Lapsing Into Latin

W. Carl Ketcherside

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     We were exposed to Latin in High School but apparently it did not "take." It was almost as difficult as English and our deficiency in the linguistic field must be apparent to all. Once in a while, though, we come across a foreign phrase which strikes our fancy because of its appropriateness to our situation. One such is the legal term "Res ipsa loquitur," which means "the thing speaks for itself."

     Our philosophy of fellowship as practiced in the past is in this category. Obviously the purpose of any philosophy of unity is to produce unity and that which results only in division should be carefully scrutinized. We are among the most divided of the religious movements in America, and what is worse, while the rest of them are thinking in terms of uniting, many of our brethren are preparing for further fragmentation.

     We are exactly where our thinking has brought us and our condition emphasizes the need for a change in our thinking. What basic error has affected our reasoning? Actually there are several but we will mention only one.

     We have been betrayed into adopting the fallacy that purity of doctrine can only be secured by separation from brethren. As a result, every time someone differs with us we are obligated by our warped conviction to divide the body and create two new factions.

     Each time we do this each faction assumes that it has the truth and is the defender of righteousness. The truth is that their very division is proof that they have denied the scriptural injunction to guard the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Not one time are God's children told to form sects because of their differences. Every time division among Christians is mentioned it is condemned in the severest of terms.

     In spite of this we are as divided as if it were God's will and he had repeatedly commanded it as the one means of fulfilling the divine purpose on earth.

     Satan has not only divided us and sin-

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fully splintered us, but he has also twisted our thinking and wrested our reasoning until we wilfully perpetuate our parties under the guise of fidelity to Christ Jesus. Our brethren have been betrayed into the silly and insane notion that if they even call upon a visiting brother to voice a prayer to God they thereby sanction and condone all of his interpretative peculiarities and religious idiosyncracies. They do not realize their inconsistencies for not one of their own party upon whom they call for prayer agrees with them fully unless he is ignorant of exactly the same things as themselves.

     Our brethren who pose as theological experts and authorized exponents of God's will ought to be ashamed to live and afraid to die when they contemplate the mixed-up mess created by their mental meanderings. Our divisions are a stench in the nostrils of heaven. It is time we did something besides repeating little slogans with a partisan purpose and a sectarian slant. Anyone can see what the will to divide has done to us and how it has slashed us into ribbons. Res ipsa loquitur!