Friday, March 02, 2007
Bound by the Past
Today's post emanates from 2 sources:
1. A conversation I had with Greg. I guess that means if you dislike this post you can blame Greg. Of course, remember Greg welds great power through his psycho dog, Cujo, I mean Chipper.
2. Events that have dominated my thoughts for the last few weeks. I guess that means if you like the post you can throw props my way.
It seems that the “past” and the remembering thereof, can be a powerful influence in the lives of organizations and people. Organizations such as businesses, schools, and churches tend to have a hard time with change. My good friend Ray who is getting his MBA, said that in one of his classes, it was postulated that people in organizations deal with change in the following steps:
1. Denial
2. Anger
3. Acceptance
4. Performance
As a classroom teacher with 26 years of experience, I can certainly identify with these 4 stages of dealing with change. I certainly don’t teach with the same methods and goals that I did in 1981. The kids I’m teaching in 2007 are not the same as they were in 1981. I have changed over the years in my approach to teaching, sometimes willingly and at other times reluctantly. Nevertheless, I can look back and say that all of those changes have been to the betterment of my students.
Then there is the church. Want to get a good church fight (some say they are the best) going, introduce, no, mention the “C-word.” In my conversation with Greg the other day, he mentioned that our fellowship seems to be stuck or loyal to the past and some what loyal to the present but we tend to give no regard to the future. It’s hard to deny the validity of Greg’s statements when you consider for the last 20 to 30 years, our fellowship has been in decline while our brothers in the Conservative Christian Churches are growing at almost the same rate as the Mormon Church.
You have to ask yourself, why? We share a common heritage in the American Restoration Movement. We approach Scripture the same way with the exception of our views on instrumental music. I don’t know but it does seem that we’re bound to our past to a fault while ignoring our present and not even wanting to think about how the world and the church will be in the future.
If you look at our relatively short history there has been “significant” theological change. For example, at one time the prevalent view among CoC’s with respect to the Holy Spirit was one only came into contact with the Holy Spirit through the reading of The Word, the old “retired author” theory. Some where, some one said, “Wait a minute, what about Acts. 2:38 “And Peter said to them, "Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
There it is in plain sight, before the codex Bible as we know it today; you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. So, here’s an instance where over time, our Fellowship changed (for the most part) its view on this vital and central core belief. I’m sure it wasn’t without pain and “casualties” but nevertheless, changed occurred in the name of being Biblical with our understanding. You have to believe that over this time period there were folks who were bound by the lessons they had learned in the past, unwilling and, or scared to change. I’m sure they wondered about the status of those who had taught them, in light of this “new” understanding, falsely or perhaps that’s too strong a term. They taught them with respect to at that time, their level of understanding. I’m sure their “students” wondered about their status before God having believed and professed a belief in something that apparently turned out to be wrong.
Change and being bound by the past will make you lose sleep with these kinds of thoughts not to mention the worry that comes over the fear of losing people despite being true to what you feel is Biblical understanding. I’ve been there, sleepless in West Cocoa so to speak.
So, I think for all of us we at sometime will come to a place both personally and if one is in church leadership, with “corporate responsibility” hanging over us, will come to a point where men and women in our fellowship and others have been before;
Do I allow myself to be dominated by my alliance to the past, in fear of the future, or, do I listen to where I think God is leading me personally or the church as a whole in light of pressing on toward the goal as Paul said, the future if you will.
And in doing so, could I be wrong? Hey, we’re humans and in light of our own history the answer can be a yes. But I also hold on to this favorite scripture of mind:
Romans 5:6 – 9 - 5:6 “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.5:7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.5:9 Much more then, having now been justified by 81 His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.”
Have a good weekend family.
1. A conversation I had with Greg. I guess that means if you dislike this post you can blame Greg. Of course, remember Greg welds great power through his psycho dog, Cujo, I mean Chipper.
2. Events that have dominated my thoughts for the last few weeks. I guess that means if you like the post you can throw props my way.
