"Cooperation Between New Testament Churches"
Chapter IV. "The Constituent Elements Of The Total Situation"
Brother Thomas B. Warren's "proposition," his six "elements of the proposition," and his "syllogism," have been examined in previous chapters of this study.
For some reason Brother Warren presents in his tract a second group of "elements," which consists of eight assertions, the most of which are wrong. He calls this group of assertions, "The Constituent Elements Of The Total Situation Described In The Proposition." And here they are.
"1. Every congregation has the right to preach the gospel in any geographical area in the world."
This is true, and Brother Tom Warren contradicts himself by his unintentional defense of the diocesan concept of evangelism when he teaches that the work of preaching the gospel in "a certain large area," became "peculiarly and exclusively" the work of congregation "B," because congregation "B" "began to contemplate starting a work in that area" before congregation "A" "began to contemplate starting a work in that area.
"2. Every congregation has the right to seek to accomplish its own work."
Every congregation not only "has the right to seek to accomplish its own work," every congregation is obligated by the Lord "to seek to accomplish "it. Brother Tom may not know it, but the Lord has legislated relative to how a congregation may obtain money with which to do "its own work." Therefore, in order to prove his "proposition," he must find a passage of scripture that teaches that one church may donate its money to another church for a work to which both sustain an equal relationship.
"3. A congregation has the right to assume (or undertake) the oversight of the accomplishing of a work to which another congregation sustained an equal relationship prior to the assumption (undertaking) of the oversight."
Brother Warren's erroneous and unscriptural usage of the words "assume," "undertake," "assumption" and "undertaking" has already been pointed out in these articles.
In his comments under this "element," Tom shows clearly that he is laboring under two erroneous ideas, and therefore is confused miserably on the work of the churches. (1) He thinks that congregation "A" can make the work of evangelizing "area (field) 'D' " "peculiarly and exclusively the work of congregation 'A'," and create a relationship that no other church sustains to that work, by setting up or utilizing some physical factor to facilitate the accomplishing of that work. As he explains it, congregation "A" decides to "undertake" to buy a lot, or build a brush arbor, or sign a contract with a radio station, or set up a soap box for the preacher to stand on and a public address system for him to speak through, and thereby makes the work of preaching in "area (field) 'D' " "peculiarly and exclusively" its own. A great many people know that congregation "A" could do this in every "area (field)" in all the world and thereby make the whole world "peculiarly and exclusively" her own diocese, if she can do it in "area (field) 'D'"; but Tom does not know it, of course. (2) In the second place, Tom does not know the difference between a work of the church and the factors employed to facilitate the work. He calls a broadcasting station, a meeting house and even a 'song book works of the church. If he could learn that the "stairs" on which Paul stood to preach to the mob (Acts 21:40), and the "chariot" in which Philip rode while preaching to the eunuch (Acts 8:29), and the "boat" in which Jesus sat while teaching the multitudes (Matt. 13:2), and the microphone and broadcasting station through which a man speaks are not the work, but only facilities used in doing the work, then he might be able to free himself from the net-work of error into which he has tumbled. As Tom sees it, if congregation "A" "decides to undertake" to place a boat in the Sea of Galilee or the Gulf of Mexico for the preacher to sit in while he preaches, then the relationship that all churches in the world sustained to the Sea of Galilee or the Gulf of Mexico automatically changes, and then congregation "A" sustains a relationship to this "area (field)" that no other church sustains; this is "A's" diocese.
"4. A congregation (through its elders) has the right to oversee the accomplishing of a work, the total accomplishing of which exceeds its financial ability."
When a church is unable to supply the needs of its own poor members, or unable to provide an adequate place for its own members to meet and worship God, then that church is an object of charity, and other churches must send money to it to enable it to do this work which strictly is its own. And the receiving church must retain the oversight of its own work, regardless of how poor it may be. This is taught clearly in Acts 11:27-30 and 2 Corinthians 8. If Tom could find one little passage of scripture that even remotely indicates that a church that is not an object of charity may receive donations from other churches, then he would have all the "constituent elements" and "total situations" he would ever need. Without that passage of scripture, there are not enough "constituent elements" and "total situations" on earth to prove his "proposition."
