The Butting Brethren

W. Carl Ketcherside

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     It is generally recognized, I think, that I am a controversial figure. This is no novelty for me. I seem always to have been cast in such a role. I entered the restoration movement through a rather small but combative and vociferous segment This required a constant attack upon others as traitors and apostates. It also demanded a considerable amount of debating over issues which seemed of such gravity that unless properly settled the earth would cease her stated rounds and the stars fall like untimely figs when a rude wind blows.

     I never lost a debate. Neither did any of my opponents. This fact can easily be verified by reading our respective accounts of our skirmishes. In a more mature age I wonder if such discussions revealed a sense of insecurity in the party, and if we gained reassurance by jumping on representatives of bigger and older factions. That may also account for the aggressive stance of the whole restoration movement toward those who have grown up in various sectarian moulds.

     I am no longer a factional front man. I am no longer a sectarian at heart. Such vestiges of this work of the flesh which still cling to me are there because of ignorance and not because of my wish. I have renounced all sectarianism, ours as well as theirs, whoever they are! And now I find myself more of a problem to many of my brethren than ever before. They knew how to handle me when I was a party proponent because they have all of the arguments collected, catalogued and correlated for each party. I do not fit into any of their little compartments now. Praise God!

     The accepted course of procedures when you learn you are in a faction is to change factions. This means that you search for one which is a little narrower or a little broader than the one in which you have labored, depending upon which way you are going. Then you affiliate yourself with the new faction and the party journal publishes your picture together with a notification to the "faith- ful brethren" that after so many years of preaching in error you have seen the light and will now accept meetings with the loyal church.

     But I did not go anywhere! I had already shown that I could be as narrow as anyone where I was, so I decided to show you can be as loving as need be wherever you are. We do not need to leave some brethren to love all brethren. If you can't love them where you are, you'll not love them anywhere else. This game of musical chairs may be all right for a children's party, but our parties are composed of grown men, at least physically. It is a genuine thrill to know that the only brethren you have are brethren in error. That eliminates the need of mentioning the fact. You've heard the old spiritual, "All of God's chillun got shoes." Well, all of God's chillun also have hangups, problems and unanswered questions. Some of them not only have problems, they are problems. But I receive them all just like God does. If he doesn't drive out his problem children I will not drive out my problem brethren. If they are in him, we are in him together. And I am not going to leave him or them. They don't have to love me for me to love them. Love is not a "horse trading" proposition.

     This troubles a lot of folks. They wanted me to change my attitude, but they wanted me to reach only to them. When you start loving people in other parties you are "going too far." So I get written up pretty regularly in all kinds of papers. Sometimes I'm called a traitor, a liberal, or a Judas Iscariot, and other things like that. One editor solemnly warned his readers that I was a "Pied Piper" but when I wrote him that the Pied Piper influenced only children and rats, he didn't mention it any more.

     None of this moves me. Really, I get a kind of kick out of it. I do not worry whether what is said is untrue. One of these days everything is going to be

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straightened out and squared up at the White Throne. I am willing to wait. It really isn't too important what men say or think about me. It wasn't to Jesus and it isn't to me. I've learned that by following him as closely as possible I can love even those who think they are my enemies. It isn't always easy but it is always satisfying.

     It is interesting to read these little attacks in which brethren seek to limit my influence and create prejudice against what I am saying. Most of them follow a stereotyped pattern. Before me as I write are three of these articles. One says, "Brother Ketcherside's writings for many months have presented some profound truths, in a writing style which is the finest in this generation, but..." Another says, "Brother Ketcherside is dangerous because he manifests the love he talks so much about. He is genial in disposition and disarming in manner, but..." The third says, "Do not misunderstand me. Carl is a powerful speaker and if he were sound on the fellowship issue he could be a tremendous force for good, but..."

     If I just paid attention to what was before the "buts" I would think more highly of myself than I ought to think. If I concentrated on what followed the "buts" I might develop a mental depression or go into a blue funk. If you will pardon me for saying so, I am not going to be either cast down or built up by such aspersion and acclaim. I am just no longer working for the approval of men. What they say will neither set me up nor upset me! Someone has to cut across our silly lines. Someone has to ignore our trivial barriers. Someone has to batter down our fanatical walls. I intend to do it out of love for God. It is no sacrifice for me to do his will. I am thrilled to be set free by the grace of God. I shall never return to the narrow, bigoted, sectarian outlook which shackles the heart and quenches the Spirit. I shall not let well-meaning, but factional-minded brethren "but" me out of the eternal kingdom.