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Are there Christians among the sects?

Thursday, 27 January 2005 by Editor

The following are excerpted quotes from Ketcherside, compiled by Lloyd A. Boyll in 1989 under the book title of A New Spirit. –KH CHRISTIANS AMONG THE SECTS by W. Carl Ketcherside “I am convinced that there are many Christians among the sectarian parties of our day.” “Mind you, I do not believe that there are

Published in Alexander Campbell, Unity, W. Carl Ketcherside

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Speculative theology

Thursday, 27 January 2005 by Editor

Here’s some speculative theology produced by creeds: The Western form of the Nicene Creed differs from the Eastern in what it says about the Holy Spirit. The Eastern form, following that adopted at Constantinople, says that the Holy Ghost “proceedeth from the Father.” The Western form of the Creed adds the words, “and the Son”

creeds hermeneutics Theology

Published in Commentary

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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

Published in Alexander Campbell, Commentary, 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

Published in Commentary, Unity

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Always the critic

Tuesday, 25 January 2005 by Editor

Whenever I encounter other believers, I find myself ashamed at all of the critique that automatically flows like a river through my mind. I’m painfully aware that I’ve prided myself on being able to find something doctrinally wrong with any religious person or group I’ve ever encountered. What was I thinking? Of course, I can

Judgmentalism love Patience

Published in Commentary, Love

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Out of the mouth of babes

Wednesday, 19 January 2005 by Editor

Sometimes it is uncanny how easily kids grasp things that adults, because of our philosophies and ideologies, have trouble grasping. My middle son, Jaden, who isn’t exactly known for liking dinner, noticed tonight that he liked this one (an Italian dish called a frittata) because the eggs hid the flavor of the green herbs and

family fellowship opinions unity

Published in Commentary, Unity

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The whole Bible is our creed

Wednesday, 19 January 2005 by Editor

The whole Bible is our creed, but what exactly does that mean? This is one of the most difficult issues for any Christian to think through, as evidenced by the number of debates over creeds through the millennia. Campbell, in the Parable of the Iron Bedstead, was gently urging his brothers at the time to

Alexander Campbell Bible creeds hermeneutics

Published in Alexander Campbell, Bible, Commentary

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The fellowship of the saints

Tuesday, 18 January 2005 by Editor

The following is from Carl Ketcherside’s “In the Beginning,” Chapter 19 (Thoughts on Fellowship #7). Fellowship is not a fruit of agreement but agreement is the fruit of fellowship! Does the Bible teach that? Do we come to be in the fellowship because we are of the same mind, or do we come to be

Alexander Campbell fellowship Ketcherside unity

Published in Alexander Campbell, Commentary, Unity, W. Carl Ketcherside

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A less circular view of Romans 14

Tuesday, 18 January 2005 by Editor

I know I’ve written about this before, but I need someone to help me see how the popular view of Romans 14 isn’t spinning in circles. Romans 14, remember, deals with the issue of two brothers whose consciences are in different places on the subject of meat offered to idols or observing days in honor

fellowship opinions unity

Published in Bible, Commentary, Unity

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Zero-sum love

Tuesday, 11 January 2005 by Editor

In a zero-sum world, where the books must be reconciled each month, there is a fixed supply of love. In this model, when one feels it and expresses it toward new acquaintances in his life, there is less love available to the people who have always been there. It should be readily apparent to Christians

brotherly love love

Published in Commentary, 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."