READERS' EXCHANGE

 

I hope you will do an article on why those who are so close in their views are often the most at odds with one another. — Talmadge McNabb, Brown Mills, NJ

(This is an interesting question, perhaps one for a psychologist. Some of our readers might like to write us their answer as to why. Offhand I would say that we are not as threatened by those who are far from us theologically as those who are near. The Pharisees opposed Jesus because he was close enough to them and their followers to threaten what they loved most, their system. They would have ignored him had he been a Pythagorean priest. Even a yellow-dog Texas Democrat opposes a turncoat within his party more than he does a Republican. — Ed.)

The nice thing about your writings is that those who are the “somewhats” cannot close you down. You do not have to guard yourself against what others may think or do. I’m glad that there are a few editors that enjoy such freedom. — Homer Matson, Jefferson, OR

(If I belonged to “the System” or if this journal were a party medium, I would have been out of business long ago. But the freest editor is in a sense the most bound, for he is bound to his own conscience and to his sense of duty and mission, and most of all to God. What does God think about what I write? is the only question that matters, and it is by far the most sobering. — Ed.)

This is an exciting time to be alive on planet Earth. I’m thankful that the freedom we have in Christ allows one to enter fully into the joys of the eternal Spirit rather than merely to sit as a passive onlooker, legalistically bound to denominational traditions. — Harold Shasteen, Centerville, IL

Restoration Review really makes me rethink my position on many issues that I felt were cut and dried. Thank you. — Max Moore, Sweet Home, OR.

I am of the music persuasion but that is a personal matter, maybe because it helps me to sing. The reasons we give for being divided must cause the rulers of hell to meet every first day of the week and rejoice. I’m 74 and I hope I live to see us use the terms church and worship with the right meaning. You might tell brother Ketcherside that he has refreshed me for a long time. Keep up an unrewarding work. — Clyde H. Keck, Ashland, OH

Your article in the December issue on the “Roman Catholic Church of Christ” was the finest. As a member of “The Church” for more than four decades, I never before realized how much we have in common with the Catholic Church, probably because I was raised with such a prejudice against Catholicism. Your article was like a spring flower completely dissipating the fog. The illustration of the striking similarity between our “Eldership” and their “Priesthood” helped me more than anything else to understand where we are at the Sixth and Izard Church of Christ. Whether we got these concepts from the Catholics or made the same mistakes in interpreting the Scriptures, your reference to both being misled by the same mentality may help us to re-evaluate some of the authoritarian concepts we have developed unto perfection. I hope you will keep writing on this subject, for it will help us remove the shackles of authoritarian leadership. — Bob Scott, North Little Rock, AR

(The reader will recall from previous news items in this journal that it is this church that is now in a lawsuit over the “freedom of information” issue. Bob Scott, a Little Rock attorney, is representing those in the church who are asking the court to order the elders to release information regarding the financial affairs of the church. We will keep you informed on the outcome. — Ed.)