ClarkeComments.com

What I’m currently reading:

“Women in the Church, by Everett Ferguson”.

I bought a couple of different doctrinal books from The Gospel Advocate. One of which is the book above.

I’m about half-way through it, as I usually am when I start writing my book reviews. Bad habit, I know, but I enjoy checking out new books on doctrinal subjects and sharing my thoughts on them.

Ferguson appears to have taken a very scholarly approach to writing this book - almost too scholarly. I’m afraid this book doesn’t speak to the casual reader or, for the matter, the average member of the church.

I am not a preacher by vocation, but I have had some formal training in the bible and theology. Ferguson goes deep into word studies in various scriptures dealing with women in the church. The first couple were okay, but after five or six I found my head starting to spin while I kept track of all the new information presented.

Ferguson appears to have done his homework on this book, and knows his subject well, it is just written in such a way to make it a hard read. I’m having a hard time wading through it, and I have a high level of interest in the subject. That is never a good sign.

So, I guess I would give Ferguson an A for knowledge of his subject and even an A for his rational explanations, but a D on style.

I hope the other book I picked out is an easier read.

If I change my mind by the end of this book, I’ll let you know.

-Clarke

Hello all:

Pepperdine University has a relief effort going that I just found out about. (I’m not keeping up on my web surfing like I need to be lol).

While alot of the media coverage has mellowed out, the need continues and is great. Working in the emergency management field myself, I can tell you that the recovery phase from a major disaster can last years and years after the devastating event.

If you have the means, please donate, even if you have donated already. The people that have been affected by this tragedy need all the help that they can get.

Besides the Pepperdine effort, I also suggest the following relief organizations below that are related to our church:

WFR Relief Ministries.

churches of Christ Disaster Relief Effort.

International Disaster Emergency Services.

-Clarke

Hello all:

Speaking of liberalism….

Lately, I’ve seen alot of people ridiculing the church in the comments they post on peoples blogs. The blogs themselves don’t have too much ridicule going on, but the comments sure do.

I assume alot of the ridicule comes from people from the outside that aren’t members of the church, but its obvious that quite a bit of it comes from our members as well.

That is plain disturbing.

If you don’t agree with the beliefs of the church at large, fine. If you are a liberal who wants to fully embrace instrumental music or women in leadership roles in the church, okay. But don’t ridicule those of us who are more conservative and don’t feel the way you do. Don’t make fun of us, don’t call us stupid, don’t ridicule us. Don’t assume that we don’t understand salvation, grace or faith.

Finally, if you feel that much disdain for the church of Christ, then you should rethink your affiliation with our brotherhood. None of us are perfect, but we aren’t the horrible people you paint us as, either.

-Clarke

1 Corinthians 8:9-13.

Hello all:

I read Mike Cope’s blog yesterday that he wrote on the story of Nadab and Abihu. His post and the comments that followed told me alot about those in our brotherhood who have turned to the far left.

In some ways I would agree with his post. I definitely agree with his closing point that fine tuning worship is not the ultimate goal. However, I would also say that “getting it right” is part of being obedient to God.
We may not always get it right, and we may mess up sometimes, and we may have the right intentions when we are wrong, but we should still try.

Also, I know from reading Cope’s writing that he isn’t against instrumental music. I know many in the church that are starting to feel that way. What troubles me though is that after he mentions instrumental music, he mentions baptism. I hope that is just a further illustration of his point and not a criticism of our beliefs and teaching on baptism.

The comments from others after his post are also very telling. The readers of Cope’s blogs are very liberal to say the least. Some of them came close to ridiculing the church and her teachings. That is very unfortunate.

Many of the comments speak of the church in a very negative light. They have taken what they feel are negative experiences in the church - such as a sermon that teaches that veering from the pattern that is ordained in the bible is wrong and may land you in hell, and have steered so far to the left to get away from that way of thinking, that they are throwing the baby out with the bath water.

As we all know, it is God’s prerogative what is right and wrong and what he will accept and not accept. He does give us some commands that are very obvious and which aren’t up for debate. Then there are those things that we aren’t sure about. Inferences and silence are what they are, and we should be careful not to condemn those who disagree on those issues.

However, when fleeing from teaching that condemns others to hell in matters of uncertainty, we need to consider that the underlying doctrine itself isn’t necessarily invalid because of how it has been taught.

The extreme right isn’t where we should be, and the extreme left is not either.

-Clarke