BROTHER LOVELL MAKES A POINT

Jimmy Lovell, editor of Action (Box 146, Palos Verdes Estates, Calif. 90247, subscription $1.00 per year), has many admirers, of which I am one. Another one is President Don Morris of Abilene Christian College, who says some nice things about brother Lovell in a recent issue of Action. It is in reference to this that Jimmy makes a very important point that I wish to share with my readers.

In reply to President Morris’ favorable comments, brother Lovell writes as follows, and notice carefully what he says:

What this great man of God says about me here does not mean he approves of all I teach or the way I go about it. He and I would differ on a thousand things in the Bible, just as Vivian and I differ, but Don Morris loves me and I know it, and I love him and he knows it. Why can’t all of us “stand each other to the face” and do it as gentlemen, much less Christians? The fact is, we are making great progress along this line and I defy the man who can produce evidence that any kind of division is imminent among us.

There will always be a few whirlwinds in the desert but we have long since built our House to withstand any major disturbances. There is much real Christian maturity to be found among us in men by the thousands as Don Morris. In this I have loved to see one of my hopes come true. (Action, May, 1967)

Whether he intended to or not, brother Lovell sets forth here the only possible solution to the problem of division among our people, a solution for which we have been pleading for years. Love (agape) is the basis of unity and the ground of fellowship. There is no other and can be no other. Unity is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, not our own achievement through working out doctrinal differences. In Rom. 5:5 we read of God’s love that has been poured into our heart through the Holy Spirit which has been given us. Through that Spirit and the agape that is His fruit in our lives is Christian fellowship possible.

If only the brotherhood at large could learn the lesson of love that Jimmy has learned in reference to Don Morris!

Notice what brother Lovell is saying about his relationship to brother Morris!

1. Don Morris does not approve of all that Jimmy teaches, nor does he endorse all the methods he uses.

2. Jimmy and Don differ in their interpretation of the Bible—yea, they differ on “a thousand things in the Bible,” as Jimmy puts it.

3. Despite such differences they are drawn together in the bond of brotherhood. Indeed, they are brothers and they love each other. Since they know of each other’s love, they are one together—just as Jimmy and his wife differ on many things, but are still one because of their love for each other.

4. Division is not going to disrupt our happy relationship, for we love each other.

It may be a simple truth Jimmy is teaching us, but what a glorious truth it is!

We only hope that brother Lovell’s idea of fellowship based on agape will extend beyond Abilene to Lufkin, Louisville, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis. Surely he is willing for instrumental music, questions on the millennium, and methods of doing missionary work to be among those many things that he differs with brethren upon and yet enjoys fellowship with them. If he can differ with Don Morris on “a thousand things in the Bible” and yet accept him as a brother, we trust he will have no trouble accepting men as brothers who differ with him on opinions respecting what is not in the Bible.

If Jimmy’s appeal to love is a guarantee that no new ruptures will come in our time, as he devoutly asserts, then why not let that same love unite that which has long been divided?

Let Jimmy Lovell and all the rest of us resolve to love all God’s children, and to accept them fully as brothers, despite our differences. Love is not truly agape if it is restricted only to those of our own party.

We thank Jimmy for this leadership. Let him now initiate a welcome to brethren like E. L. Jorgenson of Louisville, the “notorious” premillennialist, and to Dale Fiers of Indianapolis, a Disciple of Christ, and to Edwin Hayden of Cincinnati, of the conservative Christian Church, and to Yater Tant of Lufkin, of the conservative Church of Christ.

Speaking for myself, I accept all these men as my brethren, as well as all those they represent. They are not merely cousins in Christ, or half-brothers, but brothers, just as Don Morris is a brother. I love them all, just as Jimmy and I both love Don Morris.

What disturbs me in all this is that up to now brother Lovell has shown no disposition to place the Jorgensons, Haydens, and Fiers’ on the same level with the Don Morris.

Is he prepared to say that even though he differs with brother Morris on a thousand things, he nonetheless agrees with him on the points that really matter, whereas he does not find such agreement with these other men and the groups they represent? If so, he obligates himself to specify just what these points are. Are they clearly set forth in the scriptures as conditions of fellowship?

Is it unkind to ask if the generosity shown Don Morris is based upon the fact that, despite a thousand differences, brother Morris represents the right party, while Jorgenson and Fiers represent other parties?

I can see Don Morris visiting Jimmy’s congregation in California. If Jimmy is presiding over the assembly, I can see him very properly honoring Don’s presence and asking him to lead the saints in prayer, or perhaps requesting that he address the believers. This “right hand of fellowship” he would extend even though he and Don differ on a lot of things, and even though they do not endorse everything that the other believes and practices. He recognizes Don because he is in Christ and therefore a beloved brother.

Now I see E. L Jorgenson or Edwin Hayden in Jimmy’s audience. Would he react the same with these men as with Don Morris? If not, why not? Does Brother Hayden’s position on instrumental music mean more to Jimmy than those thousand differences with Don Morris? Does brother Jorgenson’s premillennialism mean so much that he cannot treat him as a brother, even after conceding that fellowship is not based upon the endorsement of one’s position? Does Jimmy’s love work in one case but not in the others?

It all comes down to the question of who sets the rules for fellowship. If we say it is “matters of faith,” we have to remember that what is a matter of faith to one is a “matter of opinion” to someone else; and what the other fellow insists is a matter of faith we want to make a matter of opinion. Our opinions are heresies to the other party, while their opinions are heresies to us. It is a vicious circle, and more vicious than circular.

Our proposition is that we have no right to make a test of fellowship of anything that God has not made a test for going to heaven.

Brother Lovell seems to believe this—at least in reference to Don Morris and Abilene. Bless his heart (and we do love him for a thousand reasons) we want him to believe it in reference to the rest of the brotherhood too. Ah, yes, the brotherhood. And what is the brotherhood? We contend it is composed of all who are in Christ by virtue of faith and baptism. And to all those I extend the same welcome Jimmy extends to Don Morris, whether a thousand differences over what is in the Bible or out of the Bible, or no differences at all.

Not that doctrinal differences do not matter, for they do, but what matters much more is that the man is my brother, and I love him with a love that unites, despite difficulties. Once I accept him and treat him as a brother there will be ample opportunity to study doctrinal differences.

Jimmy, believest thou these things in reference to Louisville, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis as well as Abilene? I know that thou believest!