Source: The Evangelist, December 28, 1899, p. 17. Link.
The rise of the Mormon Church took place in the early part of the century, at the time of the great religious awakening. The young man, Smith, who afterwards claimed the gifts of a prophet, spent his boyhood in idleness. The story of his book of Mormon is familiar history. The work is a tissue of most improbable and contradictory statements, interlarded with quotations from the Bible, sometimes whole chapters. It was undoubtedly the work of Sydney Rigdon, who had been a minister in the Christian Church.
Following the issuance of the book of Mormon, on the title page of which Joseph Smith was announced as “Author and proprietor,” the Mormon Church was organized, April 6, 1830. Though making extravagant claims, its organization was at first very simple.
The whole enterprise was, however, conceived in falsehood and developed in fraud. Many of the early members left the church in disgust, or were cut off from it because of their attempt to correct certain vices which had become a part of the organization.
Yet the strength and development of Mormonism may be readily accounted for. The doctrine of “Continuous Revelation” is the taproot of the whole system. From this source is drawn the authority to make any changes in the system which the exigency may make necessary. Once concede that such a man as Joseph Smith or Brigham Young is “The Prophet, Seer and Revelator;” that he is “the mouth-piece of God;” that he speaks with divine authority; that, as Mr. Roberts says, “he is in reality a part of God,” and the foundation is laid for this stupendous system.
The development of this doctrine of “Continuous Revelation” has subjugated the entire people of the Mormon Church to the will of one man, or at most to the will of that man and his two counselors.
Did Joseph want a luxurious home for himself? He only needed to get a “thus saith Lord,” ordering certain brethren of the church to form a joint stock company and build the house “for my servant Joseph and his posterity forever.” That revelation came in such precise terms as to mention the names of the men thus commanded of the Lord.
Did he wish to clothe himself with divine authority to command the people and “lord it over God’s heritage?” He had no difficulty in getting a revelation instituting the order of the priesthood and clothing it with the power that belongs to God.
When it was discovered in the church that he had fallen into licentious practices, imperilling his character and position, and threatening the disruption of his family and the church, he again had recourse to revelation. True, the book of Mormon, of which he announced himself “the author and proprietor,” three times denounced polygamy and concubinage as abominable and sinful, yet he found no difficulty in getting a revelation from the Mormon God (who is Adam), both approving and authorizing polygamy. Why not? According to further revelation God is a progressive being. He is constantly gaining information. He is learning new things, and what was wrong and “abominable” for David and Solomon he has now discovered to be right for Joseph and Brigham.
In this doctrine of “continuous revelation” lie the germs of all the power of the Mormon Church. This doctrine has furnished designing men authority to construct one of the most thoroughly organized and compacted pieces of ecclesiastical machinery the world has ever seen.
It has adopted a religion suited to every demand of depraved human nature, a religion calculated to sweep into its folds the vicious, the ignorant, the superstitious—every man who wants a religion that will allow him full liberty to live according to his lusts. Mormonism is a mixture of Buddhism, of Mohammedanism, Confucianism, Paganism, Jesuitism, old Judaism. It teaches the doctrine of salvation by merit as thoroughly as Buddhism. The fleshly lusts of Mohammedanism foul the system. It teaches ancestral worship as does Confucianism. The polytheism of the pagans runs through it. The chicanery of Jesuitism has marked its course. It repeats the ceremonies of old Judaism in many things—burdened with rites, ceremonies, and oaths.
The aims of this ecclesiastical immorality are only equaled by its assumptions. This nondescript is masquerading before the world as the only true religion, claiming the right to overthrow all governments, to make constitutions, appoint kings, presidents and all rulers.
Where is its power? In the assumption that it is continually receiving revelations—that God is in and back of its organization, that he is the author of all its dicta. Human responsibility among the masses is at an end. It has been handed over to a priesthood clothed with divine wisdom and power and assumes to be acting for God, as God and “is God.”
