Transcript There Have Always Been Questions, Issues, & Problems Among Brethren • Is circumcision essential to salvation (Acts 15)? • From among “yourselves” –

There Have Always Been Questions, Issues, &
Problems Among Brethren
• Is circumcision essential to salvation (Acts 15)?
• From among “yourselves” – perverse things (Acts 20:30)
• Doctrine of no resurrection (1 Cor. 15:12)
• Colossian Heresy (Col. 2)
• Some will depart giving heed to error (1 Tim. 4:1-3)
• Doctrine that 2nd Coming is imminent (1 Thess)
• Judaism (Hebrews, etc.)
Roy E. Cogdill
1930’s & 1940’s
• During / shortly after the “Premillennialism” controversy
• Many churches (rejected the false doctrine)
• Also didn’t tolerate the preaching against it
• Not one of them stood – 50’s /60’s
During The Restoration Movement
• Pointing men back to the Bible: “Where the Bible speaks,
we speak; where it is silent, we are silent.”
• Called for men to lay aside opinions and unite upon the
Scriptures
• Soon two major mindsets developed:
1. Church can do only what is positively authorized
2. Church can do anything not specifically forbidden
•
Division was inevitable!
Churches of Christ Divided
In mid 1800s
 Issues:
 Missionary Society (1849)
 Instrumental Music (1859)
 Result:
 Formation of Christian Church (1900)
 Later: Disciples of Christ (liberal)
Churches of Christ Divided
In mid 1900s
 Issues:
 Sponsoring Church (Hearld of Truth)
 Orphan Homes
 Colleges in Church Budget
 Social Gospel (Recreation)
 Result:
 Split among churches 1955-1965
 Institutional churches of Christ
Divisions Within
The Church of Christ
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Missionary Society (1849)
Instrumental Music (1859)
Colleges in Church Budget (1938)
Orphan Homes (1950’s)
Sponsoring Church (1950’s)
Social Gospel (1960’s)
History is a vast early warning system. ~Norman Cousins
Divisions
Within
The Church of Christ
Orphan Homes
Orphan Homes
• Most noted of all the differences
• Carried the most emotion
• Most misunderstood of the issues
Orphan Homes
I. History Behind It
I. History Behind It
A. Orphan homes started long before real division
1.
2.
3.
4.
Tennessee Orphan Home (Spring Hill, TN) – 1909
Potter Orphan Home (Bowling Green, KY) – 1914
Boles Home (Quinlan, TX) – 1927
Tipton Home (Tipton, OK) - 1928
I. History Behind It
A. Orphan homes started long before real division
B. Opposition 30’s – 40’s
1. Like other innovations – slow to catch on
2. Sound brethren fought it as did in 1849-ff
3. Guy N. Woods – Opposed it
Guy N. Woods
"The ship of Zion has floundered more
than
once
on
the
sandbar
of
institutionalism.
The
tendency
to
organize is a characteristic of the age.
On the theory that the end justifies the
means, brethren have now scrupled to
form organizations in the church to do
the work the church itself was designed
to do. All such organizations usurp the
work of the church, and are unnecessary
and sinful"
(Abilene Christian College Lectures, 1939)
Guy N. Woods
"There is no place for charitable
organizations in the work of the New
Testament church. It is the only
charitable organization that the Lord
authorizes, or that is needed to do
the work the Lord expects his people
to do"
(The
Annual Lesson Commentary for December 15,
1946)
I. History Behind It
A. Orphan homes started long before real division
B. Opposition 30’s – 40’s
C. Hardeman shifted the issue in 1947
N. B. Hardeman
College
Supported
by Church
Shifted to
Orphan Home
Supported
by Church
“The right to contribute to one is the right to
contribute to the other…The same principle that
permits one permits the other. They must stand
or fall together.”
(Gospel Advocate, 1947, p. 844)
I. History Behind It
A.
B.
C.
