Month: May 2016

The terms “conversion” and “regeneration” in today’s religious world are Biblical words that are sorely abused. Many well-meaning religious people carelessly through these terms about with scarcely a trace of their original Biblical meaning. This state of affairs was no less true nearly two centuries ago when “The Christian System” by Alexander Campbell was published in 1839. This book contains a short piece dealing with these terms, simply titled “Conversion, Regeneration.” An audio version may be found here.

Articles by Alexander Campbell

 

In 1877 J. W. McGarvey wrote two consecutive articles published in the Apostolic Times on divorce and remarriage. These articles are titled “Legalized Adultery” and “Legalized Adultery Again.” Even though these articles were published nearly 140 years ago, their advice is as timely as ever. The only thing out of date is that when referring to divorce court, McGarvey is obviously writing before the days of the “no-fault” divorce laws of modern times. Prior to the 1960s or so, most states required that the petitioner for a divorce provide evidence that the defendant had broken the marital contract. Other than these out-of-date legal references, both articles are worthy to be heard.

McGarvey Articles

History tells of two Benjamin Franklin’s—one was the more famous “Founding Father” of the American Revolution, 1776 (below left). This one is perhaps best known for his experiments with electricity while flying a kite with a key tied to the string (an event that was not actually documented); the other Benjamin Franklin, who was a descendant of the earlier Franklin’s brother, and named after the Founding Father, was a preacher of the Restoration Movement (below right). He was at one time a “household name” among perhaps 1000s of families of Christians across the country in the mid- to –late 1800s. One of the most well-known legacies of the latter among our churches is a two-volume collection of sermons called “The Gospel Preacher” Vols. 1 & 2 (exact year? about 1870). These volumes contain some of the finest sermons from that period. I have posted an audio version of Sermon Number 1 from Vol. 1 called “Evidences of the Divine Authority of the Bible.” Brother Franklin uses the Bible and logic to demonstrate the truth of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and then shows how Jesus resurrection verifies the Divine authority of the Bible. Yes. Preachers were dealing with issues that like this even back then!!

Evidences of the Divine Authority of the Bible