The Plea for Unity

W. Carl Ketcherside

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     This article contains a re-statement in simple language of our desire and aim. We dedicate it to all who have experienced "the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit." We beg of all the saints that they read it carefully and thoughtfully. Our earnest prayer is that it may serve the interests of Him "whom having not seen we love."

     For several years we have devoted a major part of this paper to a plea for unity among those who acknowledge Jesus of Nazareth to be the Son of God. Our reason for this is the personal conviction that division among the believers is the greatest hindering factor in our attempt to convert the world to Christ. With the shadow of the cross falling over his path Jesus prayed "for those who are to believe in me through their word, that they may all be one." He stated as the purpose of such unity, "that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

     In view of this it would seem that any effort to lead the world to Christ which ignores the problem of disunity among the believers is doomed to failure. It will avail us little to expend partisan efforts to preach the gospel if we encourage a spirit of rivalry and sectarian bitterness. The world will be won for Christ when all who believe are one in Christ. It was a realization of this great fact which caused us to transform this little journal from a party organ or mouthpiece, into a crusader for peace and unity. In thus altering our status, we incurred the wrath of some of our brethren who feel that we have deserted and betrayed them.

     We love all of the brethren who oppose us. We do not question their honesty nor doubt their sincerity. We know just how they feel, for we once felt exactly the same way. They regard that segment of the disciple brotherhood of which we are members as the kingdom of heaven. None outside of it are children of God, as they view the matter. It is treason to talk about anyone being a Christian who is not in the party. Now I no longer concur in such reasoning. I think that the sheep of God are scattered over the sectarian hills. I believe that God still has a people in Babylon. I am driven by a deep yearning to help lead them to a better future, not by denying that they are brethren, but by loving them as brethren. I am sincere in this conviction. I have reached it after years of study and meditation!

     I am saddened because when I extend my love to others, some are thereby motivated to hate and attack me. I cannot quit loving, lest I quit living, for life in the Spirit is love. I refuse to indulge in hate even for those who seek to undermine and destroy my influence. I prefer to pray for them and help them in any manner within my power. Most of them have never understood our plea. They have imagined a great many things.
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They have predicted dire results. We trust that God will permit us to live and prove how vain and empty are these speculations.

     It was never our intention to hurt any of our brethren, but rather to help all of them. We have sought to share with them our maturing ideas as we grew in grace and knowledge of the truth, and that for their good. Most of us are sincerely striving to reach heaven. We are not religious gangsters bent upon destroying that for which Jesus died. Even when we differ it is because of an earnest desire to cling more closely unto Him who died for us. We are all human, frail, weak, and even sinful. All of us have been too factional and exclusive in attitude. We have been taught to be so, and conditioned for that kind of life. We are all victims of the party spirit in a greater or lesser degree. I have sought to find the way by which I could conquer this evil tendency in my life.

     Unfortunately, and for this we express regret and tender our apologies, we are not always able to communicate unto others our innermost feelings. We cannot bring ourselves to believe that any of God's children would deliberately choose to misunderstand a brother who loves them. We prefer to think that we have somehow failed to present the message in a way they can grasp. Because of an urgency to enlist all in the noble work of peace and unity, we are thus prompted to repeat a great deal. While this may make our regular readers impatient we feel it is justified because of those who have recently been introduced to the paper, and to further help those who, in the past, have sought to understand our position but without success.

     We must lead gently. All of us are on the way out of an undesirable state, yet we are filled with fears for our safety. We did not create the condition in which we have been reared, but we inherited it. All of us are what we have been taught to be. We love and respect our fathers. We do not easily cast off any of their influence in our lives. From childhood we have revered certain preachers. Their arguments and explanations are almost sacred unto us. To admit that they were in error in any of these things appears like questioning the very revelation of God, since we've heard them say so often, "This is what the Bible teaches." It is not always easy to separate their interpretation from what God spoke, for they have been our interpreters. Many of us have almost felt that we had an infallible interpretation. Yet there have always been differences among us.