The numerical strength of the Mormon Church is not certainly known. It is probably between 250,000 and 300,000. It comprises about three-fourths of the population of Utah, and holds the balance of power in Idaho and Wyoming. It is rapidly colonizing in Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada, and confidently expects to dictate terms to the politicians of that region. The church is counting on determining who shall be the twelve senators from those six states when New Mexico and Arizona come into the Union.
The Christian Churches have a large duty to perform to these deluded people. They should inform themselves therefore concerning conditions in Utah, and courageously meet the exigencies of the hour.
Source: The Evangelist, October 26, 1899, p. 8. Link.
Somewhat over a year ago, an appeal was made by the American Tract Society for special aid in behalf of its colportage work in Utah. In response to that appeal, several Christian Endeavor Societies united in furnishing the funds necessary for the equipment of a Gospel colportage wagon. Other help was generously given, and the result of this united effort is thus expressed in the last annual letter of our valued colporter, Mr. George D. Peacock.
George D. Peacock
“The colportage wagon, which is fitted out with mattress, cooking apparatus, and utensils, tent and such other conveniences as go to make up a first-class traveling equipage, will greatly facilitate carrying on our work. Heretofore much of my work has been along railroad lines, and I have been greatly hampered for lack of facilities for reaching the ‘out-of-the-way places.'”
By means of the colportage wagon, Mr. Peacock has traveled hither and thither, scattering tracts, leaflets, and books, and preaching the word of truth wherever opportunity has offered. Meantime he has been busy with the camera, and the accompanying pictures are but a few of many that have been taken to illustrate his work for the Tract Society.
Gospel Colportage Wagon
As to his methods Mr. Peacock writes:
“Until within the last six months, my work has been along railroad and stage coach lines and places easy of access. The same is true of all missionaries at work in Utah, which means that a large percentage of the people living in remote parts have not Gospel privileges nor have they been supplied with Bibles and Christian literature.
“I opened my first campaign with the new colportage equipage the first of last May, in company with the Rev. Dr. Wishard, the Rev. E. S. Anderson, and the Rev. G. W. Martin.
Our Gospel party set out from Salina, Utah, on a bright May morning, and as we had planned to open our campaign at St. George, Utah, a distance of two hundred and fifty miles, had to be covered. I think words are inadequate to describe the wild, barren and isolated regions through which one travels en route to the ‘Dixie of Utah.’ The St. George road traverses a few productive valleys, then over that great Tushar range whose summit towers up twelve thousand feet above sea level, through the narrows of Clear Creek Cañon, with perpendicular cliffs a thousand feet high on either side, then over a dreary desert waste, and at last over a volcanic range, from whose summit a rapid descent of thirty-three hundred feet in a distance of four miles, brings us to St. George.
“In two days our tent is pitched and seated and everything ready for a series of meetings to last through five weeks. By this time, our plan was discovered by the Mormon officials and we were written up in an editorial in the Deseret News (the church organ). We were soon followed by the First Presidency and some other officials of the Mormon Church, who came down to Southern Utah, to keep their brethren from ‘going astray,’ as they called it. They did not hamper our work, however. Our tent meetings were a success beyond all expectation. Great crowds came night after night, and joined heartily in the singing of Gospel hymns.
“I went on day after day, with my house-to-house visitation, everywhere distributing tracts and bound volumes, praying with the people, and encouraging them to continue in attendance at the meetings.
“I had been through Southern Utah on a colportage tour in the autumn of 1897. St. George was not a strange place to me, and many of the people remembered me, giving assurance that the good books distributed before had influenced them for good.
“Southern Utah, south of the ‘great basin rim,’ has an elevation of twenty-seven hundred feet, and is extremely hot, dry, and sandy; the valleys are narrow and deep; perpendicular walls of red sandstone and black basaltic rock rise up to great heights on every hand. Extinct volcanoes are numerous, and the cragged lava ridges run in every direction.
“The water is highly impregnated with minerals; the supply very inadequate for irrigation. It is amazing how people find a subsistence in such a country. Extreme poverty, ignorance, and immorality are very prevalent. Wine-drinking is indulged in to an appalling degree. Dancing, card-playing, and cigarette-smoking are the favorite ‘pastimes.’
