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