Tag: Church of Christ

Christian Worldview

The Commands of God versus the State

This entry is part 18 of 18 in the series The Church of Christ and World-Powers

A more baseless assumption, one more in direct conflict with God’s teaching, was never made by man, than the idea that when the civil authority commands the Christian to do something contrary to the law of God, and he does it, the responsibility rest upon the civil authority, and not on the individual who violates the laws of God at the behest of the civil ruler.

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History

Daniel Wadkins: A Preacher’s Profile

Elder Daniel Wadkins (1818-1883), biracial and born free, was a member of the Nashville Christian Church on Church Street (probably since 1844). Originally a farm laborer, he became a teacher’s assistant in 1833 when the first school for free blacks in Nashville was started. He began his own school in 1839.

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Christian Worldview

Ministers, Submission, and Partisanship

This entry is part 17 of 18 in the series The Church of Christ and World-Powers

“There is not a word of intimation in the Sacred Scriptures that indicate that it is the duty of any Christians to support, maintain, or defend any institution or organization of man, farther than a quiet, passive, but conscientious and faithful submission to its requirements, may have a tendency to sustain it. That submission he must render, not as a duty he owes to government on account of any virtue or merit it possesses, but as a solemn duty he owes to his Maker. This sense of duty to God connects him with all the governments and powers of the earth just alike. It permits him to become the partisan of none.”

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Christian Worldview

“Give Us a King”

This entry is part 16 of 18 in the series The Church of Christ and World-Powers

This article continues a series of weekly posts originally authored by David Lipscomb, an important figure in the Churches of …

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Christian Worldview

The Seen and Unseen Kingdoms

This entry is part 15 of 18 in the series The Church of Christ and World-Powers

In this entry, Lipscomb continues his thesis that ordinances of God are not all intended to be carried out by his set-apart people, the Church, using the examples of heaven and hell.

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Christian Worldview

Are States the Ministers of God?

This entry is part 14 of 18 in the series The Church of Christ and World-Powers

A common objection to the idea that the state is founded in rebellion against God is the language of the Bible describing various kings and leaders as “God’s servants” or “ministers”. Romans 13 can be included as one of these texts. But do such verses justify their actions?

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Christian Worldview

Does Romans 13 Justify Nero, Pharoah, or Nimrod?

This entry is part 13 of 18 in the series The Church of Christ and World-Powers

Lipscomb approaches the issue with a new tact this time around, and brings up Romans 13 in the process. He suggests that if Romans 13 is the justifying scripture for allowing Christians to participate in bloodshed, then “Nimrod and Abraham, Pharaoh and Moses, Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar, Paul and Nero, stand precisely upon the same footing as approved and accepted subjects [of God].” Of course, he says this is illogical, and we must reject the former premise.

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Christian Worldview

David Lipscomb Against Union Conscription

This entry is part 12 of 18 in the series The Church of Christ and World-Powers

This article continues a series of weekly posts originally authored by David Lipscomb, an important figure in the Churches of …

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Christian Worldview

David Lipscomb Against Confederate Conscription Acts

This entry is part 11 of 18 in the series The Church of Christ and World-Powers

Notable in this piece is the way in which Lipscomb and his co-authors argue for their firm non-violent stance. They are to “submit quietly” to the government save where submission would require violation of God’s law. Their view, of course, is that joining an army to kill would be a violation of God’s law. Would only Christians today see the wisdom in such a firm belief?

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Christian Worldview

The Spirit of the Church and of the World-Powers

This entry is part 10 of 18 in the series The Church of Christ and World-Powers

Having stridently argued for the position that the kingdoms of the world are not of God through both Old and New Testaments, Lipscomb now seeks to differentiate the particular spirit of the Church versus the world-powers.

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Christian Worldview

Babylon: The Archetype of the State

This entry is part 9 of 18 in the series The Church of Christ and World-Powers

We wish to call attention to the biblical use of the term Babylon. It is given in Scripture as the name of the first, and in many respects, the head of the world-governments. It is derived from Babel, and means confusion. In the early days of the human family, and even to the present time, among the ruder nations of the world, all names are significant. This is especially so of the Bible names. Adam, means of earth, hence, he that was made of earth was called Adam. So of Babylon, it means confusion, strife; therefore, that which especially introduced confusion and strife into the world, was termed Babylon.

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Christian Worldview

John’s Revelation and World-Powers

This entry is part 8 of 18 in the series The Church of Christ and World-Powers

Lipscomb now addresses the symbols in Revelation in greater detail, ultimately to level a scathing indictment of the 19th-century church. Some protestants interpret the “mother of harlots” as the medieval era Roman Catholic Church (Constantine and beyond). Fine, Lipscomb says, but who are the daughters of this harlot? Are they not the protestant churches?

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Christian Worldview

God’s Kingdom and the World’s Kingdoms are Separate

This entry is part 7 of 18 in the series The Church of Christ and World-Powers

This article continues a series of weekly posts originally authored by David Lipscomb, an important figure in the Churches of …

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Christian Worldview

Jesus’ Temptations and World-Powers

This entry is part 6 of 18 in the series The Church of Christ and World-Powers

This article continues a series of weekly posts originally authored by David Lipscomb, an important figure in the Churches of …

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Christian Worldview

The Church of God Among the Nations

This entry is part 5 of 18 in the series The Church of Christ and World-Powers

This article continues a series of weekly posts originally authored by David Lipscomb, an important figure in the Churches of …

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Christian Worldview

The Old Testament Kings and God’s Justice

This entry is part 4 of 18 in the series The Church of Christ and World-Powers

In our investigations we have found that God, at all times, kept a wide gulf of separation between his Jewish kingdom and subjects, and the world-institutions by which they were surrounded. No alliances—no af­filiations—no courtesies as equals with the man-governments or their subjects, were never engaged in without receiving a signal mark of God’s displeasure.

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Christian Worldview

Biblical Origins of Human Government

This entry is part 3 of 18 in the series The Church of Christ and World-Powers

This article continues a series of weekly posts originally authored by David Lipscomb, an important figure in the Churches of …

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Christian Worldview

God’s Provisions of Authority

This entry is part 2 of 18 in the series The Church of Christ and World-Powers

This article continues a series of weekly posts originally authored by David Lipscomb, an important figure in the Churches of …

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Christian Worldview

The Church of Christ and World-Powers

This entry is part 1 of 18 in the series The Church of Christ and World-Powers

This article begins a new series of weekly posts authored by David Lipscomb, an important figure in the Churches of …

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Christian Worldview

Christian Citizenship

I am currently conducting research in the Gospel Advocate, a journal of the Churches of Christ founded in the 1850s, …

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Culture

I used to think I was a social conservative…

I received an excellent question today from a new reader whom we will call D., and I thought it was …

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History

Alexander Campbell, Tolbert Fanning, David Lipscomb: A Nineteenth-Century Anti-War Triumvirate

A shorter version of this essay was presented at the 2013 Austrian Economics Research Conference at the Mises Institute. Alexander …

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