READERS' EXCHANGE

 

I hope some periodical will publish a notice of Daniel Sommer’s Commentary on the New Testament. It is very difficult here alone without Allen, but he never had a comfortable day after the operation more than a year before he left us. He referred to and appreciated your visit. I know he is happy now and I shall join him. He said many times, “Where I am going all things will be new and more beautiful and glorious than finite mind can conceive of.” — Mrs. Allen R. Sommer, Indianapolis

(A limited number of the 831-page commentary by Daniel Sommer is available through this office at 18.95. -Ed.)

We are experiencing a very different life-style in Brazil and thoroughly enjoying the discovery of a new culture. It is a very beautiful and dynamic country, but a short time here will make anyone appreciate the blessings and rights which exist in the U.S. The evidence of the basic Christian principles, or lack of them, explains much of the difference which exists among countries and cultures. —Bill Adrian, Porto Alegre, Brazil

I am still meeting with ministers of the Christian Church. We had 20 present at our last meeting. We had one brother from the Disciples. Two who are from New Zealand will be attending Johnson Bible College. The young brethren from New Zealand have the “many speakers” concept, and they say that some may not get to speak more than two or three times a year due to so many who are ready and willing. —Darrell Bolin, 134 Susquahenna, Lock Haven, PA

I wonder how many times brethren have said, “Let’s discuss … “ when they really mean, “Let me prove to you that my opinion is fact!” Think of all the time we’ve spent haranguing over one-cup, instrumental music, Sunday School, institutions, and other opinionated issues that boil down to ‘tis-and-‘tain’t arguments of what is a necessary inference to one but not to another. It dismays me to think of the lost souls who might have been led to Christ if the same time had been invested in them instead of infighting among factions within the Church of Christ. —Don Trubey, Portales, N M

My non-sectarian attitude has been a problem in the church here for several years. I volunteered to step down from teaching and from any public use, and have followed that line of submission for three years. We have made no effort to “convert” people to the ideas that have led us away from our traditions. As requests were made I have shared the good news, and I am grateful for the openness that this has given me. Fellowship in terms of association has been withdrawn for sometime, but the elders and minister now feel that the church must act to preserve the purity of the church. They cannot tolerate the fellowshipping of error! —Jim Lovett, Mangum, OK

(This brother, longtime respected mortician in his city, was recently publicly withdrawn from by his congregation. The charge was that he. was fellowshipping error in visiting with the nearby Christian Church. The converse of this is, therefore, that one “fellowships” only truth when he goes to a Church of Christ. Don’t count me in on that attitude. for I well know that if I do not share life in Christ with “brothers in error.” I will have no one to share it with. for they are all “brothers in error.” And so, by the way they cut it in Mangum, and a few other places, we all ought to withdraw from everybody else, and then from ourselves! —Ed.)

It is commendable and wonderful that each issue of Restoration Review can be so insightful. stimulating and just plain good reading. When one reads about the aims, attitude, and intentions of the early restorers such as the Campbells and Stone, and compares their progress with the factious, divided situation today, it is something for Ripley’s “Believe It or Not.” Recently I sent a field report to ________ merely telling of some baptisms and deaths in our congregation, but because of my association with _____ the publishers refused to print it. I won’t ask you if you can believe that because I know you can. —Jim Albert, Corcoran, CA

I cannot for the life of me understand how some of our brethren can consider you or brother Ketcherside a threat to the cause of Christ, but I know that some of them do. I have several times found myself defending you against their prejudices. I want to remind you of something you already know: (1) We are products of all the influences that we have allowed to come into our lives; (2) There is no influence so great but what God’s power can overcome it; (3) God will not force His power upon us, so we must surrender to it; (4) It is self that keeps us from surrendering, Lk. 9:23; (5) Love is the only power that can cause one to deny self. —Al Bradshaw, 3618 S. Pittsburg, Tulsa