Mark Mayberry’s Bible Study Site

The history of the reformation and restoration movements generally involves a repudiation of Roman Catholic traditions, and a reaffirmation of Bible authority. Some, like Luther and Calvin, turned aside to denominational dogma, exchanging one set of errors for another. Others pursued a more consistent course, striving to speak where the Bible speaks, and be silent where the Bible is silent.

Today, among certain brethren, one observes a reversal of this process. Disciples are leaving churches of Christ, especially those of the institutional and social-gospel variety, and returning to denominationalism. In some cases, they are converting to Catholicism.

Here is an article that appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer’s June 6^th online edition. It deals with Mr. Philip Johnson’s recent ordination into the Roman Catholic church, after serving 19 years as a Lutheran pastor; previously, he and his wife were members of the church of Christ.

The money quote of this article is as follows:

Both Johnsons’ faith journey began in the fundamentalist Church of Christ: a Bible-based sect that preached hell for outsiders but was “very nurturing, very loving” for those inside, Janet Johnson recalled.

They met at Harding College in Little Rock, and married after graduation. By then, both had qualms about their faith’s exclusionary ways. “The church in those days had a very narrow view of who was Christian,” Philip Johnson said.

But after he earned a divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1979, the couple accepted an invitation to live and work for the church in London.

There, they and their young children shared a stately home, Disciple House, with two other couples and their children, whom they all raised together.

London also exposed them to Anglican, Lutheran, and Roman Catholic modes of worship. These included a liturgical calendar, sacraments, formal liturgies, and instrumental music – all of them unknown in the Church of Christ.

Philip Johnson’s prayer life, meanwhile, was becoming less self-scrutinizing and more communal – what he calls more “Catholic.” When it came time to return to the United States “we knew we couldn’t come back to the Church of Christ,” Janet Johnson said.

Note Mr. & Mrs. Johnson’s critical assessment of “fundamentalist” churches of Christ which they describe as “a Bible-based sect that preached hell for outsiders…” with “exclusionary ways” and which, at least in their circle of fellowship, formerly held “a very narrow view of who was Christian.” Contrast this disparagement with their broadminded acceptance of Anglican, Lutheran, and Roman Catholic modes of worship and other unscriptural practices such as sacraments, formal liturgies, and instrumental music. Observe that when Johnson’s prayer life became “less self-scrutinizing” and “more communal,” he and his wife could no longer be members of the church of Christ. Leaving the Lord’s church, they departed into denominationalism, and finally digressed into Catholicism. Let this be a warning to all who would substitute “sweetness and light” for the old Jerusalem gospel (2 Cor. 6:14-18; Rev. 18:4-5).