Obedience: not if, but how
Tuesday, 16 November 2004
Believe me when I say that I have wrestled with the paradox of rejecting “pattern-finding” in the New Testament scriptures while accepting the self-evident notion that we ought to obey the instructions we find there. What makes this seem paradoxical is merely the presupposition that the examples and instructions we find recorded in the sacred
- Published in Bible, Commentary, Unity
More on koinonia vs. fellowship
Saturday, 30 October 2004
It seems clear to me that koinonia signifies a much closer, more intimate meaning than our modern English word fellowship. As such, we can fellowship with someone (in popular usage, to associate with or jointly participate in an activity with them) without having koinonia, or close, intimate communion. In this way, Jesus could attend weddings
- Published in Commentary, Unity
On fellowship vs. koinonia
Saturday, 30 October 2004
This post comes directly from Chapter 11 of Carl Ketcherside’s The Twisted Scriptures, which completely changed the way I looked at the New Testament scriptures and my own faith. I started reading the book determined that he was wrong and that I was going to prove to myself why. Instead, when I honestly re-examined the
- Published in Commentary, Unity, W. Carl Ketcherside
Identifying the light
Friday, 29 October 2004
I contemplated posting the whole eighth chapter of Carl Ketcherside’s The Twisted Scriptures, but that would get a little cumbersome in this format. Instead, I’ll just post a clip here and point you to the PDF of the entire book where you can scroll down to the eighth chapter to read for yourself. I realize
- Published in Commentary, Unity, W. Carl Ketcherside
Saying it doesn’t make it so
Tuesday, 19 October 2004
Calling a church a church, or declaring a church not to be a church doesn’t make it so. As form follows function, so the reality of what constitutes a body of the Lord’s people follows the key question of whether or not that body is made up of the Lord’s people, and if they meet
- Published in Church, Commentary, Unity
Who is a citizen?
Tuesday, 19 October 2004
I thought this was an interesting clip from an Alexander Campbell article in The Christian Baptist. The article is a fictitious dialogue constructed by Campbell to illustrate the fallacy of thinking that one must be re-baptized for the remission of sins if they were not aware of this blessing of regeneration when first baptized. This
- Published in Alexander Campbell, Commentary, Unity
Winds of change
Tuesday, 19 October 2004
I don’t want to lock myself in a box of only posting formal essays on this site. Beginning with this post, I will comment a little more casually on things as I see them, but I will probably not maintain permanent links to these posts in the sidebar menu. Some of these posts will be
- Published in Church, Commentary, Unity
The "Did they do it?" test
Friday, 15 October 2004
Yes or no? Did the new testament church do it or did they not? This was always my litmus test for church practices. If the new testament church didn’t support Bible colleges, it seemed self-evident that it was wrong to do so. If they didn’t hire professional pulpit ministers, then it seemed obvious that this,
- Published in Bible, Commentary
Uniting saints or sects?
Friday, 08 October 2004
There is a difference between uniting saints and uniting sects. One task is possible, the other, not. Organizations are just that; organizations. They are not people. The objective of any organization, especially one incorporated as a legal entity, is to preserve itself, and any individual fighting against such an organization will die trying. But people
- Published in Commentary
Disputing the indisputable