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

Watered down Christianity

Wednesday, 22 December 2004 by Editor

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

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Things are different now

Saturday, 18 December 2004 by Editor

The problem with unity is that there are too many opinions that didn’t exist in the formative days of the church, we say. Things are different now. The church in its earliest state didn’t have denominations vying against each other, we are quick to point out. Factions didn’t battle each other for supremacy, and a

First Century Church Restoration Movement

Published in Commentary, Unity

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Factories for men: an allegory

Friday, 17 December 2004 by Editor

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

church division fellowship unity

Published in Church, Commentary, Unity

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The almost-ancient order of things

Tuesday, 14 December 2004 by Editor

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

fellowship First Century Church love Restoration Movement unity

Published in Church, Commentary, Unity

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Good Alexander Campbell quote

Friday, 10 December 2004 by Editor

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

Alexander Campbell division opinions unity

Published in Alexander Campbell, Commentary

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The slippery slope of the slippery slope

Thursday, 09 December 2004 by Editor

Is accepting brothers as brothers without dividing into sects a slippery slope? Some of the most clarifying thoughts are the simplest ones–like the fact that the slippery slope argument itself can be seen as a slippery slope fraught with danger. “Where will it lead?” is the question most often asked. “Look at the slope you

division Reasoning Restoration Movement Slippery Slope unity

Published in Alexander Campbell, Commentary, Unity

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Should I post the whole interview?

Wednesday, 08 December 2004 by Editor

Here’s another excerpt from an interview of Carl Ketcherside recorded in his book called “In the Beginning.” Q: It would probably take too long to enumerate all ten of these [areas that need further investigation to effectuate the restoration], but I wonder if you might mention a few of them which you consider to be

baptism immersion Restoration Movement Salvation

Published in Commentary, W. Carl Ketcherside

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Another gem

Wednesday, 08 December 2004 by Editor

Here is another gem from the interview of Carl Ketcherside as recorded in his book. Q: What has been the end of all previous reformation and restoration attempts? A: Every such attempt has invariably ended by producing another sect, generally more narrow, intolerant and uncharitable than those which have preceded it. As men concentrate on

division sectarianism unity

Published in Church, Commentary, Unity

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Restoration: A movement or a monument?

Wednesday, 08 December 2004 by Editor

This is from an interview transcribed in a Ketcherside book I just ran across called “In the Beginning.” I’ll try to post a PDF of the book in the near future. Q: Has progress in restoration been as rapid in the last fifty years as before? A: Not at all! Those who were the spiritual

division Movement Restoration Movement unity

Published in Commentary, Unity, W. Carl Ketcherside

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The sacred treasury

Friday, 03 December 2004 by Editor

One of the most divisive doctrines restoration movement churches have come up with is the notion that the treasury–the money donated by congregants–is somehow a sacred fund, or the “Lord’s Treasury.” This belief naturally creates an explosive cache of ammunition with which to shell “the enemy” over every difference in opinion on how to use

Benevolence Collection division Money Treasury

Published in Church, Commentary

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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."