Ever since beginning a serious study of the Bible, Jesus' words, "...that they may all be one... that the world may believe..." have haunted me. To belong to a religious group which preached unity but practiced division caused me in the 1950's to be impressed by Ernest Beam's The Christian Forum in which he challenged all the children of God to treat each other as brethren. The Witty_Murch unity meetings seemed to make an encouraging contribution.
But Carl Ketcherside and I were in different sects so I heard him only on a couple of occasions and seldom read what he wrote. He undoubtedly was an eloquent speaker, but among us he was regarded as a ringleader of a radical bunch of "antis". It was not until the early 1960's that I noticed he was saying something different. He had renounced his former sectarianism and was challenging us to do the same. His writing was scintillating, succinct and provocative. He made me think and study. He gave me hope that perhaps after all we could "all be one". Over the years I copied down on cards his statements which were particularly pertinent and impressive to me. Some of these are contained in this publication.
Because these quotations first appeared over twenty years ago large numbers of young Christians have never seen them. Many among us have only heard that "Ketcherside is a false teacher" and have had little opportunity to read and judge for themselves. But there are signs that a better day is coming. Brotherhood censorship is not as tight as it once was. We hear some of the ideas and philosophy stated herein expressed these days. Unity meetings are being held. Discussions of these topics are more common. Barriers are slowly coming down. More publications are less sectarian and more concerned about unity. Many are realizing the terribleness of the party spirit.
In republishing these quotes, our hope is that many will be, as I have, stimulated to re_think and re_examine, "testing everything and holding fast to that which is good".
--Lloyd A. Boyll, compiler