“The first of last July found me in Parowan, Iron County. I left there on the morning of July 4 for Salina, Sevier County. The distance is one hundred and twenty miles, and I was three days on the road.
“One hundred miles of my route lay right along the west bank of the Sevier River. This river traverses several fertile valleys, separated now and then by chains of mountains, through which the Sevier River has cut deep cañons, whose precipitous walls on either side were several hundred feet high.
“There are a great many ranches and several little villages interspersed throughout the whole extent of the Sevier Valley. The people occupying these villages and ranches are nearly all Mormons. They are very illiterate and superstitious, as well as indolent and negligent in all their domestic affairs. They have but little money, and still less of the comforts of life. One does not have to ask these people if they are educated, if they like books, and if they love the flag. Their very houses—houses, for they cannot be called homes—and their surroundings, are sure indications of their condition.
“I visited many of these ranches. Many of the people were entirely without religious reading, and but few of them had even a Bible or a piece of a Bible.
“Such is the country and such is the condition of the people through Southern and Eastern Utah. Blessed work that will carry the Gospel in the ‘printed page,’ into these homes, that it may remain there permanently to accomplish that whereunto it has been sent!”
Since writing the above, Mr. Peacock has been actively engaged in the work of distributing Christian literature through Utah.
From The Messenger, courtesy American Tract Society.
An Appeal to Every True Presbyterian Interested in Higher Christian Education
The Sheldon Jackson College Salt Lake City, Utah
Solicits the aid of the entire Presbyterian Church in the U.S. of America, and proposes a novel plan for raising $250,000 and giving the donors full and valuable return for these subscriptions in home building sites in Salt Lake City.
Like “Bread cast upon the waters,” your charity is likely to return a hundredfold.
We want all true Presbyterians to give us not only their prayers and moral support but their financial assistance to build this College and aid in rooting out Mormonism, which all Presbyterians must feel is a menace to our Church in Utah, besides being a blot on the bright escutcheon of our enlightened civilization.
There is no place in the country where Presbyterian money will accomplish more for Christian education, by counterbalancing false religion, and giving Christian training to those who will eventually be controlling citizens in a half a dozen States, than by PLANTING A CHRISTIAN COLLEGE AT SALT LAKE CITY.
A Presbyterian College has already been planted here with the approbation of the General Assembly. That College, however, is more in name than reality. While it has its Faculty, and its first class almost ready to graduate, it has no college building. In order to make permanent the mission and educational work of our Church in Utah during the past, a complete Christian College outfit is an imperative necessity. The thousands of young men and women we have taken through the preparatory schools and academies of Utah, must either stop their studies at this point or be turned over to Mormon universities and to the immoral influence of the Mormon Church from which we have rescued them.
We Can and Must Rally Our Own People to the Work that God Has Laid Before Us and Prevent This Calamity.
The Proposed Sheldon Jackson Presbyterian College at Salt Lake City Utah
Officers: General John Eaton, LL.D., President Robert G. McNiece, D.D., Dean of Faculty Rev. Josiah McClain, Secretary Gull S. Peyton, Treasurer
Trustees of the College: Rev. S. E. Wishard, D.D., Rev. Geo. W. Martin, Seth H. T. Huse, Gill S. Peyton, Henry G. McMillan, Rev. Wm. M. Paden, D.D., Rev. Sheldon Jackson, D.D., Rev. C. M. Shepherd, V. M. Brown, Edward B. Critchlow, Joseph R. Walker, Rev. N. E. Clemenson, Robert G. McNiece, D.D., Rev. Josiah McClain, Col. Wm. M. Ferry, Walter Murphy (deceased), Albert S. Martin, Rev. Hugh B. McCreery, George Bailey, LL.B.
As is well known, the Mormon Church commences with the Kindergarten school to twist the minds of its little children with its false doctrines. Our missions and preparatory schools gather in many of these children, but for the lack of a Christian College, they are drawn back to the baleful influence of the Mormon universities.
With these facts in view, no Presbyterian in America can refuse us aid in the establishment of this College, knowing that it means the DIRECT SALVATION OF THOUSANDS OF SOULS that would otherwise be perverted to Mormonism.
