In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God. Jesus and the Word are one and the same. The same Holy Spirit that inspired Matthew, Mark, Luke and John inspired Paul. That inspiration was and is, 100%. We are to make disciples, baptize and teach all things commanded by Christ in the Gospels, the Acts, the Epistles and the Revelation. To do anything less is to embrace the multiple “truths” of Origen, the “imagination is truth” of Aquinas, the manic-depressive theology of Kierkegaard, the duplicity of Vatican II and the Darwinian ramblings of Brian McLaren.

I recently heard an interesting observation from a family member who now attends a CofC but didn’t grow up in one. After sitting through a Bible class where yet again the conversation turned to something along the lines “well we used to be so legalistic in the Churches of Christ” or “remember when all we did was fight about dancing and kitchens?”, she remarked “why do you guys spend so much time looking at the past?” Her point was no one cares about our past but us and that a lot of the stereotypes of the Church of Christ are fading with each generation. She said she was “bored” of sitting through classes and having to hear about old CoC baggage. Just one interesting perspective …

Grace and peace,

Rex

As a graduate of Harding I remember shortly before his death, brother James D. Bales reviewed Jim Woodroof’s book, “The Church in Transition.” Bales called his book “The Church in Transition to What?” Bro. Bales was a longtime professor at Harding University and the author of some 85 books and hundreds of articles. Even in his advanced years, brother Bales with the skill of a surgeon, he analyzed refuted Woodroof’s criticisms of the Lord’s Church which today has some become so “commonly accepted” and espoused by our more progressive mind folks. One of “Woodroof’s pillars” that Bales addressed was: That the Gospels are of greater value and importance than the rest of the New Testament!

Michael Weed, Professor of Theology and Ethics Austin Graduate School of Theology, wrote a chapter in the Directions for the Road Ahead book entitled, “Gospels vs. Epistles, Jesus vs. the Church – A Misplaced Debate” In his footnotes he said after quoting from a section in Woodroof’s book that said “Plugging into any part of the Scripture, except the Gospels, expecting there to find power, is like plugging an electric motor into a reflection of a power outlet….” (p. 34). Weed notes: “Woodroof appears oblivious to the fact that the Gospels are written after most of the New Testament epistles. His point might better be made that Christian faith should center on the gospel, rather than the Gospels.”

And in his chapter Weed writes, “One of our errors some suggest, has been in anchoring our efforts to restore early Christianity solely in the Acts and Epistles rather than in the Gospels. This argument occasional leaves the impression that the Gospels and Epistles stand in some tension, even competition. Thus the impression may be left that Christians must choose between Gospel and Epistle, or that one is clearly of less value than the other.” ( Directions for the Road Ahead, p. 143)

Robert Prater

It does seem to me that we studied Acts (written by Dr. Luke which certainly dealt heavily with Paul’s missionary journeys) more than we studied the actual letters that Paul wrote. In my experience James and Hebrews got a lot of attention as we could use them to diminish some of the things Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans.

That’s it – thanks for allowing Geezer to engage in geezing for a moment.
Peace,
Geezer

You’ll enjoy the reading. (I’m currently in a six hour layover at DFW thanks to my dear friend, American Eagle, so I’m now waist deep in the book.) If nothing else, it’s full of names like Flippin, Clinton (as in Clinton, AR), Cabot, etc. It’s home turf! Still hoping to come across Alread (the first place I preached weekly/weakly). From Alread, Clinton WAS the major city to go buy groceries!

And it’s full of Arkansas characters. The kind that people assume must be — but aren’t! — made up.

I concur completely with your one sentence “correction”. If someone outside of our fellowship in the 50′s, 60′s and 70′s had been asked the question “hey, you know and live among those folks over at the Church of Christ……….so tell me, what is their passion?” From others I have talked to outside of our fellowship, I don’t think the answer would have been “Jesus”. It most likely would have been something to the effect of: “They are really good Christian people who seem to have a passion for restoring the New Testament church”. Hence, the worn out pages in Acts and the Letters. It’s refreshing to hear Brian Mashburn and others advocating a “Restoration of Discipleship”. Of course Jim Woodroof was preaching that in the 70′s! Remember his “hooking my anchor to Jesus” statement?

Again, thanks for the heads up on the book. Should be an interesting read.
DU

Relax Dale! Don’t be so uptight.