Needed Changes

     What approach are we making to the problem? How does it differ from what we used to think and say? These are good questions. I should like to face up to them once more. We pray that those who have read after us regularly will not be discouraged by our need to repeat so frequently. Certainly we have made some changes. It is unthinkable that one would not grow in twenty years. But growth means change. How often do we say of a growing boy, "He has changed until I hardly knew him." It is not always wrong to change. It is wrong not to change if you learn better. Actually, there never can be unity among a divided people unless there are changes made. All of us rejoice when others change and come closer to our views. Resentment comes only when one with whom we are associated alters in any respect. If others change and approach our position, they are sincere seekers after truth; if one of our number changes, he is unstable and a traitor.

     It is hard for us to be fair and just. When someone is forced, through anguish of mind and deep study, to amend his views, we cannot give him personal credit for honesty. We look about for some exterior influence. We conclude that he came under the power of some other person who possessed great ability, and through love for that other person was led astray. We infer that he would have remained "sound" and "faithful" if another had not woven a spell about him. Actually, we just cannot understand how
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a person can be honest and not see everything just as we have always seen it. We assume that one who does not is either ignorant. or insincere. We constantly seek to influence as many others as possible, and when we are successful, the one who lines up with us is always a person of deep conviction. If one defects from our party it is because of an unworthy motive, such as love of money or prestige.

     We make no allowance for spiritual growth or progress. We conclude that all progression in the faith is digression from it. Thus we build our party walls higher with each generation, and petrify the hearts of those who dwell inside them. Religion becomes a kind of soul-chilling performance of ritual, observed by those who are suspicious of each other. Faithfulness to God is measured by the number of services attended each week, and the amount of money contributed. No real impact is made upon the world. Division is rife among the saints. I doubt that any of us would deny this state of affairs exists, nor would we defend it. We continue in it because we have been trained to believe that stolid endurance of such a condition is being faithful to God and loyal to the cause!

     I do not believe that! When a condition is out of harmony with God's plan, it is not the one who continues in it, but the one who changes it, who is faithful to God. Division among brethren is wrong. It is sinful! To continue in a wrong state does not make us either right or faithful. But what can we do about it? Here is the crux of the situation. The problem is so big and complex it makes the average person feel powerless and futile. He resigns himself to doing nothing, for fear that he will make things worse. He resolves to sit down in his party and be faithful and trust to God to save him, even if all the rest are damned. I know how he feels, for I am an average person. And I felt that way for years.

     I now know that such an attitude will not save me at all. It is a surrender to Satan. Jesus prayed for all believers to be one. He died on the cross to make it possible. He did all within his power to answer his prayer. If I am to work with Jesus I must labor for unity. I must pray for it and do something about it. I can never be content for God's children to be separated from each other. So long as they are, the will of God cannot be done on earth as it is in heaven. Peace is never an accident. Peace is made. "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God."

Thinking Unity

     As I view it, we have been lulled into thinking we are helpless to offset the existing state of division. So long as we thus think, we will do nothing about it. This is actually working against God's great design. Someone must restore the vision of a united people. Everything in the universe began with an idea. There can be no accomplishment without an idea, or an ideal. So long as we think in terms of division, we must expect divisions to occur. We are what we are today because of what we thought yesterday. We are just where our thinking has brought us now; we will be where our thinking takes us tomorrow. If we would better conditions we must alter our thinking. We have division because we thought in terms of division; we can only have unity when we think in terms of unity.

     We should admit the greatness of our problem, and we should be aware of our own weakness. But we should never be so weak that we do not tackle the problem. Much of what passes for weakness may be either indifference or cowardice. Things will not be made better by one big man working at the top, but by a lot of little folk like ourselves digging away at the bottom. There is a mountain of debris which has accumulated. It has been piled high by tradition and teaching. It must be removed before we can really rebuild the walls of Zion. Every shovel full, every basket full, that is carted away, shortens the task just that much for those who follow us. Besides that, God will work with us, for we will be doing His will. It is not the will of
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God that His children engage in strife and division. He is not the author of confusion, but of peace. He will help the peacemakers who are called His children.