WE GIVE YOU REAL ESTATE
A valuable piece of property adjoining the College has also been put at the disposal of the College. This has been sub-divided into city building lots. The value of these lots is from $150 to $400 each, according to size, location, etc. Irrigation privileges are included in the deed to the property.
THESE LOTS WILL BE DEEDED FREE OF ALL EXPENSE TO THOSE WHO WISH THEM, WHO DONATE TOWARDS THE BUILDING OF THE COLLEGE THE AMOUNT EQUAL TO THE VALUE OF A LOT.
If you desire to enroll your name among those who will contribute to this noble educational movement, the most practical and efficacious form of Home Missionary Work, SEND YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AT ONCE, and the Board of Trustees will present you with the best lots then remaining, in the order of precedence. As the number of lots is limited, and as there will no doubt be a great demand for them, it is advisable that your contribution reach us as soon as possible.
One of the principal reasons why these lots are presented by the Directors in exchange for subscriptions is the wish of the founders of the College to get as many Presbyterians as possible personally interested in this movement, and it is thought by giving them lots they will have greater personal interest than if they simply donated so much money outright.
All contributions will be immediately acknowledged in this paper.
Subscriptions should be sent by check, New York draft, or express orders to
Rev. THOS. GORDON, D.D. Financial Agent of the Sheldon Jackson College, No. 625 F Street, Washington, D.C.
SHELDON JACKSON COLLEGE.
In the future history of Utah this college will have an important part. Its origin is due to that large-hearted pioneer of our Church in the West, Dr. Sheldon Jackson, whose name it fitly bears. In May, 1895, he addressed the following letter to the Presbytery of Utah:
To the Presbytery of Utah:
Dear Brethren: Having in the good providence of God been the first Presbyterian minister to commence missions in Utah, I cannot help being deeply interested in the progress of the work you are so successfully carrying forward in the midst of such great difficulties.
I have sympathetically watched the growth of your school work and your efforts to crown that work with a Christian College. Such an institution seems so essential to the highest success of your efforts that I make you the following propositions:
1st. If the citizens of Salt Lake City will provide not less than fifty acres of land suitable as a site for such a college and in a location acceptable to the trustees of the same; and
2d. If the trustees of the proposed college will legally bind the same in its charter or otherwise (a) To make the Bible a regular text-book in the curriculum of studies. (b) To provide that the college can never be alienated from the work and doctrines of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, as set forth in the standards of said church;
(c) To provide that the institution shall be named and always continue to be known as the “Sheldon Jackson College;” (d) To provide that if at any future time these conditions shall be materially changed the property will be forfeited to the “Board of Aid for Colleges and Academies of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America,”
I will pledge myself and heirs to give towards the endowment of such a college the sum of $50,000, the same to be paid as soon as I can dispose of Washington (D.C.) City real estate to that amount.
I shall promise to raise and pay the salary (not to exceed $1,500 per annum) of the President of the college for a few years until other arrangements can be made, together with necessary traveling expenses for a year or two while he is at work upon an endowment.
Praying that you may have God’s blessing and with wisdom and direction of the Holy Spirit in the founding of the educational institution in the name and for the honor of the Lord Jesus Christ,
I remain your brother in Gospel work, (Signed) Sheldon Jackson.
The very next day the charter of a college was drawn up, and its incorporation shortly followed. The need of such an institution in Utah and the appropriateness of putting it in Salt Lake City hardly have to be argued.
Utah is soon to become, if not already, one of the greatest of the western states. She comes nearer being self-supporting in a greater variety of products than any other state in the Union. Professor Newberry, who formerly occupied the chair of Geology in Columbia University, and who has made several tours of exploration through this territory, stated that Utah has a larger amount and variety of mineral wealth than any other equal area in the United States. Everything indicates that Utah will soon be filled with a great population. Salt Lake City will soon have a population greater than Denver, Omaha, or Minneapolis have now. With this city as a center, and within a radius of four hundred miles lies about one-third of Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and Nevada. Within that circle our Church is not intruding upon ground already occupied by any other Christian College.
