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

Walking in the light of…love?

Monday, 29 July 2013 by Editor

Many of us have been taught something very wrong about 1 John 4:8 – “Walk in the light as he is in the light and you’ll have fellowship one with another.” We’ve been told that if our brother is not walking in the light (as we obviously ARE…LOL), then we can’t have fellowship with him,

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Solving For Love In The Equation of Life

Tuesday, 22 March 2011 by Editor

The other day I read an article by a woman who had some painful experiences as an adoptive mother and wife from a failed marriage. She explained that she and her husband had been unable to have children, and had consequently set out to adopt a child to fill the void in their family. That

Adoption Fallen World love Parenting Sacrificial Love sin

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Love, legalism, and marriage

Wednesday, 06 June 2007 by Editor

A frequent subject of my prayers is to thank God for the love of my amazing wife. Because I have her love, I feel blessed and honored beyond measure. I could argue that most everything good in my life flows from the fact that I know without a doubt that I am loved by her.

legalism love marriage

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One of these days

Saturday, 21 January 2006 by Editor

I just thought I’d post the words of a song that really resonated with me recently. I’ve done a search on the Internet and can’t find the songwriter’s name, so if anyone knows, please leave a comment on this page. I heard a beautiful rendition of it done by a group called Smalltown Poets, and

love music peace unity

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The command to love – a Scripture study

Thursday, 09 June 2005 by Editor

These verses have been very meaningful in my studies. I thought others might benefit from them in this form with as few editorial remarks as possible. Studying the Scriptures brings eternal life because they tell us about Jesus Christ: John 5:39-42 – You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess

greatest commands john love

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Loveless unity? Impossible.

Saturday, 09 April 2005 by Editor

Think about the fact that it is possible to have loveless agreement on the hotbutton doctrinal issues of the day, but it is impossible to have loveless unity. Sure, it’s easier to love someone I agree with. But while I can fail to love a person I agree with, I cannot fail to love a

love opinions unity

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Love unexpressed

Friday, 25 February 2005 by Editor

I was listening to a talk show recently where the discussion was centered on patriotism and love of country. Most were calling in talking about their appreciation for the freedoms they have in America. One person called in to say that, although he considered himself patriotic and felt that he loved his country, he didn’t

Dennis Prager love

Published in Commentary, Love

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Expressing the inexpressible

Tuesday, 22 February 2005 by Editor

I am filled with awe that my niece was baptized into Christ this weekend and that she got to share in an exciting day of fellowship, singing, and good will with close to a hundred other believers from all over Southern California. It’s amazing how joy in Christ can be so contagious. I tried to

baptism Joy love

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The deep things of God

Tuesday, 15 February 2005 by Editor

What are the deep things of God? Sometimes I lose sight of what’s deep and what’s not so deep in the scheme of things. Was tithing of mint, rue, and other herbs a good thing for the Pharisees to do? Yes. Were those things the deep things of God? Forget about it. Luke 11:42 –

greatest commands legalism love

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The Greatest Command

Friday, 04 February 2005 by Editor

It occurs to me that if one or two commandments are the greatest, that others are lesser in importance. As difficult as this is to swallow, given our desire to obey all that Jesus commands, He had no problem prioritizing the commandments of God. Granted, the Old Law is the specific context of the Pharisee

Commands greatest commands love

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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."