     Of course, we must always be careful. We must guard against the tendency to allow anxiety for unity with God's children to cause us to go too far. We must not become more charitable than God. In these days many tremble with fear about the future. They are afraid that when restraints and restrictions are cast aside, we will be swept away by a flood. The party lines are looked upon as dikes to hold back an angry ocean. If such were the case, we should constantly labor to heighten and strengthen the barrier. But the walls we seek to remove are not those which sever us from an alien and sinful world, but the ones we've erected inside against brethren. Some of these are spite fences kept up by those who forget why they were originally constructed. Let us maintain the fortress against sin and Satan, but work to remove the walls that separate brethren from each other.

     We are asked what will happen when we let the bars down. My answer is that many of these bars should not have been put up in the first place. There has been a great deal of senseless and needless division which has produced an aftermath of bitterness. The bars we seek to remove are not those erected against evils, but the ones which keep brethren apart. The reason we are separated in many cases is because some have been forced out. They are in other parties, or segments, because we have driven them from us. Our interest is not to let down the bars to things, but to remove them from between brethren, so that we can again sit down as equals and examine our differences. It is not our intention to have any person compromise or weaken his conviction on any point, but while holding to that point, to regard those who differ as brethren beloved in the Lord.

Our Present Purpose

     Our hope is not so much that we can eliminate all of the divisive factors, as that we may offset the divisive spirit. We are seeking to create a proper atmosphere for discussion. In the past our discussions have often encouraged prejudice and partisan bitterness. They have been carried on in a highly charged emotional state. We feel that we need to approach our grave differences in calmness. "The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God." We cannot argue ourselves into unity nor debate ourselves into peace. If we can once see that our differences do not destroy brotherhood, we can then examine them in mutual regard for each other as children of the same Father. In such a state of affairs we will not widen gaps even if we do not lessen tensions. In the past we have often faced each other as enemies and every encounter has pushed us farther apart. We believe that if we meet with love and respect for each other, the very act of meeting will bring us closer to each other.

     We are often asked if we have any right to open up anew those matters which have long ago been settled. Our answer is that nothing is ever settled in the spiritual realm until it is settled in harmony with God's will. It is not God's will that we be divided, and to reach a stalemate where we agree to maintain division without again trying to remedy the situation is not to settle, but to unsettle the saints of God. No Christian can ever regard our present divided state with an easy conscience. He must be troubled at heart, he must be disturbed in mind. And he must be constantly at work to bring about the conditions for
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which Jesus prayed. We are not re-opening that which is a closed book, for God does not close the book while His family is apart and alienated from one another.

     We hold that to reverse the situation which confronts us we must start with those things which we hold in common, and use them as a foundation for approach to our differences. If we do not, we have no solid ground upon which to stand. We do not suggest that we merely forget our differences and act as if they were of no consequence, or that we simply shake hands and agree to disagree. We believe that differences should be recognized, brought into the open, and discussed freely, but the discussions should be carried on as becomes brethren in the Lord. We should never slam the door shut. We should always be ready and willing to meet and review any matter, even though such a meeting seems doomed to failure in advance.

What Is Fellowship?

     Under no circumstance should we allow honest differences of interpretation or opinion to affect our view of fellowship. It is here we have all made a tragic error in the past. We were taught that fellowship was equivalent to endorsement, and that to be in fellowship with one was to be in complete agreement with him. It is true that we were inconsistent but we rationalized in such a manner as to satisfy ourselves and stifle conscience. Such a view of fellowship is in error, and we need to alter our position so we can be in harmony with the word of God. To be in the fellowship with a man does not mean you endorse all of his ideas or actions. It does not mean that you share all of his views and opinions.