There ought to be a Presbyterian College here to secure and make permanent the important results of twenty-five years of extensive educational work by our church. During this time we have spent somewhere about $600,000 for educational work alone. We should have a college to complete the academic system which we have so thoroughly organized throughout the state. We have four academies in Utah, represented by substantial two-story brick buildings, costing on average not less than $12,000 each, and with over five hundred pupils, at Mt. Pleasant, Springville, Logan, and Salt Lake City, the latter the most beautiful and complete school building in Utah. This should in some way be identified with the college, as the preparatory department. In all our schools in Utah, we have not less than twenty-one hundred pupils, and including the states adjoining Utah, the number of our pupils is greatly increased. To have no college in such a centre as this leaves us to the remorseless logic that in our Christian educational work, we either do far too much, or we are not doing enough.
It is of the greatest importance that the friends of Christian education in the Presbyterian Church should establish a college here in order to avert the disaster of having Mormons control the higher education in this important new state. The University of Utah in Salt Lake City, is a Mormon institution, with a Mormon president and faculty, and more than five hundred students. The Agricultural College at Logan has the same Mormon equipment, and over two hundred and fifty students. The Brigham Young College at Logan, with one hundred and fifty students, and the Brigham Young Academy at Provo, with two hundred and fifty students, have the same Mormon outfit.
A Christian College here in Salt Lake City would have as its constituency the state of Utah with its three hundred thousand inhabitants; Idaho, with one hundred thousand inhabitants; Western Texas, Colorado, and New Mexico, with two hundred thousand more.
The General Assembly of 1897 made the following utterance: “The announcement of the opening of Sheldon Jackson College for instruction at Salt Lake City is full of encouragement to every Christian visitor, preacher, teacher in the state. We commend the keeping up of the high-grade work in Salt Lake Institute and the making of the Institute the preparatory department of the college.
Then we shall have on the ground a system of education for all who desire it, standing over against the headquarters of Mormonism. We recommend that in view of the enormous evil which now exists and threatens to invade the peace and purity of our population in Utah, and the surrounding states, that special and earnest efforts be made to arrange for aggressive movements in that section of the country, especially in establishing and maintaining schools. It is therefore for this college, in its needs, in its mission, that we make our earnest appeal to the loyal men and women of the great Presbyterian Church.”
The League for Social Service is publishing a series of Anti-Mormon leaflets which will enlighten the public mind as to the evils of this system of religion. The Rev. Josiah Strong, the President of the League, writes on the Political Aspects of Mormonism; the Rev. R. G. McNiece, D.D. treats of the Present Aspects of Mormonism, while the Articles of Faith of the “Latter Day Saints” with Mormon Explanations are compiled by the Rev. J. D. Mutling and the Rev. D. J. McMillan, D.D. There is also an Historical Sketch of Mormonism, by Dr. D. J. McMillan; Methods of Mormon Missionaries, by the Rev. William R. Campbell, and Ten Reasons Why Christians Cannot Fellowship the Mormon Church, issued by the Presbytery of Utah and endorsed by the Congregational and Baptist Associations of Utah. These can be obtained from the League for Social Service, 105 East Twenty-second street, for 35 cents a hundred or $3.50 a thousand.
A Plural Wife. — More than a year ago a teacher in the Primary department of one of the public schools in Utah was a plural wife. Later, the Superintendent declined to give her a certificate as she was a law breaker; but such a storm was raised that he found it convenient to yield and she is now re-instated as teacher. A number of pupils formerly in the mission school are now under her control. ‘Polygamy is taught and practiced. What a spectacle our glorious country presents to the world! A representative Christian nation, and yet Utah, one of its States putting up three different men for Congress by three different parties: Republican, a Mormon with one wife; Democrat, a Mormon with several wives; Populist, an infidel. For whom should a Christian vote?
“The Mormons are bold and defiant. They flaunt their falseness in the face of the people and say, “What are you going to do about it? Help yourselves if you can.” Let us pray mightily for God’s converting power to come upon this people.”
