How Far Is Too Far?

W. Carl Ketcherside

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     Since I began to devote my efforts primarily to promoting unity of all believers in our Lord Jesus I have become the object of attention of a goodly number of preachers who previously ignored me. They do not know exactly what to do with me for the simple reason that I no longer represent any splinter, segment or faction of the disciple brotherhood. If I would limit my association with, and visits to, one particular group, they could categorize me. This would be a big relief because they know how to handle another partisan. They are not so adept at dealing with a free man in Christ who can love them all regardless of their variegated opinions and interpretations.

     Those who now come to question me on the basis that they wish to know what to tell those who ask them about me, generally end up by saying they appreciate my attitude but they think I have gone too far. I appreciate their attitude also because for a good many years a lot of them have been telling those who asked them that I believed a lot of things I never dreamed of believing. I suspect it would still be a little better if they would tell those who ask them about me to ask me and let me tell them. But how far is too far? A careful analysis will show that in every instance those who make the statement are perfectly willing to go along with much of the teaching on "fellowship" provided they can retain the party of their allegiance intact and undisturbed. The problem is not so much that I am advocating anything startling or new. My approach is revolutionary because I insist on practicing what a lot of preachers have always hinted at.

     A number of brethren in the past have written in the "orthodox" journals and

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spoken in college lectureships the same things I write and say. The difference is that with me these ideas are not just lilting propaganda but life principles. I propose to implement them in my life and this is the thing that some cannot take. The members of the non-instrument "Church of Christ" party would welcome anything I could do to get the factional adherents to cease fighting over Herald of Truth, institutional homes, colleges, the one-man preacher pastor system, Sunday schools, uninspired literature, unfulfilled prophecy, individual cups, fermented wine, the order of worship, and all of the motley group of other things which have shaken and shivered them to fragments. So long as I am willing to restrict my efforts to the factions which oppose instrumental music I can be tolerated, but when I regard those who use instrumental music as my brethren and move among them in love I am going too far.

     I am constantly besieged by anxious querists asking, "How can you fellowship the Christian Church?" Patiently I go back over the ground and explain to them that they are using the word "fellowship" in a sense in which the Holy Spirit never used it. I point out that I do not "fellowship" the "Christian Church" or the "Church of Christ." I am in the fellowship with all of God's children who are in these segments and with a lot of others who are in neither of them. This concept of brotherhood is as far above the thinking of the average "Church of Christ preacher" as the heavens are higher than the earth. With him it is not enough to be opposed to instrumental music but one must also be a member of a non-instrument party (his particular one) in all of its ungodly and unwholesome exclusivism.

     This is not the end of sorrows! My brethren in the so-called Independent Christian Churches, sometimes called the "Conservatives," cautiously welcome my brotherly treatment of them. They have been blasted, stigmatized and assailed with such animosity and venom by non-instrument zealots in the past that it is hard for them to realize that a man can oppose instrumental music and still regard them with fraternal love. I present a problem to them from several angles. Some of them regard me with outright suspicion. They still think there is "a catch to it" and if they allow me too much freedom among them the time will come when I will go berserk, and like Carrie Nation, snatch a hatchet out from under my cloak and start smashing their electric organs and grand pianos. They are always a little uneasy when they invite me to speak and heave a gentle sigh of relief when it is over.

     However, the real problem with the "Independents" is that I regard myself as being in the fellowship with all of God's children who happen to be in the "Disciples of Christ" denomination. They are grateful that I do not make instrumental music a test of fellowship or brotherhood in Christ, but for me to exhibit brotherly regard for the "Disciples" and to speak at their invitation is going too far. They would much prefer that I be affiliated with the "Conservative" party but since I refuse to do that they will still tolerate me if I "draw a line" against the Disciples. It is not enough to be opposed to "open membership" but I must enroll in a closed party to oppose it.

     Of course I do not restrict my regard for my brethren to those only who are in some segment of the Restoration movement. I am no longer suffering from the vain delusion that this movement is the church of God. The flock of God in this age is a scattered flock. All of the sheep have not yet been led or driven into one exclusive corral. Every sincere immersed believer on this earth is God's child and my brother. Some of these sheep are caught in strange thickets. I do not think I'll help their plight by belaboring them over the head with red and staff because they allowed themselves to become thus entangled. Because they are sheep of God they are a part of the flock of God even though still in the wilderness. While they are seeking to extricate themselves I will rec-

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ognize them, call upon them and help them when they are where I am. I know how difficult it is to extricate oneself from partisan brambles and briers.

     How far is too far? In each instance the party spirit cries out that one who goes beyond the party limits goes too far. Each faction has drawn its line on the shores of time and declares, "This far and no farther shalt thou come!" To all partisans unity is based on conformity and the party norm is the will of God. I refuse any longer to allow my conscience to be regulated by fallible men and my love to be circumscribed by human tradition. I regard the party spirit as a sin of the deepest dye. I shall respect every child of God as my brother, commending what I can and condemning what I cannot commend.

     The reaction to my stand by entrenched partisans is interesting. Because I steadfastly refuse to become aligned with any of their parties and retain the right to think for myself "without benefit of clergy" they assume that I am not sincere and am a mere self-serving opportunist. They just simply cannot conceive of how any man can love those who differ with him, so they consider that my love is not genuine. They are waiting (somewhat wistfully in some instances) for me to crack up and reveal the same old bitter factional attitude which I once manifested. They wait in vain. There have been too many long nights of weariness and praying, too many tears, too much heartache to return to the narrow, bigoted, intolerant, selfish, arrogant attitude of yesteryear, forged by the chains of orthodoxy. Whatever happens to me now, whether I live or die, it will be to the Lord and to no party. I shall face any eventuality as a free man in Christ Jesus. Praise his holy name!

     More than any other person on earth I realize my own weaknesses. I am not at all above the temptation to go too far. My judgment is not infallible, my strength is not supernatural. But no man can go too far in recognition of his brothers when he goes only as far as God goes. God recognizes all of his children as children. I cannot go too far when I regard all of them as brethren. They are God's children while scattered abroad, they are his before they are gathered in one. "He prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation, and not for that nation only, but also that he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad" (John 11:51,52).

     With the bonds and restraints, the ties and the straitjacket of the party spirit holding us back the temptation is not that we shall go too far but that we shall not go far enough. If we mark out our own limits and draw our own lines we will always be sectarian. Whether a man is "a liberal sectarian or a conservative sectarian" makes but little real difference, for it is not being of a liberal or conservative bent or turn of mind that is a sin, but being a sectarian! Any artificial barrier erected to exclude brethren from brotherhood makes of those who remain within such barriers a sect. No one can go far enough until he removes that barrier and regards all of God's children as brothers--and treats them as such. It is the transformity of the new creation and not the conformity to old tradition which makes us children of the Most High. If one listened to a lot of brethren he would not go too far because he would never go at all! He would die as he lived--a partisan!

     It is useless to appeal to the sect of the satisfied or to the cult of conformity. But there are those in every party who are members of the fellowship of the concerned. Our plea is to all of these. Let us discard "the yoke which neither we nor our fathers could bear." Let us rise above the narrow confines of legalism and restore the concept of the glorious church without spot of schism or wrinkle of rancor. May party cries cease! May Jesus Christ be enthroned in our hearts as he is in heaven. This is a work for heroic men and not for cowards. The trumpet is sounding! The call of God goes forth! Let us not fail him in this hour of destiny!