September 2004 - Gospel Union - A blog about Christian faith and unity

Brother, this is hard

Friday, 24 September 2004 by Editor

As I think through the implications of the truth that all who are in Christ Jesus have a divine responsibility to be of one mind and to be patient and longsuffering with each other, I am struck by the difficulty of putting it into practice. I recently browsed the websites of various denominations which shares

Published in Alexander Campbell, Commentary

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Going off the deep end

Thursday, 23 September 2004 by Editor

The many pathways of human thinking provide each of us with an infinite array of choices for which trailhead to follow next. I don’t think anyone takes a particular fork in the road of thought with the knowledge that it is a path of error. Correct and erroneous thinking alike are chosen because they are

fellowship Pattern Theology Philosophy Theology

Published in Church, Commentary, Unity

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A nonsectarian sect?

Tuesday, 21 September 2004 by Editor

With any plea for unity, there is always the danger that those who don’t understand the Biblical basis for unity will set out to form a non-sectarian sect – or think that others are trying to do so. There is as much legitimacy in a non-sectarian sect as in a non-divisive division. The whole idea

division Sectariansm unity

Published in Commentary

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My creed…and mine alone

Wednesday, 15 September 2004 by Editor

I think the restoration movement slogan “no creed but the New Testament” may need further discussion of the word “creed.” Creed: n. – A formal statement of religious belief; a confession of faith; a system of belief, principles, or opinions. [As defined by Dictionary.com] If that is all that is meant by the term “creed,”

Bible alone creeds Restoration Movement

Published in Alexander Campbell, Bible, Church, Commentary

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Freedom from bondage

Tuesday, 14 September 2004 by Editor

It is encouraging to read restoration movement literature from the 19th century denouncing slavery. This was such a divisive period in our nation’s history, and I am happy to know that those involved in the early effort to restore the principles of the new testament church were on the right side of history and humanity.

Bible Paul Philemon Slavery

Published in Bible, Commentary

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The highest common denominator

Monday, 13 September 2004 by Editor

Have you ever felt that someone was trying to cheapen or soft-pedal the gospel to curry favor or gain crowds at their church? I have. In fact, much of my life I have viewed others’ religious practices with a hyper-critical eye, secure in the knowledge that they were doing things out of insincere motives and

Gospel Popularity

Published in Bible, Church, Commentary

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Doctrinal partisanship

Saturday, 11 September 2004 by Editor

This election season reminds me of how partisan I am by nature. I want my side to win because I truly believe my side stands for much that is right about America. Does it always do what is right in every case? No. But I put aside minor, and even some major differences, and rally

denominationalism doctrine Partisanship Politics unity

Published in Bible, 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."