There’s an old adage, “A river gathers more mud and debris the farther away it is from the source.” There’s a lot of truth and wisdom in the adage and it could be applied to a wide variety of life and vocational experiences.
What happens if we apply the wisdom of the adage to the doctrines of the Church?
During the Reformation of the 16th century, the reformers rediscovered the pure doctrines of the Church, diligently clarified them, and vigorously defended them. The Reformers leveraged the advent of Gutenberg’s printing press to document and distribute a record of their struggles, disputations, and theological conclusions. They intentionally left a rich legacy of publications so their posterity would benefit from their strenuous efforts and avoid re-fighting the same battles.
In addition to location, time and language barriers create the equivalent of vast distances, since they tend to keep the content of source materials farther away, permitting the accumulation of mud and debris at the distant end of the river.
What happens to the Church when we ignore the rich legacies of the Reformers? Have the pure doctrines of the Church been contaminated by mud and debris over the vast distances of time, space, and language? Are we willing to overcome the distances and apply the lessons of the Reformers or are we content to live with an increasing accumulation of mud and debris? When does utter heterodoxy emerge after the pure doctrines of the Church have become so obscured?