D.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Orphan homes started long before real division
Opposition 30’s – 40’s
Hardeman shifted the issue in 1947
Debates
1954: Holt-Totty Debate (Indianapolis, IN)
1955: Harper-Tant Debate (Lufkin, TX) – April & November
1956: Porter-Woods Debate (Indianapolis, IN)
1957: Porter-Woods Debate (Paragould, AR)
1957:Cogdill-Woods Debate (Birmingham, AL)
1957: Porter-Deaver Debate (Dumas,TX)
1959: Wallace-Holt Debate (Florence, AL)
1961: Grider-Woods Debate (Louisville, KY)
1962: Sutton-Woods Debate (Peoria, IL)
I. History Behind It
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Orphan homes started long before real division
Opposition 30’s – 40’s
Hardeman shifted the issue in 1947
Debates
Journals published on both sides
Journals – Favored Orphan Homes
Gospel Advocate
Firm Foundation
20th Century Christian
Christian Chronicle
B. C. Goodpasture
Gospel Advocate
Reuel Lemmons
Firm Foundation
Two Different Types of Orphan Homes
Under Elderships
Under Board
Maude Carpenter
(Wichita, KS)
Tennessee Orphan
Home
(Spring Hill, TN)
Tipton Orphan Home
(Tipton, OK)
Sunny Glenn
(San Benito, TX)
Lubbock Childrens
Home
(Lubbock, TX)
Boles Home
(Quinlan, TX)
Potter Orphan Home
(Bowling Green, KY)
Child-Haven
(Cullman, AL)
Journals – Opposed Orphan Homes
Gospel Guardian
Roy E. Cogdill
Gospel Guardian
Yater Tant
Gospel Guardian
H. E. Phillips
Searching the Scriptures
Cecil Willis
Truth Magazine
Truth Magazine
Searching the Scriptures
Preceptor
I. History Behind It
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
Orphan homes started long before real division
Opposition 30’s – 40’s
Hardeman shifted the issue in 1947
Debates
Journals published on both sides
Churches divided 1955-1965
1. Historians estimate 80/20 split
2. Usually small group pull off and start a new work
3. Exceptions: Louisville, Athens, Tampa
I. History Behind It
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
Orphan homes started long before real division
Opposition 30’s – 40’s
Hardeman shifted the issue in 1947
Debates
Journals published on both sides
Churches divided 1955-1965
Things got ugly & bitter
Things Got
Ugly & Bitter
• Yellow Tag Of Quarantine – B.C. Goodpasture,
Gospel Advocate 1954
• Robert Jackson – knife pulled on him (Taylor Blvd)
• Rufus Clifford – spat upon
• Ads: “No Anti need apply”
• Charges: “Orphan haters” / “Let orphan starve…”
• Some “locked out” of buildings where were
members
So… Who really left what?
“The mainstream churches of Christ, time and again,
characterized those who opposed institutionalism as
unfaithful to the heritage. The truth is that the
dissenters stood squarely in one set of the footprints
in the 19th century churches of Christ. And by the
time the battle over institutions was complete, it was
the mainstream, not the dissenters, that had
removed itself almost entirely from its 19th century
roots.”
Reviving the Ancient Faith
Richard Hughes, Pepperdine University
Orphan Homes
I. History Behind It
II. The Issue
II. The Issue
Is Not:
1. Should the needy be cared for?
2. Is the church obligated?
3. A matter of how (modes, means, methods)
4. Systematic arrangement
5. A matter of a “place” being maintained
Is:
1. Can churches build and maintain benevolent
organizations through which to do their work?