"5. One church may help another church to meet a want." One church may send donations to another church under the conditions described in the fore-going topic. But Brother Tom is trying to convince his readers that all churches in the world may send their money to one church, if they want to do so, regardless of conditions. If that is not what he is trying to teach, then let him state plainly the conditions under which one church cannot send money to another church, and why it cannot send it.
"6. A church's own work (which another congregation may help them do) does not necessarily have to involve a catastrophe."
In his comments under this "element," Tom explains that congregation "B" may send a preacher to congregation "A" to teach in a vacation Bible school, when neither "benevolence" nor "catastrophe" is involved. To this, all agree. But when Tom teaches that congregation "B" may scripturally launch a campaign of begging money from churches all over the world, with which to hire and send preachers selected by congregation "B" for vacation Bible schools in churches all over the world, then Tom is dangerously unsound and totally wrong. Even Brother Tom ought to be able to see that congregation "B" can accept money from all other churches to enable congregation "B" to select, hire and send teachers for vacation Bible schools in all the churches, if it can accept money from other churches to enable it to select, hire and send a teacher for a vacation Bible school in congregation "A." If not all, then for how many can it select, hire and send to other churches?
Yes, "Jerusalem sent Barnabas to Antioch." Now, if Tom can find one little verse of scripture that teaches that Jerusalem received funds from other churches, with which to send "Barnabas to Antioch," or that Jerusalem sent funds to the Antioch church with which to pay Barnabas, his proposition will be proved, and he will have no need whatever for "constituent elements," "syllogism" and "a total situation."
"7. Evangelism as well as benevolence may be involved."
Then Tom adds: "This was set forth under point number six." Everything that he "set forth under point number six," was answered "under point number six."
"8. A church may have a right to undertake a work for which it has no specific obligation."
There is not one word of truth in this "element" number eight, and the reason why Tom makes this totally false assertion is because he does not know the difference between "a work" of a church and the factors employed to facilitate the work. In explaining what he means, Tom says, "A congregation has the right to use song books but it is not under obligation to have song books." In his illustration, "singing" is the work; and no church would "have a right to undertake" to sing or to do any other work, if it had "no specific obligation" to undertake it. "Song books" are not a work; they are factors used to facilitate the work of "singing." But his illustration is in no way related to his proposition, unless he is trying to prove by it that a thousand churches may send contributions to one church that it "may have a right to" select and supply song books of its own choosing to all the other churches in the world.
Tom uses another illustration to show what he means by "element" number eight. He says, "So it is that a church has the right to have a radio program, but it is not under obligation to carry out its work in just that specific way." The radio station through which a preacher broadcasts a sermon is no more a "work" of a church than the "stairs" on which Paul stood to preach to the mob is a "work" of a church. A broadcasting station and the "stairs" or soap box on which the preacher stands are not a "work" of any church; they are implements used to advance the work. Preaching the gospel is the "work" that these elements facilitate; every church has a "specific obligation" to do this "work," otherwise it would have no "right to undertake" it.
More than a thousand churches have sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to one church to make it possible for the elders of that one church to be the sole authority in selecting and employing preachers and controlling all the factors and implements of preaching on a national scale.
Brother Warren has not offered one word of proof to show that such centralized control of the work and resources of the churches is scriptural; he has not even approached the issue; he has dallied with little hypothetical borderline incidents, and completely ignored conditions as they exist today among the churches. He cannot face the real issue like a man, and make any headway at all in defense of these Romish practices.
Tom did not quote one line of scripture in his tract; he did cite a few scripture references. Every passage to which he made any reference at all will be examined in the next chapter.
(To be continued)