division Archives - Gospel Union - A blog about Christian faith and unity

Sitting on the fence

Friday, 22 April 2005 by Editor

As a dyed-in-the-wool, red-blooded conservative, I have always valued decisiveness and conviction. When I vote for a politician, I want a politician in office who agrees with my policy, holds most of my opinions, and will do in office what I elected him to do. After all, I figure, I hired him, so I have

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Bickering, bloodsport of siblings

Thursday, 17 March 2005 by Editor

I just saw a copy of the LA Times laying around and noticed a headline on the Home section: Bickering, bloodsport of siblings by Robin Greene Hagey. As a parent it caught my eye. As a Christian, the parallels were obvious. The caption under the headline reads: “You should worry if your kids aren’t squabbling,

division family unity

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Fighting for truth

Wednesday, 02 March 2005 by Editor

We’ve probably all heard the expression “might doesn’t make right.” We can probably agree that right makes might, at least morally speaking. But does right make fight? Too often, I’ve felt the need to fight for every scrap of truth. Sometimes, like a dog fighting for a meaty bone, I was fighting to protect what

division unity

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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

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Foundation of Christian union

Thursday, 27 January 2005 by Editor

The following is an excerpt from Alexander Campbell’s Foundation of Christian Union. I’ll put the last paragraph first to entice you to read the whole thing and bear with our brother’s generous use of commas: Let THE BIBLE be substituted for all human creeds; FACTS, for definitions, THINGS, for words; FAITH, for speculation; UNITY OF

Alexander Campbell creeds division opinions unity

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To stop division, stop dividing

Thursday, 27 January 2005 by Editor

Maybe it’s too intuitive, but the first rule to prevent division in the churches ought to be to stop dividing. Overly simplistic? Maybe not. Provided our brother hasn’t departed from the gospel, is not engaged in immoral conduct or character, and is not being divisive (advocating division), there is no reason that brotherly love can’t

division opinions Scruples 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

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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

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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

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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

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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."