     Fellowship is a state or condition which we enter in response to the call of God (1 Cor. 1:9). It is a relationship we enjoy as "fellows" or brothers. Every person who is in Christ is in the fellowship. Not all who are in the fellowship agree upon every matter. Perhaps no two of them do so. But they did not enter the fellowship through mutual agreement or understanding on all points. They entered it through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and an expressed obedience to that faith in baptism. Every sincere baptized believer is in the fellowship. This has been true since the planting of the church of God on earth.

     It is important to remember that the word "fellowship" is a noun. It is never used as a verb. We should not belittle such truths, because it is necessary that we employ sound speech. We do not want to confuse others, and to avoid doing so, we must not only use the language of the Spirit, but must do it in the same manner in which the Spirit has used it. Thus, we should not say that we fellowship a certain person. We are in the fellowship with certain persons. We never ask, "Do you partnership him?" or "Do you companionship him"? By the same token we should not ask, "Do you fellowship him"? To do so, removes fellowship from a state or condition and reduces it to an act. It then becomes something which we may extend or withdraw, when, in reality, it is a state into which we enter. That is why the expression "withdraw fellowship" is not in the scriptures.

     We do not "fellowship" things, or ideas, or doctrines. Fellowship is a relation between persons, like brotherhood or partnership. The word "fellow" shows this. It is from a word meaning "a companion" or "one who shares." We do not fellowship societies, instrumental music, Bible classes, individual cups, etc. I mention this because of the common error of many of my good brethren who have been conditioned by long practice to misuse the word in such a manner. We need to purify our speech if we would please God.

     The implication of what we have said is simply this. Fellowship is not a state that is entered because of a position on the things that have been allowed to divide us. We come into the fellowship by response to the call of God. Anyone who makes the proper response to that call enters the fellowship. He may not
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even know there has been division created by an attitude toward certain things. He may be unaware that God's family is rent or divided. Just as the fellowship is not entered by a view of these issues, and because of that, it is our contention that it is not broken or destroyed by an opinion on these matters. Fellowship is brotherhood. Brotherhood is the result of common Fatherhood. Disagreements with each other about certain things do not remove us from the family. The term used to describe the family relationship of God's children is "fellowship."

     It is at this juncture I have been most often misunderstood. I can see why it is difficult for good brethren to grasp what I am saying. They have been taught for several generations that fellowship is something extended or withdrawn by a congregation and that it is an attitude toward certain things over which we are divided. I sympathize with the problems posed for them by my writings because I once felt just as they do. I taught many of them the very things they now quote to me. But I was wrong, seriously wrong, and I am sorry. I did the best I knew as I still do but I had a mistaken idea about fellowship which I had inherited. I am now trying to correct it and it is not easy for those to accept who sat under my teaching in an earlier day.

Source of Division

     I now know that my former view was divisive in its tendency. Most of our divisions in these days probably stem directly, or indirectly, from a mistaken view about fellowship. I do not want to be a party to division among my brethren. I want only to be a humble instrument to plead for peace and unity. This means that I must regard fellowship in a different light. It is to offset division and strife that I have written so much about fellowship in recent years. I do not feel that we can do a great deal toward leading the world to believe in Jesus until we can bring the children of God together.

     I have thus far been unable to convey my thoughts in such a manner as to convince the brethren that there is a difference between fellowship and endorsement. That is why many of them in their anger because of my personal plea accuse me of endorsing all of the things I once opposed. Actually, I have not changed at all on any of the things I opposed. For example, take the question of instrumental music. I consider myself more strongly opposed to its use in the corporate worship of the saints than ever before. But fellowship is a relation to persons and not to things. The change I have made is not in reference to the things that have divided, but to those who are divided. Once I did not regard them as brethren. Now I have a deep and abiding love for them. I have no half-brothers or step-brothers in the Lord so I move among all of my brethren with love and compassion. Like Paul, I commend what I can and what I cannot commend I do not. But, like the apostle, I do not measure fellowship in terms of what I can or cannot commend.