A Cry from Utah. — Rev. S. E. Wishard, D.D., Synodical missionary in Utah, pleads for help. He says: “Our eight vacant school buildings are the skeleton in the closet of our church here. We have learned that two are much more than twice one—a minister and a teacher are much more than twice as effective as either one of them alone. The teacher is indispensable in gathering the young people. Hence the closing of a school means much more than dismissing the pupils. It means a serious loss and crippling of the work. The Mormon power is asserting itself more vigorously than ever. The polygamists are coming to the front with no dread of public dishonor. These facts emphasize the importance of our mission work. Our hope is in the children. If they are handed over to the public schools in which Mormonism is taught, their bondage to the system will be perpetuated. Just so far as Christian education gets hold of their young lives, they are liberated and brought into sympathy with American institutions. Hence, every child into whose life the principles of religion and morality are poured becomes a factor for the final overthrow of the system. Thus even our smallest mission schools become of great importance. One child set right is invaluable in this contest; a few of them are above price. May this heart of our beloved country, about which the serpent has coiled, find a place, a larger place, in the sympathies of our church.”
The Encroachments of Mormonism. — It has been stated that “alarm concerning the progress of Mormonism is beginning to prevail in Ontario. In its political canvass the usual forecasting of the attitude of the religious interests was made, and the estimate based upon it, that before the year passes away there will be one hundred thousand avowed Mormons in the province, which is thought to be within the mark. It is said that meetings are being held in the small halls and school-houses, and that they are crowded with excited audiences, who are carried away by the eloquence of the Mormon missionaries. The method of operation seems to have been carefully planned, and the efforts have been successful beyond what can be easily credited by the average reader.”
This is all hard. I am thankful for many good years, but I grieve that you have gone down this path. I am committed to maintaining our friendship, but even that shifts in nature because of the spiritual rift.
As I said earlier, I don’t think LGBTQ / same-sex marriage affirmation is isolated. Marriage and male/female normative sexuality is an integral thread of the fabric of Christianity. To pull that thread out is to quickly unravel the whole cloth.
Its hermeneutic and attitude inevitably bring a package of different positions regarding the verbal inspiration of Scripture, the nature of obedient submission, the creation account and Conquest, the unity of the (c)atholic and historic church, proper shame, “mortification of the flesh,” hell, and atonement. This demonstrably plays out in openly LGBTQ-affirming denominations.
It calls into question the whole arc of the Bible, from protology to eschatology—from the prototype and archetype of Adam and Eve, to the dramatic words of Jesus in Matthew 19 during Holy Week, to the “anti-type” of marriage in Christ (the Groom) and the Church (The Bride). As Robert Gagnon puts it, “To convey the legitimacy of homoerotic unions, a different kind of creation story is needed—the kind of story spun by Aristophanes in Plato’s Symposium where an original male-male, female-female, and male-female are split.”
It celebrates what the Bible dramatically highlights as a sin. To be handed over to same-sex lusts is more than a basis for judgment. It is itself a judgment, according to Paul (Romans 1:23). “Same-sex marriage is good” is a modern variation of “Caesar is Lord,” an expression of a competing loyalty that reflects the spirit of the age—an offering of incense to the cultural gods.
For all these reasons, it is tragically schismatic, unbiblical, and unnatural. I lament that.
I will struggle against it—its claims, its attitudes, its cultural currents, and the spiritual forces behind it—for as long as I live. It grieves me to oppose you in this regard.
Let me be upfront with you: I will pray for you as a prodigal or heretic who should repent and submit your heart, will, and intellect under God’s word. “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him.” (Leviticus 19:17)
I still hope to enjoy other affinities that God has given us, and to maintain good rapport and long-term friendship.
On August 3, 2022 I posted to friends about an idea to fix up and revamp UtahChurches.org and redirect it to UtahChurches.com:
I’d like to encourage Christians to use it more in their evangelistic encounters. The big idea is to help Utahns simply know what churches are available to them, and to use the site as a way of being invitational and informational as we continue to share the gospel message.
