JULY EDITION...2018... WONDERFUL WORDS OF LIFE
Dr. Keith J. Wise
Introduction: July is a time of beginnings of some lazy days, days of outside fun and remembering how we got our county and its freedom. Many are getting various kids of harvest from the family garden and we are continuing to pray for our nation as we consider the birth of a great destiny. We will say something about it as we go through this edition of Wonderful Words of Life.
DIGGING DEEPER... Last of the Campbell Debates- Campbell-Rice Debate
This last of the celebrated debates of Campbell come in the years of 1842-43. To properly understand the context of all these debates we must once again recall their subject matter and their place. In the Walker debate Campbell argued as a Baptist. Against McCalla he also argued as a Baptist. Against Owen he championed Christianity against infidelity. In the Purcell debate he argued as a Protestant challenging the "antichrist" of Catholicism as he called it. Finally, he debates Rice as a champion of this movement to restore New Testament Christianity.
This debate is interesting in that it is the most documented debate in the arsenal of debates of Campbell. The debates covers such subjects as baptism, the Holy Spirit, and creeds. As we already noted in these debates; in a broad sense neither contestant came away with a clear-cut victory. The Presbyterians began losing large numbers of adherents to the then named "Campbellites" after the publication of the debate and Campbell's earlier reputation. Later, Campbell picked up the rights and published this debate on a broader scale.
In an interesting turn of events of this debate, the Presbyterians approached Campbell during a Kentucky trip in 1842. They knew his background was Presbyterian and admired some of his thinking and processes. Campbell justly assumed their motives and began correspondence with a C.H. Brown of Richmond, Kentucky. Campbell desired to debate John C. Young, President of Center College in Richmond. However, the Presbyterians after receiving a rejection from Dr. Robert J. Breckinridge of Center College, rolled out N.L. Rice, a Presbyterian minister from Paris, Kentucky. The Presbyterians regarded this young minister having been a graduate of Princeton Seminary in 1829.
Campbell traveled to Lexington, Kentucky in August of 1843 to complete the details of the debate. The debate's propositions were as follows.
1. The immersion in water of a proper subject, into the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, is the one, only apostolic or christian <sic> baptism.
2. The infant of a believing parent is a scriptural subject of baptism.(Rice affirms)
3. Christian baptism is for the remission of sins.
4. Baptism is to be administered only by a bishop or ordained presbyter. (Rice affirms)
5. Human creeds, as bonds of union and communion, are necessarily heretical and schismatical.
The debate begin in the building of Lexington's Main Street Christian Church on September 15, 1843. Edward Sawyer in his work "Campbell-Rice Debate," Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004), p. 145 reports that Christians of the Restoration Movement outnumbered the Presbyterians five to one at this point in time in Kentucky.
The debate opened with the discussion of the mode of baptism. Campbell referenced the Council of Ravenna in 1311 and gives the impression that the Roman Church up to this point immersed as its primary mode of baptism. Campbell sited this counsel but it was by this time in the Roman Church that any number of modes were being using in Europe among their Diocese: Sprinkling, Pouring, Immersion. Rice responded with the old Zwinglian arguments that the mode meant nothing only repentance. Calvinistic teaching had been that baptism was an outward sign of in inward grace already taken place. Campbell's drive force were the examples of New Testament conversion. Biblical examples would be used in the Restoration Model of Christian Baptism in water "for the remission of sins" (Acts 2:38)
This debate ended with some clarity for the Christians of the Restoration Movement and continued losses for the Presbyterians. However, the debate is so well documented that my simple blog will not carry all the discussion. Later Campbell's friend Barton W. Stone continued to discuss the issues of the work of the Holy Spirit, the Lord's return, and other subjects that clarified and simplified the debates of the past.
DID YOU KNOW... The Hittites Did Get Around
Moses said, "The Hittites...dwell in the mountains" (Numb.13:29). The writer of Chronicles reported, "...so brought they out horses for all the kings of the Hittites" (2 Chron. 1:17). When the Syrians attacked Samaria the Lord made them to hear the noise of chariots and horses and they said, "Look, the king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!" (II Kings 7:6). Joshua refers to "all the land of the Hittites" as some of the boundary lines of the promise (Josh. 1:4). These are about four of the forty or so references to this nation many early critics used to say were mythological people. However, within the last hundred years all these views have been rejected by modern, scientific Archaeology.
One example of this was Hugh Winckler who went to Boghazkoi in central Turkey and there examined what had been the capital of the ancient Hittite empire. He found over 10,000 clay tablets, among them was a military treaty made between the Hittites and the Egyptians about 1300B.C. In 1911 the British museum began excavations in the city of Carchemish, and important center of the ancient Hittite empire. Near an old palace gate the archaeologists discovered a statue made of black stone. It represented a Hittite god sitting upon lions. The Hittite royal family is shown on a wall panbel as they go forth to meet a victorious Hittite army. The armies of the Hittites and the Egyptians are represented in Scripture ina somewhat equal way (2 Kings 7:6-7). Asn empire the Hittites conquered the land of Canaan but from and early dat it is evident that local tribes settled in various places.
It is known from the archaeological discoveries that the army of the Hittite empire had become powerful through the development of new weapon, the light, horse-drawn chariot. Thus a famous battle between the Hittites and Egyptians was inevitable. In 1286 B.C. at Kadesh, Ammonite capital in central Syria, the battle took place. The Hittites concealed themselves from the Egyptians scouts and with their chariots they attacked the Egyptians in a surprise raid. Had help not come to the Egyptians, they would have been destroyed. Such were the influence and power of the Hittites. Today, we know they extended over the western Mediterranean in settlements as well as in modern day Turkey through an established traditional kingdom state. Thus, when we hear of Abraham dealing with Hittites, it is not out of historical context.
We must remember, although the Bible is not primarily a history book, when it speaks historically it will eventually be found correct. It is somewhat difficult for modern trained skeptics to embrace such profound truths. However, be not dismayed the word of God will endure forever.
NUGGETS OF NOURISHMENT... The Need for an American Revival...
A number of years ago, Joe Wright who was to open a new session of the Kansas Senate shocked and informed that distinguished gathering with the following stirring prayer. It has since been copied and used around the world.
"Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and seek your direction and guidance. We know your Word says, 'Woe on those who call evil good and good evil' but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and have inverted our values. We confess that:
We have ridiculed the absolute truth of your Word and called it pluralism. We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism. We have endorsed perversion and called it alternative lifestyles. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionist and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem. We have abused power and called it political savvy. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pronography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
Search us, O God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of Kansas, and who have been ordained by you to govern this great state. Grant them the wisdom to rule, and may their decisions direct us to the center of your will. I ask it in the name of your Son, the Living Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen."
HOW TO BE A HERO IN AMERICA... A JULY 4th THOUGHT
When now deceased Astronaut John Glenn of Ohio was a boy in New Concord, Ohio, he was inspired to become a pilot by the daring flyers who raced, barnstormed, and stuntmen at the Bendix Air Races in Cleveland. One of the nation's pioneer pilots was a particular hero of Glenn's-- Roscoe Turner. Turner who in later years got in touch with Glenn in Washington wrote down eight requisites for heroism. Consider these:
1. Vision and Foresight.
2. Courage.
3. Self-confidence.
4. Believe in God.
5. Willingness to make any sacrifice, including life.
6. Honesty with yourself and others.
7. Letting nothing interfere with the objective.
8. Living each day as though it were the last.