     I am not so unrealistic as to think that we'll settle such problems as the use of instrumental music in my lifetime, nor do I feel that I have either the wisdom or the power to do so. I am not sure the time would be ripe for any radical adjustment one way or another. I do know that my previous attitude only made the rift greater and encouraged the party spirit with its train of prejudice and I am sorry for the years in which I was working against God's purpose instead of for it. My present approach is not to engage in debate over the divisive issues but to establish a proper atmosphere for calm reasoning in love. It appears that factional debates have only cemented partisan prejudices and have contributed little real good. As conducted in the past they have left a trail of bitterness and passion in their wake which was not good.

     I have used instrumental music to illustrate my point, not because I wish to emphasize it unduly nor make it appear that it is any worse than the host
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of other things which divide us from each other. But it does seem to be the criterion of "fellowship" for many and if my position will span this rift and allow me to regard as my brethren those on both sides of such a wide chasm it will certainly be effective in lesser areas. As I see it I am not commanded or obligated by God's revelation to love the instrument. I am under the orders of heaven to love my brethren. If I allow anything to influence me not to love them, that thing will destroy me even if I oppose it. "He who does not love does not know God, for God is love."

     The point at issue with me is not so much whether instrumental music in worship is of God or the devil. I have some brethren who affirm it is of God, others that it is of the devil, others who do not know, and still others who do not care. Those who are interested on both sides quote scriptural passages to sustain their views. Frequently they use the same passages one to prove it is of God, the other to show it is of the devil. What concerns me primarily as of the present is whether those who use it are brethren. If they are and I refuse to regard them as brethren, or if I do not love them as such, then I am of the devil regardless of where instrumental music originated. "By this it may be seen who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not do right is not of God, nor he who does not love his brother" (I John 3:10).

Light and Darkness

     It is a favorite blackboard exercise of a lot of my brethren to put two circles on the board, one bearing the label "light" and the other "darkness." In the first of these they put a list of things approved of God; in the second a list of things which God (or themselves) will not sanction. No two factions will place exactly the same list of things in either circle. Every group has its own party catalogue of things designated "darkness." It will be generally admitted that few of these are actually named in the word of God. They are included because the party thinks that God implied them in certain passages. They oppose them and feel that God must do the same.

     However it is the motive which these brethren have in mind that should cause us to tremble. Their purpose in listing under "darkness" the various and sundry matters over which we are divided is to "draw the line" against sincere brethren who disagree with them. They then quote and misapply the statement. "Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness." This becomes the ground for un-Christianizing men over instrumental music, missionary societies, colleges, orphan homes, individual cups, leavened bread, fermented wine, unfermented wine, Bible classes, etc. On this basis they deny brotherhood to all those who cannot pronounce their "shibboleth." Now the strange thing is that God has drawn no circles into which He has placed the things named. He has said little, if anything, about most of them. But he did draw a circle called darkness and put someone in it. "He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in the darkness still."

     This positively demonstrates that one may place himself in the circle of light and be in the other circle. I have never known one of my brethren to draw these circles in order to put themselves in the one titled "darkness." They are always in the one called "light" and just about everyone else outside of the faction is in the one designated "darkness." It is interesting to note that in most of this blackboard art the circles are made the same size. This indicates an improper sense of proportion. It would not take a very big circle to envelop all who are admittedly in the factional "light" but the other circle would need to be large indeed.

     In God's circles of "light" and "darkness" there are, of course, two categories. "He who loves his brother abides in the light" (1 John 2:10). "He who hates his brother is in the darkness" (verse 11). It will be admitted that one can oppose instrumental music and hate his brother. Such a person is in darkness,
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not because of his position on instrumental music but because of his attitude toward his brother. It will also be admitted that one may endorse instrumental music and love his brother fervently. Is he in the light? If not, have we set up a double standard? I rather suspect that we are in dangerous business legislating on matters of light and darkness for the express purpose of excluding good and sincere brethren, even when they are mistaken about a lot of things. This is a demonstration of the carnal spirit and a work of the flesh. "Now the works of the flesh are plain...selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy..." (Gal. 5:19, 20). In short, to draw a circle of darkness for the purpose of excluding your brethren is the surest way to place yourself in that circle.