2. A matter of a separate organization doing the
work of the church
Orphan Homes
I. History Behind It
II. The Issue
III. Problems With Support of Orphan Homes
III. Problems With Support of Orphan Homes
A. No Authority
How Authority Is Established
Acts 15
Command / Statement
Approved Example
Necessary Inference
VV. 13-21 – James appealed to
direct statement from Amos 9
V. 12 – Paul & Barnabas
appealed to example of their work
& miracles
VV. 7-11 – Peter appealed to
events at Cornelius’ house –
infers…
Church Support
of Orphan Homes
Command / Statement
Approved Example
Necessary Inference
III. Problems With Support of Orphan Homes
A. No Authority
B. Parallel to the Missionary Society
The Missionary Society
Local
Church
Local
Church
$
$
$
Local
Church
Local
Church
Missionary
Society
Support
Preachers
$
A Separate Organization
Between
The Church And The Work
The Benevolent Society
Local
Church
Local
Church
$
$
$
Local
Church
Local
Church
Benevolent
Society
“Orphan Home”
Care of
Needy
$
A Separate Organization
Between
The Church And The Work
III. Problems With Support of Orphan Homes
A. No Authority
B. Parallel to the Missionary Society
C. Church Can do its Own Work
Acts 6:1-6
FACTS:
• Widow – neglected in ministration (v. 1)
• Congregation selected 7 men (v. 3)
• Apostles appointed them (v. 3)
• The 7 men were over the business of caring for the
widows (v. 3)
Happened:
• Local church taking care of its own needy
Didn’t Do:
• Set up a separate organization between church &
caring for the needy
1 Timothy 5:16
Relieve
Relieve
Orphan Homes
I. History Behind It
II. The Issue
III. Problems With Support of Orphan Homes
IV. Limited Benevolence
IV. Limited Benevolence
 A Secondary Issue: Could the church
(out of its treasury) help those who are
non-Christians?
 Was not the dividing issue – but an issue
Saints
Non-Saints
Acts 2:44-45
Acts 4:32-35
Acts 6:1-7
Acts 11:27-30
Rom. 15:25-31
1 Cor. 16:1-3
2 Cor. 8:1-4
2 Cor. 9:1-13
1 Tim. 5:16
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
Orphan Homes
I. History Behind It
II. The Issue
III. Problems With Support of Orphan Homes
IV. Limited Benevolence
V. Arguments Made to Justify
V. Arguments Made to Justify
A. “Jas. 1:27 says to visit the fatherless”
1. Passage addresses individual – not church
• Context: “anyone” v. 23; “he” vv. 24,25
• V. 27 – “oneself”
2. If is church – no organization between church and
the orphans
3. Notice the shifting taking place
Shifted to
Shifted to
Benev. Soc.
V. Arguments Made to Justify
A. “Jas. 1:27 says to visit the fatherless”
B. “Gal. 6:10 says to good to all men”
1. Passage addresses individual – not church
1 Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual
restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also
be tempted.
2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
3 For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he
deceives himself.
4 But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in
himself alone, and not in another.
5 For each one shall bear his own load.
6 Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who
teaches.
7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he
will also reap.
8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who
sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall
reap if we do not lose heart.
10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to
those who are of the household of faith.
10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to
those who are of the household of faith.
11 See with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand!
12 As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would
compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for
the cross of Christ.
V. Arguments Made to Justify
A. “Jas. 1:27 says to visit the fatherless”
B. “Gal. 6:10 says to good to all men”
1. Passage addresses individual – not church
2. If is church – no organization between church and
the orphans
V. Arguments Made to Justify
A. “Jas. 1:27 says to visit the fatherless”
B. “Gal. 6:10 says to good to all men”
C. “Luke 10 – Samaritan gave to organization”
1. Passage addresses individual – not church
2. Merely bought a service (v. 35)
3. Not:
$
Benevolent
Organization
Buy
service
Innkeeper
There Is A Difference
Buying A Service
Contribution
Radio Station
Newspaper
Internet Host
TV Station
Sign Company
Hospital
Publishing Co.
Radio Station
Newspaper
Internet Host
TV Station
Sign Company
Hospital
Publishing Co.
V. Arguments Made to Justify
A. “Jas. 1:27 says to visit the fatherless”
B. “Gal. 6:10 says to good to all men”
C. “Luke 10 – Samaritan gave to organization”
D. “Church can do what individual can do”
A Difference
Individual
“If any believing man or
woman has widows, let
them relieve them…”
(1 Tim. 5:16)
Church
“...and do not let the church
be burdened, that it may
relieve those who are really
widows” (1 Tim. 5:16)
A Difference
Individual
Church
Get Money
Get Money
Buy & Sell
(Jas. 4:13)
Freewill Contribution
(1 Cor. 16:1-2)
Orphan Homes
I. History Behind It
II. The Issue
III. Problems With Support of Orphan Homes
IV. Limited Benevolence
V. Arguments Made to Justify