Inviting people to church doesn’t replace evangelism, but we want to make disciples that thrive in local churches.
A lot of Christians in Utah are only aware of 2-3 churches around them. Knowing what other Christian fellowships exist is a tremendous benefit to our shared sense of Christian identity and mission in Utah. It also helps us “persevere in supplication for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:18).
Mormons are even *less* familiar than Christians with what evangelical churches are available to them.
There also are some small Christian churches that are bad at marketing, and I believe this would be a blessing to them.
My list tries to include what I call “reasonably evangelical” churches, yet excludes some on the basis of things like reckless charismata or egalitarianism or other known comparable issues.
The list does not equate to full endorsement. I can also list some particular points of contact for people to get more specific recommendations.
Two years later and it is launched. It is almost entirely automated from a collaborative Google Spreadsheet using Apps Script.
It is a labor of love from a number of volunteers who have been pouring over church data. It has been a joy getting to know the landscape of churches in Utah.
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” – Proverbs 9:10
“If a wise man has an argument with a fool, the fool only rages and laughs, and there is no quiet.” – Proverbs 29:9
Francis Schaeffer: “This is not a game I am playing.”
“I need to remind myself constantly that this is not a game I am playing.
“If I begin to enjoy it as a kind of intellectual exercise, then I am cruel and can expect no real spiritual results.
“As I push the man off his false balance, he must be able to feel that I care for him. Otherwise I will only end up destroying him, and the cruelty and ugliness of it all will destroy me as well.
“Merely to be abstract and cold is to show that I do not really believe this person to be created in God’s image and therefore one of my kind.”
—Francis Schaeffer, The God Who Is There (1968), in Francis A. Schaeffer Trilogy (Westchester, IL: Crossway, 1990), 138.
Gregory of Nazianzus: “It is a serious undertaking.”
“Discussion of theology is not for everyone, I tell you, not for everyone—it is no such inexpensive or effortless pursuit. Nor, I would add, is it for every occasion, or every audience; neither are all its aspects open to inquiry. It must be reserved for certain occasions, for certain audiences, and certain limits must be observed.”
Not for the impure
“It is not for all people, but only for those who have been tested and have found a sound footing in study, and, more importantly, have undergone, or at the very least are undergoing purification of body and soul. For one who is not pure to lay hold of pure things is dangerous, just as it is for weak eyes to look at the sun’s brightness.”
Not for every occasion
“What is the right time? Whenever we are free from the mire and noise without, and our commanding faculty is not confused by illusory, wandering images, leading us, as it were, to mix fine script with ugly scrawling, or sweet-smelling scent with slime. We need actually “to be still” in order to know God, and when we receive the opportunity, ‘to judge uprightly’ in theology.”
Not for the unserious
“Who should listen to discussions of theology? Those for whom it is a serious undertaking, not just another subject like any other for entertaining small-talk, after the races, the theater, songs, food, and sex: for there are people who count chatter on theology and clever deployment of arguments as one of their amusements.”
Not with excess
“What aspects of theology should be investigated, and to what limit? Only aspects within our grasp, and only to the limit of the experience and capacity of our audience. Just as excess of sound or food injures the hearing or general health, or, if you prefer, as loads that are too heavy injure those who carry them, or as excessive rain harms the soil, we too must guard against the danger that the toughness, so to speak, of our discourses may so oppress and overtax our hearers as actually to impair the powers they had before.”
– On God and Christ, The Five Theological Orations and Two Letters to Cledonius: St. Gregory of Nazianzus
The watershed question which put me down the path of congregationalism:
“Who holds the keys of the kingdom? The elders alone, or the gathered congregation?”
Elder-led (not elder-ruled) congregationalism in a nutshell holds that the gathered members of a local church (autonomous, i.e. not governed by outsiders) express required consensus for:
Members in
Members out
Officers in¹
Officers out
Consensus is also typically typically for changes to major church documents or church decisions, such as a general budget or building purchase.
A fully congregational church will vote on the removal of a member even after the member formally expresses resignation of membership.
