Out of the mouth of babes
Wednesday, 19 January 2005
Sometimes it is uncanny how easily kids grasp things that adults, because of our philosophies and ideologies, have trouble grasping. My middle son, Jaden, who isn’t exactly known for liking dinner, noticed tonight that he liked this one (an Italian dish called a frittata) because the eggs hid the flavor of the green herbs and
- Published in Commentary, Unity
The fellowship of the saints
Tuesday, 18 January 2005
The following is from Carl Ketcherside’s “In the Beginning,” Chapter 19 (Thoughts on Fellowship #7). Fellowship is not a fruit of agreement but agreement is the fruit of fellowship! Does the Bible teach that? Do we come to be in the fellowship because we are of the same mind, or do we come to be
- Published in Alexander Campbell, Commentary, Unity, W. Carl Ketcherside
A less circular view of Romans 14
Tuesday, 18 January 2005
I know I’ve written about this before, but I need someone to help me see how the popular view of Romans 14 isn’t spinning in circles. Romans 14, remember, deals with the issue of two brothers whose consciences are in different places on the subject of meat offered to idols or observing days in honor
- Published in Bible, Commentary, Unity
Playing it safe
Monday, 10 January 2005
One of the greatest concerns in associating with Christians of diverse opinions is that it is somehow unsafe to do so. The idea is that we are in some way compromising our beliefs to enjoy Christian communion with folks who do things or understand things differently, and that we ought to play it safe and
- Published in Commentary, Unity
Where do you draw the line?
Monday, 10 January 2005
Good people have made the point that those who argue against drawing lines in the sand with regard to Christian associations have lines themselves and they are really just arguing about where the line goes. Not so. Lines in the sand provide security and a comfort zone. On that basis, it may scare some of
- Published in Commentary, Unity
Watered down Christianity
Wednesday, 22 December 2004
God forbid that we ever water down our faith. Unfortunately, though, sometimes we have an inverted idea of what it means to do that. You see, when you water a mixture down, you decrease its strength. You add things to the mix that make it less effective at doing what the full-strength solution was intended
- Published in Commentary, Unity
Factories for men: an allegory
Friday, 17 December 2004
A church is a local gathering of the citizens of Heaven intended to work together as a factory for godly men and women. It is not so much a factory for creating saints, per se, but for them to have some value-added work done on them. They are to be taught and encouraged to live
- Published in Church, Commentary, Unity
The almost-ancient order of things
Tuesday, 14 December 2004
Sometimes I think those of us who find ourselves wanting to restore the “ancient order” of the New Testament church don’t really want to bring the church back to its most primitive state. It is much more comfortable for us to bring the church back to the almost-ancient order of things–perhaps the end of the
- Published in Church, Commentary, Unity
Good Alexander Campbell quote
Friday, 10 December 2004
Here’s another Campbell quote that I will probably put in the sidebar. And just a reminder…no human contrived words are authoritative, but we are to encourage and edify one another. That is the only purpose in quoting voices from the past. “But men cannot give up their opinions, and therefore, they can never unite, says
- Published in Alexander Campbell, Commentary
To stop division, stop dividing