It is difficult to keep one’s thinking truly un-denominational. Proud, carnal attitudes constantly make their way into spiritual affairs. The sources of jealousy and strife today are the same carnal attitudes that plagued the Corinthian church (I Corinthians 3:1-5).<\/p>\n
I think few people have complained more about the mental and spiritual shortcomings of modern churches of Christ than I have. I intend to continue to do just that. We must guard against party factions, against denominational conceptualizations, against becoming simply another sect. The concept of undenominational Christianity must be treasured by us and taught to the world. But….<\/p>\n
But I am troubled. Sometimes I am troubled when I hear others criticize (or admonish) because I wonder if our motives are the same. I reprove my brethren because I love them, not because I find them unattractive. I am concerned about the inadequacies in churches of Christ because I consider them to be precisely that – churches of Christ, the hope of the world.<\/p>\n
It seems to me that many of the young critics of the church today proceed on an entirely different set of assumptions. Their criticisms do not reflect an intrinsic love and respect for simple faith but rather a personal revulsion against the simplicity of faith and against simple people. Their call for a deeper individual commitment to godliness comes off sounding like a rejection of literal obedience and the acceptance of authority. I feel I am being faced again with the ancient liberal choice of being either right or righteous.<\/p>\n
In short, I sometimes hear young men saying the same things that I think need saying — but our thoughts lead us to act in different ways. I like simple plain preaching done by a corn-fed Alabama preacher (even at the risk of a passage being taken out of context). They like the evangelical scholars (few having attained the elevated intellectual status of appreciating sophisticated liberal scholarship).<\/p>\n
I like conservative churches, even though some in them are contentious, and some do not understand undenominational Christianity (by the way, I think most do). They find the spirit much sweeter in liberal churches, even in denominational churches, though they often are less than frank in saying so. (And it is possible to imagine that one would find an understanding of undenominational religion there).<\/p>\n
The differences between us are profound in act if not in word. I believe their actions reflect serious misunderstanding about the nature of the church of the Lord, about the quality of those who hold that faith today, and about the quality of religion in the sectarian world.<\/p>\n
One final point. Be honest. I have no respect for a man who hides his convictions behind rhetoric. If one believes that the churches of Christ in this country are the Lord’s people in our time, fighting is battles, being faithful to his patterns, then let’s try to build up the cause and expand the borders of the kingdom.<\/p>\n
If one believes that the “conservative churches of Christ” are an unenlightened, often bigoted, partially correct, contentious wing of the “Christian world” that one happens to be trapped in because of family or traditional loyalties, then let’s get that understanding upfront. I can appreciate most anyone’s work in the kingdom (even if it seems unenlightened to me) if I can see that he loves it. When one’s affection turns to other places, then it is time to leave.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Ed Harrell Vanguard Vol 3, No 21, November 11, 1977 It is difficult to keep one’s thinking truly un-denominational. Proud, carnal attitudes constantly make their way into spiritual affairs. The sources of jealousy and strife today are the same carnal attitudes that plagued the Corinthian church (I Corinthians 3:1-5). I think few people have…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[448,794,1598],"class_list":["post-33696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-church","tag-criticism","tag-rebukes"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":92639,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/churches-preparing-for-elders\/","url_meta":{"origin":33696,"position":0},"title":"Churches Preparing for Elders","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 16, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Don Bunting via\u00a0Biblical Insights, Vol. 15 No. 2, February 2015 If a prophet is not without honor, except in his own country (Matthew 13:57), then it should not surprise us that it is difficult for churches to appoint and submit to elders. While we may dream about qualified men\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92291,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/division-in-a-local-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":33696,"position":1},"title":"Division in a Local Church","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 21, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Robert L. McDonald via Expository Review, November 1984 \"And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":87643,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/spiritually-minded\/","url_meta":{"origin":33696,"position":2},"title":"Spiritually Minded","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 9, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ronny E. Hinds A Christian's greatest need, without exception, is to be spiritually minded. This means the primary focus of life is spiritual matters. It means that every thought and action is controlled by what God wants. This way of thinking always asks, \"Do these thoughts, does this behavior,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38698,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/carnal-appeals\/","url_meta":{"origin":33696,"position":3},"title":"Carnal Appeals","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 15, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Greg Gwin Free pizza, clowns, hot air balloon rides ... you name it, and some religious group has tried it as a scheme to draw folks to their services. These things are fun! Who wouldn't like to play ball, eat good food, and be entertained? But, here's the problem\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/pizza-300x199.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17510,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/denominationalism-is-unnecessary\/","url_meta":{"origin":33696,"position":4},"title":"Denominationalism Is Unnecessary","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Larry Ray Hafley Religious denominationalism in general and Catholicism and Protestantism, in particular, are unnecessary institutions. First,\u00a0if they were essential, they would be found in the Bible. Christ would have spoken of them and told us how to sustain and support them. That he did none of those things\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92731,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/make-melody-in-your-heart\/","url_meta":{"origin":33696,"position":5},"title":"Make Melody in Your Heart","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 22, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Text: Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16 These two familiar scriptures on singing spiritual songs are set in a context of a \"time of reformation,\" in which the carnal and earthly temple and instruments are given their spiritual fulfillment in Christ. In contrast to the Old Testament or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33696\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}