Left, Middle, or Right

By Ray Miller

[Page 61]

     Please, brethren, I beseech you to write it out in English, simple English, so we ordinary Christians can grasp it. If you would just put it in a form we could understand, we would know where we are. Let me pose a question!

     We do not have a piano where I worship. I doubt that we ever will. But who knows when it might happen? Suppose that a local congregation calls a business meeting, and fifteen men are present. Someone suggests securing a piano, and when it is put to a vote, eight men vote for it, and seven vote against it. What should the seven do?

     Tell me, Far Right, what should be done? 2 Thessalonians 3:6 says, "Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which ye received of us." Should the seven who voted in the negative go to the rest of the congregation and try to get as many as they can to withdraw and start another congregation? If so, would they be violating Romans 16:17 which says to "Mark them which cause divisions"? Or, should they avoid the eight who voted affirmatively, endeavoring to "keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Ephesians 4:3)?

     Or, should they go to the piano player and tell him his fault (Matthew 18:15)? After all, the one who pounds the piano is the only one who is spoiling the singing. Certainly we average Christians do not want to cause divisions, strifes or contentions. Maybe we should just sit idle and not sing with the piano. But then we will need to be careful that we do not violate 2 John 9-11 by letting the wrong members come into our house. God bless them, we love them all, but if we bid them God speed, we become partakers of their evil deeds.

     Now, I wouldn't want to be guilty of taking a scripture out of context, but the way some of our brethren handle the scriptures, perhaps they should take Matthew 5:30 and apply it to the piano player. "And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off." We would not need to be that cruel. We could just mash his finger so he could not play the piano. And then we would not have violated any of the scriptures.

     Tell us, Far Left, how far we can go in fellowship. Most of us can understand 1 Corinthians 5 and have no trouble excluding such a man. We can also understand 2 John and exclude those who confess not that Jesus is come in the flesh. But how are we to know when a man is a heretic (Titus 3:10)? How can we know who to mark and avoid in Romans 16:17? Or, how can we tell when a brother is walking disorderly, unless he is a busybody and will not work (2 Thess. 3:6, 11)? How can we know if a man is perverting the gospel (Galatians 1:7), unless he denies 1 Corinthians 15:1-4?

     Tell us, Middle-Of-The-Road, how close to the right can we go? How close to the left can we go? Let me ask again a real question. How wide is the middle of the road?

Ray Miller can be addressed at 1535 Burlington St., Billings, Montana 59102).