{"id":459,"date":"2006-03-20T22:39:55","date_gmt":"2006-03-20T22:39:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2006\/03\/thoughts_on_the.shtml"},"modified":"2021-05-29T02:46:46","modified_gmt":"2021-05-29T02:46:46","slug":"thoughts_on_the","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2006\/03\/thoughts_on_the.shtml","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts on the Unity Proposal"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nOK, I’ve read the proposal and the Q&A. Read it several days ago now. This is my 4th draft of my thoughts on it. I’m having a little trouble putting my thoughts into words, but tonight it finally hit me how I feel about it:
\nSad.<\/strong>
\nSad that we are not sucure in what we believe and so think that there is a need to put our doctrine on paper in order for it to be evident.
\nSad that we think that we need folks to sign the paper so we can be sure they are with us.
\nSad that the things we felt needed to be ratified are little different than the things we have been saying for years and years.
\nSad that we cannot just trust in God, the Holy Spirit and each other to produce unity and cooperation.
\nSad that we were afraid that the winds of change might blur the lines we had carefully drawn in the sand, so we re-drew them.
\nSad that there is now a line, and it seems that I have to pick one side or the other. Can I have a foot on each?
\nSad that ignoring the line puts me on one side of the line.
\nSad that we think that a signature on a document will make us any more unified than we are now.
\nSad that this will distract, even if only a little, from the real work of building unity in my local congregation.
\nSad that this may somehow hurt or hinder the new found spirit of cooperation between the ICOC churches in Ohio. I hope it does not, but I fear it may.
\nSad that unity is only for the ICOC, not for those outside it.
\nSad that we still seem to treat The Great Commission as The Greatest Commandment, which it is not. Ask Jesus, he knew which was which.
\nSad that we can’t seem to let secondary issues – like dating outside of the church, expectations of giving and attendance – be secondary issues. Instead we must elevate them to tests of fellowship, or at least tests of membership in the club.
\nSad that we continue to elevate our definitions of some Bible terms like by adding adjectives like ‘total’ to commitment and ‘baptized’ to disciple. They are redundant and only seem to be there to show that our understanding of these terms is different and perhaps better than yours.
\nSad that after the three years we’ve had to re-evaluate who are and what we are about, it turns out all we need to do is be a little kinder and gentler.
\nAs you might notice, I do not like this proposal. Moreover, I do not like the idea<\/em> of this creed-like proposal. Time will tell what it means for our churches.
\nBefore I finish, I want to make one thing clear. Do not mistake my pointed criticism of the proposal and the ideas in it for criticism of the men who wrote it. While we clearly come from very different perspectives on this issue, I respect the time and effort they put into it. Some, in different discussions on the proposal, have questioned their motives and suggested there is something else at work here. I don’t question their motives at all. I do not doubt that they entered into this with good intentions and sober and humble intentions. I don’t doubt that they did the best they could with prayer and much advice. I think we do them a disservice to publicly criticize their ideas and words, sometimes quite strongly, without acknowledging their sincere hearts.
\nI believe that they truly think that this will help bring our churches together. I suppose for those that sign on, that may be true. But, I believe, they will be further divided from those who do not. Maybe that doesn’t matter to those who sign. As I said, time will tell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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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 "Quiet Time Journal"","block_context":{"text":"Quiet Time Journal","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/quiet-time-journal"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":461,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2006\/03\/what_if.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":459,"position":1},"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. 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I can't explain it, it just\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Salguod.net stuff"","block_context":{"text":"Salguod.net stuff","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/salguod-net-stuff"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":486,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2006\/05\/its_decided.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":459,"position":3},"title":"It’s Decided","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"May 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, it is decided. After over a month of deliberate, open dialog, the Columbus Church of Christ will sign the unity proposal. While I am sad and disappointed in that decision, the process that lead to it tempers my emotions quite a lot. 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Now in my church family\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":578,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2006\/10\/the_unity_propo.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":459,"position":5},"title":"Unity Proposal Stuff","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"October 31, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Back in September the UP folk announced their work was done and it's on to the next step for the UP. (Yeah, I'm late on this, it's been in draft on my blog for around a month. Sorry.) 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