An elder-ruled (not elder-led) church will shift most of the above to the sole decision of the elders, and reduce voting of the congregation to a mere affirmation of an existing decision (not mere recommendation) by elders.
Baptists are congregationalists in principle, even if somewhat inconsistent in practice.
“Bible churches” (by that name) tend to be elder-ruled, sometimes requiring congregational approval only for the addition of elders.
“The differences between polities tend to emerge when churches are unhealthy and not humble. A healthy and humble elder-rule church may look similar to a healthy and humble elder-led church because those elders are involving the congregation as they should. But you can feel the differences as soon as those churches move toward unhealthy.” (Andy Naselli)
–
1. Elders and deacons are officers.
Twelve Arguments for Congregationalism, by Jonathan Leeman
Here are twelve biblical reasons why I believe the keys of the kingdom belong jointly to the entire congregation, plus one extrabiblical background argument:
The final court of appeal in a matter of discipline, which is the highest authority in a church, is the church (Matt 18:17).
Jesus says that the church has the authority to make this assessment and judgment because it possesses the keys (Matt 18:18).
Jesus promises that his authoritative presence abides with two or three witnesses to his reign and to one another gathered in his name (Matt 18:20). This locates authority in a gathering. But to say that this promise applies to a gathering smaller than a church would divide a local church against itself and make the basic unit of kingdom authority something smaller than a church, or create churches inside of churches.
There is no mention of bishops or elders in Matthew 16, 18, or 28, nor does the New Testament give a single example of elders or overseers unilaterally exercising the keys.
The apostles treat the gathered congregation as something of an equal partner when selecting and affirming the seven proto-deacons.
Paul invokes the language of gathering with the authority of Jesus to act in Jesus’ name from Matthew 18:20 when he charges not only the leaders of the Corinthian church but the whole congregation to “hand this man over to Satan” (1 Cor 5:4–5). The judgment, to be clear, does not occur behind closed session doors.
Paul explicitly tells the whole congregation that it is their responsibility to judge (1 Cor 5:12).
Paul tells the Galatian churches that they should act as a check even on his apostolic authority when he departs from the gospel (Gal 1:6–9). They don’t need to go outside the system to resolve the problem.
Paul affirms that the decision of the “majority” was sufficient for removing a man from membership (2 Cor 2:6).
Churches can exist without elders (e.g., Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5).
Much of the New Testament is written to whole churches.
This explanation has the advantage of corresponding more closely with the Greek conception of an ekklesia, which involved an assembly of citizens who shared rule together and each had one vote, not an assembly of subjects.
One of those “aha!” connections you can’t unsee, summarized in five ways:
1. God’s secrets are the wellspring of his self-revelation.
2. God’s incomprehensibility is the foundation of our knowledge.
3. God’s exclusive knowledge of himself is the ground of our sharing in the knowledge of who he is.
4. The “unapproachable light” in which God dwells, “whom no one has ever seen or can see” (1 Timothy 6:16), is the very source of our illumination.
5. That God cannot be known except by revealing himself is the basis of our confidence and assurance.
A helpful analogy from Matthew Barrett:
“Like the sun you cannot look at God without going blind. And yet, we cannot see anything apart from the sun illuminating our way.”
More from Anselm:
“Truly, Lord, this is the inaccessible light in which You dwell. For truly there is nothing else which can penetrate through it so that it might discover You there. Truly I do not see this light since it is too much for me; and yet whatever I see I see through it, just as an eye that is weak sees what it sees by the light of the sun which it cannot look at in the sun itself. . . . O supreme and inaccessible light.” (Proslogion)
Moses:
“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” (Deuteronomy 29:29)
Jesus:
“No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” (Matthew 11:27)
Scott Swain:
“The knowledge, love, and beatitude of the blessed Trinity is unapproachably high and holy (1 Tim 6:16), hidden not because it is dark or arcane but because it is supremely luminous, supremely lovely—surpassing what human eyes can see or human hearts can imagine.”
Or as David simply puts it:
“In your light do we see light.” (Psalm 36:9)
See also:
“If you can comprehend it, it isn’t God.” (Augustine)
I Am Aaron Shafovaloff 