Every Right Idea is Eventually the Wrong Idea? Yes? No?

Back when I was in seminary, Richard Pratt highly recommended that we read Roger Van Oech's book A Whack on the Side of the Head.  I don't think I ever read it but I do remember hearing some of his ideas - basically, Mr. Van Oech is a creativity expert.  Today I found his blog (HT - Kathy Sierra) and a post entitled Escape from Obsolete Ideas.  Picking up on Heraclitus's famous saying that you can never step in the same river twice he says that things are always changing and we need to be always adapting.  Then, he gives this great illustration:

For example, it's said that the Prussian King Frederick the Great (1712-1786) lost the Battle of Jena even though it was fought in 1806. This means that for twenty years after his death, the Prussian army perpetuated his successful organization instead of adapting to meet the changes in the art of war. Had his generals questioned Frederick's military tenets, they might have fared better against Napoleon.

Remember: every right idea is eventually the wrong idea.

OK church folks and theologues - do you agree or disagree?

My answer is yes.

I disagree in one sense - some things should never change.  There are core doctrines and purposes of the Christian faith that are inviolable. 

And though I think it might be a tad hyperbolic to say that "every" right idea is eventually the wrong idea, I think he is right on target.  I doubt anyone would go to the mat and say that we ought to be "doing church" the way we did it back in the 1500's and 1600's, even those in my own reformation tradition who look back to those times as foundational for us.  We probably wouldn't go to the mat to demand we replicate church practices from the 1700's.  Probably not the 1800's either.  Maybe not even the early 1900's.  But what about the 1950's, 1970's, or 1980's?

Anyway, some good food for thought.