It
should not come as a surprise that a person that has experienced what Mr.
Simpson has would be bitter. And boy is he bitter! From the first page of this
book to the last, the author makes it unambiguously clear that he has a BIG problem with the CofC. His favorite
moniker for the members of the church is “Pharisee,” a word he probably used
about once per page (a slight exaggeration, but only slight). In my opinion,
bitterness and anger do not make for clear thinking, and this book is a very
good example of why that axiom is so true. It is evident that Mr. Simpson’s
personal feelings are constantly getting in the way of his argumentation and he
is so intent on showing the church’s faults, that he goes off the rails in many
of the “proofs” he puts forth to show why he is right. Perhaps the greatest
example of this problem is the fact that he constantly reminds the reader that
Jesus said “do not judge or you too will be judged” (Matthew 7:1), completely oblivious
to the context of the passage. Then too, it is rather amusing that he repeats
that refrain like a hammer hitting an anvil, but then proceeds to do that very
thing in his critique, at times going so far as to mock and insult the members
of the CofC.
Some
of you reading this will agree with many of the issues that I will mention in
connection with this review. Others will disagree forcefully, still holding to
the idea that the CofC is the only denomination where salvation is found and
that, if you belong to any other denomination, then you need to come to the “truth.”
As I mentioned above, there are issues raised by this book with which I am in
agreement, but I did not come to that conclusion because of the book. Over the
course of my 30 plus years of Christianity, I have sought to examine myself and
my thinking in light of the word of God. (2 Corinthians 13:5) In doing so, I
have embraced and abandoned many ideas because I have come to a better
understanding of what the Bible has to say about those issues. I am not of the
mind that the CofC is the only “true church.” The church is a universal body of
which the local church is only a small manifestation. I’m sure that some folks
will look upon that as heresy, but in my view the most important thing is to be
in agreement with what God has to say about any subject, even if that means we
have to be at odds with some of our brethren.
And
so, over the next several iterations of the blog I will endeavor to take a sober
look at this book and to attempt, to the extent possible, to point out the problems
with it. I do not do so in order to vindicate the CofC or to somehow make
myself feel better about being a member of that church. Rather, I do so in an
attempt to provide a fair counterbalance to this work which, unfortunately,
suffers from very shoddy argumentation and poor exegesis. There may be many
truths contained within its pages, but that does not give the author a reason
to engage in underhanded argumentation in order to buttress his arguments. If
you have good, solid arguments to make, they will stand boldly on their own
without you having to somehow prop them up with fallacious and extraneous
ideas. Until next time.
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