Cuddly ?!?

GATidwell

I pointed this out to Bruce Morton a couple weeks ago. The GA and CFTF are theologically very similar. The difference is in execution. I asked Bruce to point out any doctrinal/theo differences he had with an ultra-conservative person, and he suggested that he wasn’t dogmatic about using the KJV (he had one other point, but I don’t recall what it was). That was his difference.

When I went to church at Crieve Hall in Nashville, I remember sermons filled with woe about “those brethren that insist on loosing.” Everyone knew that Woodmont/Rubel was who was being referred to.

At least with the FF/CFTF, they say what they think. That was my point about the moderate COC a couple weeks ago. Same theology/doctrine…but with smiles and/or pleasantness. No “…marking them”.

So I guess I just don’t see the usefulness of the differences you speak of between the GA and the FF. They are the same thing — one is just more cuddly.

I certainly hope you’re correct; FF was founded as an opposition publication from the start and in reaction to the GA. The GA was always intended to be an educational publication; I believe it is resilient enough a forum to be able to allow differing views to be presented if its publisher and editor are resolved to be so inclined: Lipscomb himself was will and able to provide such room (it was Bro. Goodpasture who eventually was most unhelpful in that regard). But there is little time left for that once and future course to be pursued under the present business model.

My two-cents worth.

Actually, I see the GA following a very different course from the FF. It’s become less strident in the last few years, with fewer articles declaring specific issues matters of apostasy. The old theology is still there, but the language is less strident and the lines aren’t drawn as starkly as in the materials quoted in this article.

The theology taught in Yeakley’s new book “Why They Left” is not nearly as strident as the GA of 5 years ago. I’ll cover some those materials in a future series (Lord willing).

On the other hand, the underlying theology of FF and GA are the same. But the heart is different. The FF under Buster Dobbs revealed a truly dark, worldly heart. The GA reveals a heart that is torn between the darkness of 20th Century Church of Christ theology and what the Bible truly says. There’s a palpable tension — a desire both to preach both salvation by grace through faith and to cling to the errors of the last century. The GA can’t have it both ways, but it is at least trying to hold on to salvation by grace.

The FF reveals where 20th Century CoC theology leads. The GA hasn’t sunk to those depths, and appears be considering whether it wants to wind up in the same place.

It would be a sad event if Bro. Tidwell became the Buster Dobbs of the Gospel Advocate.

Wow. That's about the first post I ever put up. I'd nearly forgotten about it. Thanks.