It seems that the “past” and the remembering thereof, can be a powerful influence in the lives of organizations and people. Organizations such as businesses, schools, and churches tend to have a hard time with change. My good friend Ray who is getting his MBA, said that in one of his classes, it was postulated that people in organizations deal with change in the following steps:
1. Denial
2. Anger
3. Acceptance
4. Performance
As a classroom teacher with 26 years of experience, I can certainly identify with these 4 stages of dealing with change. I certainly don’t teach with the same methods and goals that I did in 1981. The kids I’m teaching in 2007 are not the same as they were in 1981. I have changed over the years in my approach to teaching, sometimes willingly and at other times reluctantly. Nevertheless, I can look back and say that all of those changes have been to the betterment of my students.
Then there is the church. Want to get a good church fight (some say they are the best) going, introduce, no, mention the “C-word.” In my conversation with Greg the other day, he mentioned that our fellowship seems to be stuck or loyal to the past and some what loyal to the present but we tend to give no regard to the future. It’s hard to deny the validity of Greg’s statements when you consider for the last 20 to 30 years, our fellowship has been in decline while our brothers in the Conservative Christian Churches are growing at almost the same rate as the Mormon Church.
You have to ask yourself, why? We share a common heritage in the American Restoration Movement. We approach Scripture the same way with the exception of our views on instrumental music. I don’t know but it does seem that we’re bound to our past to a fault while ignoring our present and not even wanting to think about how the world and the church will be in the future.
If you look at our relatively short history there has been “significant” theological change. For example, at one time the prevalent view among CoC’s with respect to the Holy Spirit was one only came into contact with the Holy Spirit through the reading of The Word, the old “retired author” theory. Some where, some one said, “Wait a minute, what about Acts. 2:38 “And Peter said to them, "Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
There it is in plain sight, before the codex Bible as we know it today; you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. So, here’s an instance where over time, our Fellowship changed (for the most part) its view on this vital and central core belief. I’m sure it wasn’t without pain and “casualties” but nevertheless, changed occurred in the name of being Biblical with our understanding. You have to believe that over this time period there were folks who were bound by the lessons they had learned in the past, unwilling and, or scared to change. I’m sure they wondered about the status of those who had taught them, in light of this “new” understanding, falsely or perhaps that’s too strong a term. They taught them with respect to at that time, their level of understanding. I’m sure their “students” wondered about their status before God having believed and professed a belief in something that apparently turned out to be wrong.
Change and being bound by the past will make you lose sleep with these kinds of thoughts not to mention the worry that comes over the fear of losing people despite being true to what you feel is Biblical understanding. I’ve been there, sleepless in West Cocoa so to speak.
So, I think for all of us we at sometime will come to a place both personally and if one is in church leadership, with “corporate responsibility” hanging over us, will come to a point where men and women in our fellowship and others have been before;
Do I allow myself to be dominated by my alliance to the past, in fear of the future, or, do I listen to where I think God is leading me personally or the church as a whole in light of pressing on toward the goal as Paul said, the future if you will.
And in doing so, could I be wrong? Hey, we’re humans and in light of our own history the answer can be a yes. But I also hold on to this favorite scripture of mind:
Romans 5:6 – 9 - 5:6 “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.5:7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.5:9 Much more then, having now been justified by 81 His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.”
Have a good weekend family.
Comments:
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Cecil we have undergone many changes in our history. There are still those out there with the retired author theory of the Holy Spirit but we are changing ... for the better on this one.
Shalom,
Bobby Valentine
Shalom,
Bobby Valentine
Judy - Its great to have you back in blog land. Your points are well taken and as I heard someone say recently, if there are 4 people in a room and 3 are in agreement, that doesn't mean the one lone voice is wrong. The change I was trying to refer to was change based on Biblical understanding.
Bobby - Thanks for the comment and I would love to see you post on some of the changes are fellowship has experienced. I think the rank and file members sometimes do not realize our history.
Sharon - Good to "see" you again and thanks for the comment. Feel free to share but if you do I might have to pay Greg a "finder's fee."
