Mind Of The Brethren

"I enjoy the Guardian very much, although I do not agree with the way many things are said therein. Many, no doubt, would be better if they were not said. However, I am not receiving any religious paper about which I would not say the same thing. And I do appreciate the policy of the Guardian in printing both sides of an issue. I wish others would wake up to the same fairness."

James P. Needham, Maury City, Tenn.

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Yours in the fight for Christ,

"I am sure you must be swamped with letters and manuscripts to read, but I do want to write to say that I appreciate the Guardian. It is my conviction that you are right in your opposition to the tendencies toward combinations and centralizations. I like too the sincerity of your convictions, the earnestness of your fight, and the spirit in which the fight has been waged. No one has fought harder for a principle while manifesting less bitterness in doing so.

"In brother Hines' article, "You Name It," (July 26 Guardian) there is something I wish to comment on. He suggested, "Humming at the time of singing is on a par with the use of the organ while singing." Well, maybe that is a bit drastic, but I had about as soon have one as the other. It may be that "when you hum you are singing with your mouth shut," but you can "teach and admonish" about as much with an organ as you can with your mouth shut. One brother said to me, "We do not use the organ because it is man-made; but God made the human voice." Well, I think God is not displeased when we used something man has made so long as we do with it what God has told us to do. But we can use an instrument made by God, and gain His disapproval if we do with it something that His commandment forbids or excludes."

Yours truly, W. Clyde Poplin, Santa Rosa, Calif.

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"Hope it won't be too long till you correct some of the scriptural errors advanced by brother Wright in his recent articles."

—C. E. Flanagan, Rising Star, Texas

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"I'm enjoying the Guardian because I believe it to be sound and faithful in its stand on issues that come up. I quit taking the Advocate or sending it to anyone because of its growing softness doctrinally.

"Since moving to the West Coast I have been worried for fear Lipscomb College might go the way Pepperdine College has gone. So many of Lipscomb's teachers have been here, and left Pepperdine without making any statement at all as to the conditions existing here. They thereby let trusting and uninformed Christians send their children to Pepperdine, thinking the teachers are sound. This is what happened to me here as well as to many others. Somehow, too, I can't escape an uneasy feeling about the importance and stress that is being put on the matter of "buildings" over the country generally. Seems as though since ours is a "spiritual house," there ought 'not to be quite so much importance attached to the "three tabernacles" Peter wanted to build.

"I visited in Nashville some months ago and a certain brother told me that, 'brother Cope showed a fighting disposition in the pulpit all the time, and the church got tired of it.' That statement did not sound like previous statements from this brother in years of the past. I'm already sending him the Guardian. He has worked so hard for the church for so many years, it would break my heart to see him get side-tracked now. If we quit fighting false doctrine, I fear for the church and the next generation of elders."

Sincerely and fraternally, Dana Hayes, Los Angeles, Calif.

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"It appears that little help is forthcoming from the general run of papers in the brotherhood on the issues now threatening the church. A definite trend toward dangerous thinking leads many to have the wrong attitude. How much better off are folks who learn and obey the first principles, and then do their benevolent work and their mission work (so-called) exactly as our digressive brethren do? In one congregation I know A.C.C. gets nearly all their money, and they have little or nothing left with which to preach the gospel. (For details write Austin Taylor, Uvalde.) We wish to encourage you and others who are standing against the popular tide. About all we can do is individually to seek to do the right thing, in spite of what others may do."

Sincerely, Edgar Furr, Natalia, Texas

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"Brother Wright has, in my way of thinking, never touched top, side, nor bottom of the controversy over missions as applied by Lubbock, Memphis, and others and the position occupied by the Gospel Guardian and their writers. I have failed to note anywhere in the articles that have appeared in the Guardian any disposition to oppose or condemn churches cooperating in mission work or benevolent work, but rather the controversy is over the fact that Lubbock and the other churches seem to have conceived the idea of taking over and sponsoring such work for other congregations, and thus becoming some sort of super elders with better and more far-reaching vision than smaller groups could or did possess.

"We will never get away from the fact that any work any congregation determines to do of themselves that is larger than their ability is too large, and any work that does not include all force and ability of the entire congregation is too small. Congregations may cooperate at any time the need arises, but no one congregation can justify themselves to be "trustees" of that work."

— A. B. Carter, Mt. Dora, Florida

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"I thoroughly enjoy the Guardian. Of course, I do not always endorse everything that is published, but I do appreciate the fairness of the paper and the firm stand it has taken against many things that are destined to destroy the integrity and the independency of the churches unless checked.

"It surely would be stimulating to see some good articles published dealing with recreation, entertainment, and secular programs. I am grateful for the space that has been devoted to these problems. However, I still think there is a great need for teaching along these lines."

Fraternally, Dean Bullock, Grand Saline, Texas

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"I do not want to miss a single copy of the Guardian.

You brethren are doing a great and much needed work.

May you be blessed with a long life to carry on and train younger brethren to take your places in years to come."

— J. A. Clark, Nashville, Tenn.