In this editorial, I am less interested in the accuracy of B.C. Goodpasture’s description of us or the determination of “who split the log,” but rather, I am concerned about the future of that fellowship of Christians, of which I am a part, dedicated to conservative principles of Scripture application. I care very little for labels or epithets. They rarely advance the cause of truth. I consider Goodpasture’s reference to the group of people with which Daniel Sommer stood identified as “Sommerites” to be both inaccurate and unkind; however, I know what he meant. Daniel Sommer and those who agreed with him taught that secular colleges in which the Bible was taught as an academic subject, owned and operated by Christians, were wrong per se, and that Christians who supported them sinned in so doing. They also opposed benevolent institutions owned or supported by churches to care for widows and orphans. Because we opposed church support of such colleges and such benevolent institutions, Goodpasture viewed us as “Johnny-come-lately Sommerites.”<\/p>\nThere were a great many things taught and practiced by Daniel Sommer and those who stood with him with which I do not agree, yet the fact remains that they did teach much
\nfundamental truth on the question of the relationship of churches to human institutions. Furthermore, history shows that, at one time, they constituted a militant, influential, and prosperous fellowship of Christians. Then, churches numbered in the thousands, and so did their preachers. Many of their preachers were well-informed and able men. Daniel Sommer was no pygmy, intellectually or otherwise. He was a man of intellectual stature and tremendous ability. How fare they today? They are all but extinct. What brought this to pass? They descended deeper and deeper into the morass of negativism, became hopelessly involved in petty squabbles over immaterial and inconsequential matters, developed a spirit of partisan jealousy and rivalry, and divided themselves into practical oblivion.\n
My fear is: Will “conservatives” today give real substance to Goodpasture’s malicious, partisan charge of some eighteen years ago by coming to the same sad end to which those whom Goodpasture styled “Sommerites” have come? Signs definitely point in this direction. I do not wish to be regarded as a “crepe hanger,” but on the other hand, I do not intend to stupidly ignore the obvious and qualify for membership in that faternity of religionists who were told by Jesus, “O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?<\/em>” (Matthew 16:3). In the words of the writer of Hebrews, “time would fail me to tell of<\/em>” the militant anti-college-Bible-department brethren, the antiweddings-and-funerals-in-the-church-building group, the anti-recognition of Christmas (even as a national holiday) group, the propermissive-attitude-toward-divorce and remarriage group along with their opposites — the infallible judges-of-the-validity-of-every-case-of-divorce and remarriage group, the grace-fellowship group and their symphathizers, the hat-and-hair-question group, ad infinitum. That such views exist is not the occasion of my fear<\/strong>; rather, the militant, pressing attitude and conduct of those espousing them concern me. Many holding these views manifest an attitude that can only be described as partisan to the core.<\/p>\n A continued maintenance of such an attitude will inevitably divide us into a motley mess of sectarian groups, destroy our influence among sensible people and prejudice our future.\u00a0An attitude of\u00a0schismatic reactionism<\/strong> is the “kiss of death” upon any association of people for common purposes, regardless of the validity of the basic reasons for their existence as such an association.\u00a0The roadside of history is literally strewn with the bleaching bones of such bodies. Jesus knew that the vitality of any movement, even a divinely-inspired one, depended upon the essential unity of that body, hence he said, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand<\/em>” (Matthew 12:25), and prayed, “Father … neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me<\/em>” (John 17:20-21).<\/p>\n Brethren of influence and ability can stop our progress toward oblivion on the road of “partyism” if they have the courage to speak out against it boldly and plainly. No one person, church, or paper can do it. I am personally committed, as is The Gospel Guardian<\/em> as long as I am its editor, to opposition to this destructive “ism” <\/strong>at work among us. This may not build our subscription list (at least in some quarters), but it is the only course that will satisfy my conscience. Here I stand, so help me God!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by James W. Adams via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 22 No. 4, December 1996 Almost two decades ago, the late B.C. Goodpasture, then the “Pastepot” but occasionally the rampaging and recalcitrant editor of “Old Reliable” The Gospel Advocate, characterized those opposing church support of human institutions and centralized control and oversight as “Johnny-come-lately Sommerites.” On this basis,…<\/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_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[1277,301,1508],"class_list":["post-98025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-denominationalism","tag-division","tag-institutionalism"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":92291,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/division-in-a-local-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":98025,"position":0},"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":55878,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/divisions-must-come\/","url_meta":{"origin":98025,"position":1},"title":"Divisions Must Come","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 16, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"David Lipscomb via\u00a0The Gospel Advocate, September 4, 1941 Division in the churches is painful. It wrings the heart with anguish. But God asked: \"Can two walk together, except they be agreed?\" (Amos 3:3). This is a strange declaration that they cannot. It is true as applied to both God and\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":30087,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-there-a-prophecy-connecting-the-feast-of-the-tabernacles-to-jesus-birth\/","url_meta":{"origin":98025,"position":2},"title":"Was there a prophecy connecting the Feast of the Tabernacles to Jesus’ birth?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 7, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was just reading an article explaining the reasoning behind the belief that Jesus's birth was the fulfillment of the prophecy associated with the Feast of Tabernacles, in the seventh Jewish month of Tishri. When would that be on our calendar? I don't celebrate Christmas religiously, namely because if\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":82749,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/division-in-the-restoration-movement\/","url_meta":{"origin":98025,"position":3},"title":"Division in the Restoration Movement","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 1, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Andy Sochor via Unmasking Sophistry, Vol. 5, No. 1, January-March, 2025 As a reminder, when we talk about the Restoration Movement, we refer to the religious movement that began around the start of the nineteenth century in the United States and endeavored to restore the doctrines and practices of\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":44847,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/creeds-and-statements-of-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":98025,"position":4},"title":"Creeds and Statements of Faith","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 15, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: John 17:11-23 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Every once in a while someone will ask what is our statement of faith. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Back when we were home schooling, we were wanting to get involved with a local group, but they wanted us to sign a statement of faith \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Another name\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33463,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/there-must-needs-be-heresies\/","url_meta":{"origin":98025,"position":5},"title":"There Must Needs be Heresies","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 20, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Edwin Harrell, Jr. Vanguard, Volume 1, #1 January 1975, pp. 21-22 After a few weeks of study at St. John's University and Abbey, I am impressed by the perceptive Roman Catholic analysis of the weaknesses of Protestantism. They insist that Protestants are pressed between two unacceptable extremes. One\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":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98025","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=98025"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98066,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98025\/revisions\/98066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}An Appeal<\/h2>\n