|
 When
I was a boy in school, if a pupil said, “2 + 2 = 5” he
was corrected, and sent to his desk for further study. Now, he
might start a student protest, and argue his right to make his
own rules of mathematics. I have no desire to restrict personal
freedom, but I do not want him building my house with his ruler.
A
case in point is a crude mimeographed tract, recently received,
in which the writer argues that the use of “Oaks—West” or
even “Burnet” before “Church of Christ” denotes ownership
of that church, and that this “profanes the name.”
The man is to be pitied. He evidently thinks “CHURCH OF CHRIST”
is THE divinely ordained formal designation for God’s people,
and overlooks his own citation of “church of God” (1 Cor.
1:2). (See “household of faith” Gal. 6: 10, or most
frequent, simply “the church.”
The
genitive “of” denotes possession in the expression “church
of Christ” and could as well be stated, “Christ’s church.”
(Incidentally, the word “church” before Christ does
not “profane” the name of Christ.) And “churches of the
Gentiles” (Rom. 16:4) does not mean the churches belong
to the Gentiles, but consist of such. In Rom. 16:1 “the
church which is
|
|
at Cenchrea” (greek has “in”- dative) simply denotes
location. Neither in the Greek nor English does the “before”
or “after” position denote possession or “profaning”
— but then, we do not expect the writer of the tract to
understand that. He is operating by his own private rules of
grammar. (?)
Reminds
us of the fellow who petitioned the court for a divorce, and the
judge asked, “Do you have any grounds?” He replied, “Just
a few acres in the country.”
“I
mean, do you have a grudge?” the judge explained.
And
the man answered, “No, I just have a carport.”
I
believe in man’s freedom and obligation to think for himself;
but this does not free him from the absoluteness of truth. He
may become a slave to his own ignorance. And, some learn just
enough to get confused. We heard of some hogs that were taught
to come for food when the farmer beat on a tree with a stick.
Came spring, and a family of woodpeckers moved into the woods,
and drove them crazy.
[Previous
Article] [Next
Article]
|
