JohnV
Puritan Board Post-Graduate
I sense that there is another difference at work in this topic than that of how we view the RPW. I believe I also see a difference in how we regard worship. I know it is broader than this, but a reduction of the difference could be expressed by a narrower view which sees only formal worship as worship, and on the other extreme every act done in appreciation and adoration of a sovereign God being worship. As I said, I know it isn't so black and white, that there are many in-between ideas of worship, varying from one extreme to the other; yet this difference seems to showing itself in this thread.
I am personally persuaded that resting EP on the RPW is disregard to what the RPW really is. It goes against Reformed teaching and practice to do that. I am also persuaded that there is formal worship in a strict sense, but also that there is informal worship, and that all of life is worship in a sense; but that we should not confuse one form of worship with another. Singing or whistling a hymn while working comes from a joy in the heart that comes from daily moment-to-moment worship. This is also there in formal worship, but formal worship is something that extends the meaning of worship to include not only others but also the necessary regulations required so that everything be done decently and orderly. Those regulations would change with the setting, but worship itself is still worship.
I am personally persuaded that resting EP on the RPW is disregard to what the RPW really is. It goes against Reformed teaching and practice to do that. I am also persuaded that there is formal worship in a strict sense, but also that there is informal worship, and that all of life is worship in a sense; but that we should not confuse one form of worship with another. Singing or whistling a hymn while working comes from a joy in the heart that comes from daily moment-to-moment worship. This is also there in formal worship, but formal worship is something that extends the meaning of worship to include not only others but also the necessary regulations required so that everything be done decently and orderly. Those regulations would change with the setting, but worship itself is still worship.