Patrick


For whatever it is worth, I would encourage you not to be combative.  Stand on the firm foundation of Truth and allow that to be expressed with gentleness and humility.  Then trust that God will use what you have communicated.  The heart of another is God's purview.  

Peter extols us to be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks about our hope - with gentleness and humility.  I've found combativeness to reflect more of a weaker position than one of strength.  

We've all been encouraged and illuminated by others who love us enough to straighten out some errant or misconstrued thinking.  What attracks is the gentleness and love conveyed by the one sharing a different view.

Thanks.

Steve[/color]

Yes, but as I've said, Campbell softened his views on Catholics. His whole basis for viewing the Catholic Church in that way was his fear (a fear shared by many Protestants at the time) of a Catholic majority in the US, and Protestants thereby losing their rights and freedoms. After he realized that he had nothing to fear on that point, his fears subsided in large part. One of Campbell's closest aquaintances was Roman Catholic Bishop Purcell, whom Campbell debated in Cincinnatti; after the debate he and Campbell became close friends, and Purcell considered Campbell to be one of the most Christ-like, generous, warm-hearted individuals he'd ever met. Campbell for his part felt the same way about Purcell. One has to make a disctinction between early Campbell and older, more mature Campbell. Richard Hughes describes it as \"the myth of the singular Campbell.\" Campbell changed his views on lots of things, just like anyone else. Why isn't Campbell allowed to do that?

Campbell decried members of his church acting self-righteous as if only those in the Christian Church were saved and and everyone else was a pagan.

Pax vobiscum.[/color]

Certainly Campbell had the right to change his mind. The difficulty comes when we look to him as the founder of our particular religious heritage and then must decide, \"are we talking about early Campbell, or late Campbell? Original, or more mature?\" The fact that he suffered a stroke after the death of his son and then 'changed his mind' throws even more fuel into the fire.

I don't think we can tell someone in the Church of Christ that they have altered their course since our founder got this ball rolling, and that they are not true to the original spirit of the RM, when our founder himself changed so drastically within his own lifetime. A present-day Campbellite has just as much credence being a Catholic-basher as he would being more even-handed, I'm sad to say.

It has been demonstrated on other threads that, when one wants to bolster one's opinion as a member of the Church of Christ by saying, \"Campbell agreed with me\", it's not too hard for one's opponents to say the same thing.[/color]

And at different times different people have done all three of these things. But it cannot be argued (with any seriousness) that the Church of Christ as we know it would exist as we know it without the work of Stone and the Campbells.

I'm not convinced that Campbell's \"conversion\" was really all that drastic because I'm not convinced that he was ever a restoration-bent legalist in the first place. If one studies Campbell's early writings one will see that Campbell was a) grace-centered all along b) fairly non-judgmental all along. Campbell's ire was always reserved for what he called the \"hierling clergy.\" He was against religious systems which he felt separated people from God, or obscured God.

Anyone wishing to get a great overview of Campbell and his ministry can do no better than the entry on Campbell in the Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement written by Campbell scholar Dr. Leroy Garrett. Its the best overview on Campbell I've read in quite some time. Campbell's views were a lot more nuanced than many people are aware.

Charlie's right of course; no one should base their entire theology on what Campbell, Stone, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther or Amy Semple McPherson said or wrote, however much can be learned from such people if we're willing.

I didn't mean to get another argument on Campbell's views started. We're talkin' about Cathgolic bashing.

Pax vobiscum.[/color]