Gospel Union - A blog about Christian faith and unity - Page 12 of 13 - Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall.

The "Did they do it?" test

Friday, 15 October 2004 by Editor

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

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Uniting saints or sects?

Friday, 08 October 2004 by Editor

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

Denominations Ecumenism Sectariansm Sects unity

Published in Commentary

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Want to go to edification service?

Thursday, 07 October 2004 by Editor

We often call the Christian assembly “worship” or “worship service.” But is the congregation a forum for worship and service to God, or is it to strengthen and build up believers? Is it for Him or for us? These are two very different philosophies that lead to two very different conclusions about church practices. I

church edification legalism worship Worship Service

Published in Church, Commentary

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Freed from the law

Monday, 04 October 2004 by Editor

When God spoke to Moses on the Mount, he delivered to him both a detailed, proscriptive law, and a pattern for the construction of the tabernacle. There were details for nearly every contingency. When questions arose about the application of a particular law, Moses would receive supplemental instruction directly from God to clarify. Was God’s

Bible Law legalism love sin

Published in Bible, Commentary, Law, Love

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Our pattern is a person

Monday, 04 October 2004 by Editor

Many of us have labored too long under the impression that our ultimate pattern to emulate is the new testament church, as derived by a rational analysis of the language of the new testament. This concept has some value in determining God’s will, no doubt. But interpreting these patterns as our law to be bound

christian living jesus legalism Pattern Theology

Published in Bible, Commentary, Law

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The soul of the restoration movement

Friday, 01 October 2004 by Editor

If restorationist Christians should not have formed a non-sectarian sect in the attempt to fight denominationalism, then what is the relevance of the restoration movement? Would Campbell and others have started the movement if they had the view that Christians were not to separate from other Christians over differences of opinion? These are fair questions and

denominationalism Restoration Movement Sectariansim unity

Published in Alexander Campbell, Commentary

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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

Alexander Campbell fellowship unity

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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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."