Reactionary, or at least responsive, thinking runs deep and wide in so much of our thinking and publishing.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but clearly it can poison us if it is most of what we imbibe.

Over the years, I’ve read several articles (I don’t have the sources easily at hand) where leading conservative lights compare progressives to liberal judges who use the law to justify the result they want to achieve. This judicial philosophy has troubled me since law school and I find this methodology (decisions based on desired results rather than flowing from a “philosophy”) to be no more justifiable when used by Christians than by secular, “the Constitution is a living document” judges.

Thanks to you and Todd for so clearly and patiently spelling out a philosophy of how to define heresy that is based on Scripture rather than human philosophy.

John Miller

I have a cassette (yes I said cassette) set that Rubel did back in the late 80′s early 90′s at Richland Hills CoC. The title…wait for it…Will the Church Survive the 90′s? It’s a good listen and I’m trying to find a way to put them on MP3 so I can listen to them in the truck.

I’ll look for the book. Thanks for the title.

Because of what Christ did,
SV

The name of the book is “I Just Want to be a Christian.” It was written by Rubel Shelly.

Thanks for asking. And thanks for the work you are doing for the cause of Christ in West Texas.

You got the real point.

Steve Valentine

As I was settling into the Church of Christ a quarter century ago, the conservatives were in the process of throwing one their own to the curb. Though he had once been heralded as a brilliant minister and writer, with books in almost every CoC library, when he wrote a plea for Christian unity in 1986, his plate was broken in at least half of the fellowship halls across the brotherhood. For twenty years I accepted as “gospel” the warning to keep away from anything to do with him or folks like him who had “gone off the deep end.” I might still hold that same opinion today except for what my conservative brethren call an “unfortunate choice;” I finally read that book.

While there are obviously issues that conservatives and progressives simply are not going to agree on, the reason why conversations like these are so important is because I know there are more than a few folks who would love to hear both sides but may never have the opportunity unless they find a blog such as this one. And I wholeheartedly agree that we certainly don’t want to do anything to insult or discourage those who are seeking to make an informed decision.

Lesson – Ridiculing our more traditional brothers in the Churches of Christ will not win us any disagreements.

God bless