Bobby - Thanks for the comment and I would love to see you post on some of the changes are fellowship has experienced. I think the rank and file members sometimes do not realize our history.
Sharon - Good to "see" you again and thanks for the comment. Feel free to share but if you do I might have to pay Greg a "finder's fee."
If this goes over well, then of course we had that conversation. If it gets either of us in trouble, then I don't know you and have no idea of what you write!!
Warning: Be very careful about postulating in public. I think there are laws.
As for the Holy Spirit ... we've come to a point of at least admitting the Spirit is free to roam about outside the pages of published literature. However, as to allowing the Spirit to move freely within our fellowship, we still are far more likely to box Him up or fence Him in. We are pro-Spirit so long as He behaves and we can control Him actions and moderately predict His behavior.
One reason I do not have a very optimistic outlook for our fellowship's future is because we are barely embracing the present and in denial of the future. But that's just one guy's opinion after 30+ years in ministry, so don't quote me on any of this.
Warning: Be very careful about postulating in public. I think there are laws.
As for the Holy Spirit ... we've come to a point of at least admitting the Spirit is free to roam about outside the pages of published literature. However, as to allowing the Spirit to move freely within our fellowship, we still are far more likely to box Him up or fence Him in. We are pro-Spirit so long as He behaves and we can control Him actions and moderately predict His behavior.
One reason I do not have a very optimistic outlook for our fellowship's future is because we are barely embracing the present and in denial of the future. But that's just one guy's opinion after 30+ years in ministry, so don't quote me on any of this.
Cecil, first good post. I think we all go through changes. Sometimes for the better others for the worse. The hardest theory I have ever tried to accept was the "retired author theory."
Good thoughts
Bobby
Good thoughts
Bobby
Greg - "Postulating" in public is something I do try to avoid but sometimes I just can't help myself.
Bobby - Welcome to WCC. Man, first good post in 252. That would put me at a 0.003968... average. I wonder if I could make the "blog league minimum" with those stats?
Bobby - Welcome to WCC. Man, first good post in 252. That would put me at a 0.003968... average. I wonder if I could make the "blog league minimum" with those stats?
Cecil,
I think you misunderstood my comment. It should have read FIRST, Good post....before I say anything else this is a good post. Not the first good post you have every written!
Bobby
I think you misunderstood my comment. It should have read FIRST, Good post....before I say anything else this is a good post. Not the first good post you have every written!
Bobby
Good thoughts, bro. I am more and more convinced that most of our religious convictions are culturally imbibed rather than acquired through healthy biblical interpretation Richard Beck of ACU has aptly described us as an organization drived by ecclesiology (nature and structure of the church) rather than theology. Cultural imbibed beliefs are more tenaciously defended than beliefs developed through study because of the deeper emotional attachment. Culturally imbibed beliefs have far less room for examination than theolgically derived ones because of this deep emotional attachment.
All of this and more I will be presenting in my new book, "Behold Yo Mama!"
Peace.
All of this and more I will be presenting in my new book, "Behold Yo Mama!"
Peace.
qoI don't like change--I'd rather have the folding kind of money!!HA!! Sorry bout that, but couldn't resist.
It seems that we are stuck in a growth pattern and we like it here. Especially when it comes to the Holy Spirit. I am glad to be in a place who believes in Him, but I still think we have so far to go on how that creates "trueness" in our spiritual walk.
People tend to defend turf rather than taking charge of their own walk of faith and developing a sense of awe in God and what He can and does do.
As for the future, we had better start planning now for what we will do with it. It's coming, we had better know how to handle it the most efficient way possible.
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It seems that we are stuck in a growth pattern and we like it here. Especially when it comes to the Holy Spirit. I am glad to be in a place who believes in Him, but I still think we have so far to go on how that creates "trueness" in our spiritual walk.
People tend to defend turf rather than taking charge of their own walk of faith and developing a sense of awe in God and what He can and does do.
As for the future, we had better start planning now for what we will do with it. It's coming, we had better know how to handle it the most efficient way possible.
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