Correcting A Wrong Impression
In the March 28, 1963, issue of the Gospel Guardian, there appeared an article under the title of "Witch Hunting" in which brother Frank Reeder takes this writer to task for an article which appeared in the News and Views Column, Gospel Guardian, February 21, 1963, entitled, "Bound By Custom."
The article was not written for the Gospel Guardian, but appeared in our local bulletin, being prompted by a local circumstance and for the consideration of the local members. Therefore I did not go into a lengthy detailed explanation, and this may have contributed to brother Reeder's misunderstanding of the article. HE MISSED THE POINT ENTIRELY!
Brother Reeder wrote, "....brother Fite classes the "good confession" among the traditions of men." It was not my purpose to class the "good confession" among the customs and traditions of men anymore than trying to place baptism in the same category. My point was the rituals surrounding baptism, confession, etc., and binding them upon men with the same force as a command. I mentioned our custom of saying, "I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit" when baptizing a penitent believer. Many have come to believe this MUST be said before a person is scripturally baptized. I am not saying that baptism is simply a custom or tradition conceived in the mind of man and handed down from generation to generation, but that which is SAID, IS. Christ told the disciples what to do, and by whose authority they were to do it. They were to teach and baptize in the name of (by the authority of) the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But this was not a "magic formula" they were TO SAY when baptizing a person.
In the matter of the "good confession," if one does not stand up before the assembly and acknowledge one's faith in Christ verbally, immediately we brand the rest of his acts of obedience as being void. In this we have not stopped to think that many times we are demanding the penitent to make the "good confession" twice. Many of us have taught people through the week and have had them to acknowledge in our presence Jesus to be the Son of God, and have had these same individuals to walk down the aisle to obey Christ when the church is assembled. Do the scriptures demand the preacher to "take" his confession again? Yet if he failed to do so some of the members would throw a fit. We might be surprised to learn of the number who believe the "confession" must be made before the assembly, and who think this is what Christ meant when he said, "....confess me before men." (Matt. 10:32)
Let it be understood I see nothing wrong in our practice, and I would not go out of my way to be different, to provoke, to make light of, or try to be a twentieth century "Independent thinker," but I do think we should teach the difference between matters of faith and matters of custom. Many divisions have resulted in the body of Christ because of failure to distinguish between the two.
— 513 Club Oak Dr., Fort Worth 14, Texas