February 2005 - Gospel Union - A blog about Christian faith and unity

CH_CH: What’s Missing?

Monday, 28 February 2005 by Editor

There’s a good article entitled “CH__CH: What’s Missing?” in the March issue of The Gospel Message. Brother Tom Woody and I undoubtedly share a profound love for assembling together with the Lord’s people, and his essay ought to get you fired up for it. The goal, of course, is not simply “attendence,” which is worthless

church

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Love unexpressed

Friday, 25 February 2005 by Editor

I was listening to a talk show recently where the discussion was centered on patriotism and love of country. Most were calling in talking about their appreciation for the freedoms they have in America. One person called in to say that, although he considered himself patriotic and felt that he loved his country, he didn’t

Published in Commentary, Love

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Christian friendly fire

Wednesday, 23 February 2005 by Editor

In most wars, a good percentage of the casualties comes from “friendly fire,” or ammunition that hits the wrong target due mostly to inadequate communication and misunderstandings about the orders given. I was surprised at the start of the current Iraq war that the number of casualties from these kinds of accidents, including overturned trucks

Bickering division unity

Published in Commentary, Love

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Expressing the inexpressible

Tuesday, 22 February 2005 by Editor

I am filled with awe that my niece was baptized into Christ this weekend and that she got to share in an exciting day of fellowship, singing, and good will with close to a hundred other believers from all over Southern California. It’s amazing how joy in Christ can be so contagious. I tried to

baptism Joy love

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What is the New Testament?

Friday, 18 February 2005 by Editor

What is the New Testament? Of course, this question could be tackled from a number of different angles, but I want to look at the most basic one. Does the New Testament consist of the books of Matthew through Revelation? Hold your breath…no! Words and phrases take on new meanings as humans use them. For

Bible hermeneutics

Published in Bible, Commentary

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The deep things of God

Tuesday, 15 February 2005 by Editor

What are the deep things of God? Sometimes I lose sight of what’s deep and what’s not so deep in the scheme of things. Was tithing of mint, rue, and other herbs a good thing for the Pharisees to do? Yes. Were those things the deep things of God? Forget about it. Luke 11:42 –

greatest commands legalism love

Published in Commentary, Love

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All or nothing fellowship

Tuesday, 08 February 2005 by Editor

Is enjoying the friendship and mutual edification of all of our brothers and sisters in Christ an “all or nothing” proposition? Too many of us seem to think that if we can’t approve of all that another brother does, we can have nothing to do with him, “religiously” at least. This is just not the

fellowship unity

Published in Commentary, Unity

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The "best" of religious society

Tuesday, 08 February 2005 by Editor

Another good essay off of Living Waters… –KH The “Best” of Religious Society http://www.livwat.com/articles/10042.html by Charles Fry Every human society seems to have some sort of honored elite (sometimes more honored by themselves than by anyone else), the special in-group, the privileged few, the informed and superior inner circle. There are religious elites, political elites,

Elitism pride unity

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Firm and flexible

Tuesday, 08 February 2005 by Editor

Good essay, Charles. –KH Firm and Flexible http://livwat.com/articles/10048.html by Charles Fry Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!” (Luke 1:45, NIV, -she was Mary) No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory

fellowship hermeneutics unity

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Restoring the church

Tuesday, 08 February 2005 by Editor

Where exactly is the Church that Jesus died for? All admit that He only died for one Church. It seems that Christians spend a lot of time trying to figure out which one, of the choices we have before us in our neighborhood, is the “right one,” the “best one” or “the true one.” What

church Restoration Movement unity

Published in Church, Commentary, Unity

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Barton Stone - "I blush for my fellows who hold up the Bible as the bond of union, yet make their opinions of it a test of fellowship; who plead for union of all Christians, yet refuse to fellowship with such as dissent from their notions. Vain men! Their zeal is not according to knowledge, nor is their spirit that of Christ. Such antisectarian-sectarians are doing more mischief to the cause and advancement of truth, the unity of Christians, and the salvation of the world, than all the skeptics in the world. In fact, they create skeptics."

Alexander Campbell - "We will not hearken to those questions which gender strife, nor discuss them at all. If a person says such is his private opinion, let him have it as his private opinion; but lay no stress upon it; and if it be a wrong private opinion, it will die a natural death much sooner than if you attempt to kill it."

Alexander Campbell - "But men cannot give up their opinions, and therefore, they can never unite, says one. We do not ask them to give up their opinions--we ask them only not to impose them upon others. Let them hold their opinions, but let them hold them as private property. The faith is public property; opinions are, and always have been private property. Men have foolishly attempted to make the deductions of some great minds the common measure of all Christians. Hence the deductions of a Luther, and a Calvin, and a Wesley, have been the rule and measure of all who coalesce under the names of these leaders. It is cruel to excommunicate a man because of the imbecility of his intellect."

Alexander Campbell - "Dear sir, this plan of making our own nest, and fluttering over our own brood; of building our own tent, and of confining all goodness and grace to our noble selves and the "elect few" who are like us, is the quintessence of sublimated pharisaism. The old Pharisees were but babes in comparison to the modern: and the longer I live, and the more I reflect upon God and man--heaven and earth--the Bible and the world--the Redeemer and his church--the more I am assured that all sectarianism is the offspring of hell; and that all differences about words, and names, and opinions, hatched in Egypt, or Rome, or Edinburgh, are like the frolics of drunken men; and that where there is a new creature, or a society of them, with all their imperfections and frailties, and errors in sentiment, in views, and opinions, they ought to receive one another, and the strong to support the weak, and not to please themselves. To lock ourselves up in the bandbox of our own little circle; to associate with a few units, tens, or hundreds, as the pure church, as the elect, is real Protestant monkery, it is evangelical pharisaism."

Alexander Campbell - "I have tried the pharisaic plan, and the monastic. I was once so straight, that, like the Indian's tree, I leaned a little the other way. And however much I may be slandered now as seeking "popularity" or a popular course, I have to rejoice that to my own satisfaction, as well as to others, I proved that truth, and not popularity, was my object; for I was once so strict a Separatist that I would neither pray nor sing praises with any one who was not as perfect as I supposed myself. In this most unpopular course I persisted until I discovered the mistake, and saw that on the principle embraced in my conduct, there never could be a congregation or church upon the earth."

Alexander Campbell - "I have no idea of adding to the catalogue of new sects. I labor to see sectarianism abolished and all Christians of every name united upon the one foundation upon which the apostolic church was founded."