{"id":169,"date":"2004-07-15T12:42:43","date_gmt":"2004-07-15T12:42:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2004\/07\/questions_on_fu.shtml"},"modified":"2021-05-29T02:48:43","modified_gmt":"2021-05-29T02:48:43","slug":"questions_on_fu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2004\/07\/questions_on_fu.shtml","title":{"rendered":"Questions on Fundamentals I"},"content":{"rendered":"

VirusDoc asks some good questions in the comments of my previous post<\/a>. Rather than answering them there, I felt that they were worthy of their own post(s). Because I can’t seem to write short posts, I’ll answer them over the next few postings. I’ll start with #4:
\nWhy do _you_ feel such a deep need for Christian unity?<\/b>
\nBecause I’ve experienced it, or at least something very much like it. As I explained earlier<\/a>, my church once took some pretty radical stands on some things over the years. One of those things was unity. Our churches were united and codependent in a powerful way. This sprung out of several things, the prominent position of discipling for one and the belief in ‘one true church’ for another. Both of those ideas took some rather unfortunate turns over the years and as a result the foundations of what we called ‘unity’ were shaken. Discipling turned from love into authority and control and the idea of ‘one true church’ morphed into ‘we’re the one true church.’ But the unity that we had between churches was amazing.
\nAs an example, in 1991 I was a Senior at the University of Cincinnati and about to go to NYC on my last quarter of co-op employment. I was going to need an apartment in Manhattan for 3 months. I simply called the church office for the NYC Church of Christ and told them I was coming and asked if there was anyone I could stay with. They hooked me up with a household where one of the brothers was leaving for the same 3 months to go work on the beginnings of the Big Dig project in Boston. His 4 roommates took me in as if I was someone they’d known for years. Not only that, but because this guy would have had to pay his full share of the 2 bedroom apartment’s rent (his share was $450 if I remember right), he volunteered to let me stay there for the same rent I was paying in Cinci – $150 a month – and he picked up the rest. That was for an Upper East Side<\/i> apartment (83rd and Lexington).
\nThis is how we operated, period. We were a family and it was expected that you’d act that way. This was not an isolated incident. I experienced this kind of open hospitality regularly from different congregations and people. We’d go to conferences in other cities and the members of those congregations would put us up for the weekend, having never met us before. Not on the hide a bed, no they’d<\/i> take the hide a bed and we’d get their bed.
\nIsn’t this the ideal of Christian unity that many today blow off as unobtainable? This reminds me of what I see in the NT (Acts 2:44-45):<\/p>\n

All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/i>This is how God’s church looked in the beginning, and I think it’s how it should look today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VirusDoc asks some good questions in the comments of my previous post. Rather than answering them there, I felt that they were worthy of their own post(s). Because I can’tRead More Questions on Fundamentals I<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nQuestions on Fundamentals I - salguod.net<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2004\/07\/questions_on_fu.shtml\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Questions on Fundamentals I - salguod.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"VirusDoc asks some good questions in the comments of my previous post. 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Last week some 30 college students from 3 or 4 churches in Virginia and Ohio came to spend their spring break in Columbus, sharing their faith on the campus of Ohio State. This week there\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "God and Church"","block_context":{"text":"God and Church","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/god-and-church"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":389,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2005\/09\/dj_on_church_un.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":169,"position":1},"title":"DJ on Church Unity","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"September 26, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"I know I said I would be rather quiet for a while, but I just spent my lunch hour reading an excellent article and thought I should share it with you. Douglas Jacoby has displayed on his web site a link to an article entitled Unity on Three Levels for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "God and Church"","block_context":{"text":"God and Church","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/god-and-church"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":381,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2005\/09\/responses_1.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":169,"position":2},"title":"Responses","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"September 5, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, the church leaderships are responding to Kip, to the LA proposal or both toghether. So far, only one has signed onto the LA proposal (more on that later.) I must say, overall I am encouraged. What I feared might become a landslide into the past does not seem to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "God and Church"","block_context":{"text":"God and Church","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/god-and-church"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":461,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2006\/03\/what_if.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":169,"position":3},"title":"What If …","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"March 23, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Please keep in mind that I'm still having issues with the site. Your comment will likely generate an error page, but it should go through. Please hit back and refresh to check before re-submitting your comment (you might want to compsose your words in another program so they aren't lost).\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "God and Church"","block_context":{"text":"God and Church","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/god-and-church"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":582,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2006\/11\/community.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":169,"position":4},"title":"The Value of Community","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"November 4, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"UPDATE: Dan's series is complete, the full list of links is here. Dan at Cerulean Sanctum has a great series going on the value of Christian Community. I think his point is spot on, that community is a very low priority in many, if not most, churches. He stated in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "God and Church"","block_context":{"text":"God and Church","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/god-and-church"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":501,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2006\/06\/alan_on_our_sha.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":169,"position":5},"title":"Alan on Our Shared History","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"June 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Alan, on his blog Christian Unity, has just wrapped up an excellent series on the beginning of the division that now, unfortunately, characterizes the restoration movement. It was an education in where we come from that I am grateful for. 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