A Practical Approach

     Because of my inability to make myself clear in print a lot of fine brethren have concluded that I was advocating a general mixing and mingling of everyone regardless of personal conviction or conscience. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I would not compromise my conviction nor even suggest that one should violate his conscience. But we do have a divided state of affairs. None of us like it, all of us are saddened by it. We must, however, be practical and realize that it is of long standing. It will not be corrected over night, nor for several generations. It may never be fully corrected in the ideal sense. God had to suffer and tolerate many things with which he was not pleased until the time was ripe for their correction. We must be like God, and exercise patience. But God was always working toward an inevitable solution, and we must also do that.

     There are many areas in which we can work together even though we cannot do so in all areas. We should not allow the few points of difference to offset the many points of agreement. If we do unity will never be possible because even one minor point of divergency will keep us apart. It seems to me that the essential thing right now is to respect and treat each other as brethren. If one comes to my meeting who is allied with another faction I will be courteous unto him. I will have no hesitancy to call upon him to direct the prayer. This does not mean that I endorse all he believes or does, or that I consider him as being right on everything. I never did call upon one to lead in prayer to whom I would give a blanket endorsement. And if one must be right on everything before he can pray I will have to cease praying. It is precisely because of my failures and shortcomings that I want to pray, and need to do so.

Where to Begin

     I feel we can do much toward ushering in a better day if we actually practice non-sectarian Christianity. This means setting the table of the Lord where we worship for all immersed believers whose lives are in harmony with the ethics of Jesus. It should be made clear that we receive and recognize, to sit at the feast with us, all whom the Lord receives and invites. No tests of fellowship should be made which are not specifically designated as such by our Lord himself. This is merely another way of saying that we should make nothing a test of fellowship which He has not made a condition of salvation.

     We have been accused of advocating a policy which will lead to endorsement and recognition of the sects. The brethren who make such an assertion wholly misunderstand our aim and intent. We regard all sectism as a work of the flesh. The very spirit which gave rise to the sects is evil and sinful. It is carnal. We are opposed to the creation and maintenance of any sect. We contend that all sects should be uprooted and abolished. We are set for the destruction of the sectarian attitude. It is because of that very thing that we want to see all of God's children rescued from its tyranny. We propose to be not only non-sectarian but also anti-sectarian. Yet while we deplore and hate sectism we love our brethren who have been ensnared in it.
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We want to see them free from the blighting, chilling effect of all sectism. To that end we dedicate our efforts and our thoughts. We cannot lead others from sectism by becoming sectarian.

     In closing we implore all of our brethren to be patient and loving. Let us not indulge in false accusations against each other. If we have differences let us meet like men and resolve them in discussions across the table, under the warming influence of brotherly affection. None of us want to be lost. We are not dishonest nor malicious. Life is hard enough for all of us without adding to our problems. Let us find the way to peace and walk in it! What good can possibly come by bitterly attacking each other and indulging in personal thrusts? What is to be gained for the cause we love by speaking evil of those who are hundreds of miles away? Let us deal with issues, and not attack men. The issues will still live on when our bones have crumbled into dust.

     I am ready and willing to go at my own expense, as long as I am able and God permits, and meet with any who sincerely differ with my position. I will pray with them, converse with them, and reason with them in love in the hope that the Spirit may work in and through us to achieve greater things. If we cannot come to agreement I will not widen the gap between us. When I leave I will love those who cannot agree with me as much as I do those who concur in my views. We can undo the strife of the past, we can conquer the party spirit of the present, we can promote peace on earth among men of good will in the future! Let us thus serve our generation before we fall asleep and our children will rise up to call us blessed!

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