in his mid-to-late 50's, I can testify that the pearl of the Kingdom of God is truly worth your giving up of all else.
We are praying for you, dear one.
thehistoricfaith.com/members/his_disciple/ @His_Disciple "Reflections On Common Sense" is in my opinion, one of the worst things David Bercot has every produced. It shows the first signs of his shift towards the vision he presented in "Kingdom That Turned The World Upside Down." As a matter of fact, I highly recommend the 1st edition of "Common Sense," if you can find it. It's much stronger. As well as the 2nd edition of "Will The Real Heretics Please Stand Up."
They both give a stronger case against Sola Scriptura and why we need to take "oral Apostolic tradition" seriously. It's this shift to a more Protestant tone and his re-embracing of the heresy of "Sola Scriptura," that has led to the movement surrounding him to be an unorganized, schismatic and divided "neo-anabaptist" mess. As well pushing MANY to Eastern Orthodoxy.
@His_Disciple “Reflections On Common Sense” is in my opinion, one of the worst things David Bercot has every produced. It shows the first signs of his shift towards the revised vision he presented in “The Kingdom That Turned The World Upside Down.” As a matter of fact, I highly recommend the 1st edition of “Common Sense,” if you can find it. It’s much stronger. As well as the 2nd edition of “Will The Real Heretics Please Stand Up.” They both give a stronger case against Sola Scriptura and why we need to take “oral Apostolic tradition” seriously. It’s this shift to a more Protestant tone and his re-embracing of the heresy of “Sola Scriptura,” that has led to the movement surrounding him to be an unorganized, schismatic and divided “neo-anabaptist” mess. As well as pushing MANY to Eastern Orthodoxy.
Hello, there. The timing of this discussion is actually very interesting to me, since I just listened to both of dear brother Bercot's autobiographical messages a short while ago, and I am now re-listening to his messages regarding Mary, Apostolic Succession, The Seven Ecumenical Councils, etc.
Having listened to "Reflections on Common Sense" (several times), along with my recent listening to the autobiographical messages (especially the second one entitled "My Continuing Pilgrimage") and the other messages mentioned above, it became clear to me that brother Bercot did not leave behind the world of oral apostolic tradition, apostolic succession, ecumenical councils, etc. without a lot of deep thought and consideration, a lot of intense prayer, and a lot of open and honest fellowship.
He did not take that step lightly at all.
Having grown up Roman Catholic, and having multiple very close Eastern Orthodox and Coptic friends over the years, I do not know any Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox or Coptic layperson who read through the writings of the Ante-Nicene Fathers multiple times like brother Bercot did, to the point that he could compile a "Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs" and write a commentary of the Gospel of Matthew that references many insights from the Early Christians (not limited to the Ante Nicene
Fathers). So I have to respect the huge amount of time and effort brother Bercot invested in investigating primary sources. And I have to respect his intellectual integrity and his willingness to pay the price to follow the evidence, wherever it may lead.
Much grace and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
So, does he believe sola scriptura or not? In common sense, he made a very strong case against it, saying that we need oral apostolic tradition and the church to help us understand the Scriptures. After listening to that recording, it didn’t sound like he thinks that anymore.
I think that brother Bercot's position might best be described as prima scriptura. The shift between Common Sense and 'Reflections on Common Sense' doesn't appear to be a change in beliefs so much as a shift in emphasis. At the opposite extreme ends of the spectrum we have sola scriptura on one side and essentially sola ecclesia on the other, both of which are to be avoided.
In short, do make sure that your views are based in Scripture, but do not imagine that you can interpret them in a 21st century vacuum, but again do not imagine that the early Christians' commentary on the Scriptures is infallible as the Scriptures themselves but rather are collectively the best commentary on Scriptures available to man. Here's how I tend to approach the matter:
1. The Scriptures are subject to misinterpretation. Cf. 2 Peter 3:15-16.
2. The Apostles not only passed on a written tradition, but an oral tradition as well with instruction for it to be passed on in turn to the successive generations of Christians. Cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:15; 2 Timothy 2:2.
3. The Apostles dispersed themselves throughout the ancient world to pass these same teachings on. Cf. Mark 16:15; Matthew 28:19.
4. If, therefore, any given interpretation of the Scriptures didn't even exist within Christendom for literally hundreds of years after the Apostles composed the New Testament, then how could said interpretation be the understanding which the Apostles had intended as opposed to a much later innovation of men?
5. If, conversely, all of the pre-Nicene Christians ecumenically held to one and the same understanding of the Scriptures on a given matter, then what could that be other than a preservation of the Apostolic Tradition?
That said, I recommend The Kingdom That Turned the World Upside Down . The Kingdom Christian movement is arguably more cohesive now than it was in the '80 with brother Bercot still being relatively early in his pilgrimage. It's particularly ironic that the above statement was made in this forum;
a collaborative effort between Scroll Publishing (with those in fellowship with the Anabaptists, brothers Bercot, Taylor, et al.), and Sattler College (with those among The Followers of the Way, a Kingdom Christian house-church). These are exciting times that we live in.
@dale-martin @dalelynnmartin You can see some discussion about "Reflections on Common Sense" here. As you can see, there even used to be a link to the Scroll Publishing website where the recordings I'm referencing used to exist. I am frankly shocked - and more than a little suspicious - that no one at The Historic Faith or David Bercot himself remembers these recordings as they stirred some controversy among people who appreciated David Bercot's book "Common Sense."
@PatristicArcana
Are you aware of the fact that "Reflections on Common Sense" is no longer available at this site and the old Scroll Publishing website link no longer works? Also, what are your thoughts on the fact that apparently people cannot remember its existence?
@tbrickley Hi Tre, on that last point, I think I can explain why it would be forgotten. This website was originally managed by Sattler College, but in the last half year the management changed to Sound Faith (working with Scroll Publishing). Though many of us here at Sound Faith were students early on, we weren't in charge back when the content you mentioned was on the site.
Our next meeting with Scroll Publishing will be early March. I'll note this as a question to bring up to them then, unless Dale finds the answer before then.
@tbrickley Ah, I see I spoke too quickly and that there was already a conversation with David. Let me dig into this with the other guys and try to get your question answered.
@tbrickley (reposting my response from the other thread after digging into this issue)
Hi Tre, I had a discussion with Dale, and it seems there has been a misunderstanding.
When he saw your question about the video, Dale reached out to David, asking what he understood your question to be: Had there been such a video on this site?
David said that he knew nothing about that video being on this site. That's not surprising, since David has delegated the administration of this site, and doesn't maintain it himself.
I see that Dale's response sounded to you like David said that he had no memory of the video at all. That would indeed be surprising! But that wasn't the question that David was asked.
Of course, since David recorded that video himself, he would know whether that video exists. So I will ask David whether that video is available in some form, and if not, why not. Will that answer your question?
Currently, David is working overtime to get his Romans commentary edited and off to the printer, so I really hate to bug him until the next scheduled meeting (early March). But if I see him between now and then, I will try to do that.
Please bear with us; there wasn't any intention of being confusing. We try to be very careful in the requests that we make for David's time. It's hard for him to say "no" to a request, but we won't have him with us forever. So we try to minimize distractions so that he can maximize the time he can spend for the Kingdom.
Be sure to let me know if this doesn't fully answer your concern.
