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This is from an interview transcribed in a Ketcherside book I just ran across called "In the Beginning."
Q: Has progress in restoration been as rapid in the last fifty years as before?
A: Not at all! Those who were the spiritual descendants of the men mentioned [Thomas Campbell, Alexander Campbell, Walter Scott, Barton W. Stone] made the mistake of thinking that they had taken them all the way back to the original, and thus have rested on their oars. They have spent much of the last half century trying to defend what they already have and wrangling with each other over what it is. As a result they have ceased to be a movement and have become a monument. A movement is ever changing. A monument stays where it is. It is visited by many to celebrate the accomplishment of dead heroes instead of living giants.
That's a pretty profound observation, I think. A monument stays where it is and is meant to celebrate past of accomplishments. It can do nothing but deteriorate with time. It glorifies the old paths forged by a previous generation, not the old paths described by the New Testament writers.
Another gem from the Ketcherside interview
Q: What has been the end of all previous reformation and restoration attempts?
A: Every such attempt has invariably ended by producing another sect, generally more narrow, intolerant and uncharitable than those which have preceded it. As men concentrate on what they have discovered, they build a wall around it to protect it. All sectarianism is built upon fear--a fear of losing what has been gained. It is a strange phenomenon that when one learns something and leaves where he is to embrace it, it is being faithful to the Word, but when another learns something he has not discovered, and goes on to accept it, he is departing from the faith.
I especially see the truth in the idea that sectarianism is built upon a fear of losing what has been gained. While I understand that natural human tendency, I think we need to overcome it, not cherish it. We are free agents to grow and learn the truths that God has laid down for us, and we will never grow to where God wants us to be if we are kept in the coral of someone else's conscience.
Another clip from the interview
Q: It would probably take too long to enumerate all ten of these [areas that need further investigation to effectuate the restoration], but I wonder if you might mention a few of them which you consider to be of greater importance.
A: The means of induction into Christ....The idea of a personal covenant with the Lord, based upon conviction, conversion and consecration is almost foreign to our thinking. The concept of a covenant with God is wholly unknown to thousands among us. The congregations are filled with many who were converted to water baptism but were never converted to the Lord Jesus Christ. They have confused the physician with his prescription, the captain with his orders, and the sower with his seed. Immersion in water is essential. But we should be immersed not because we believe in baptism but because we believe in Jesus. We have but one Savior. It is not a rite, ritual or ordinance, but entrance into a divine person.
And another
Q: What do you consider the greatest hindrances to resumption of the restoration movement?
A: There are a number of hindrances. One is prejudice. Someone has said, "Reasoning against a prejudice is like fighting against a shadow; it exhausts the reasoner, without visibly affecting the prejudice." We are generally opposed to anything which cuts across our thinking, and we condemn it without investigation. It seems ridiculous that anything could possibly be right if we have not known it.
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