THE

"Brightly beams our Father's mercy

From the lighthouse evermore;

But to us He gives the keeping

Of the light along the shore."

WON’T YOU RECEIVE THE WORD OF GOD LIKE THE BEREANS?

            But, being “open minded” should not be confused with being “gullible”.  In Berea, Paul preached that Jesus was the Christ, furnishing proof from the Old Testament prophecies.  Even though an apostle was doing the preaching, the Bereans had their Old Testaments open, “examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.” (17:11)   They were not convinced that Paul was preaching the truth just because he had his Bible open and was claiming to be teaching what God said.

A CALL TO AN OPEN INVESTIGATION OF THE SCRIPTURES

There was a time in our nation’s history, especially in the early to mid-1800’s when people loved to hear the Bible preached.  Though they belonged to different demominations, when a neighboring church had a preacher come to town to preach, they would all assemble to hear the message.  There was an open investigation of the Scriptures.  These pioneers were searching for God’s truth and had a mind to receive it once they found it.  They wanted to have a unity with brothers and sisters in Christ that was based on God’s truth.  As a result, many abandoned their denominations along with their denominational doctrines in order simply to become Christians, united in independent congregations whose only rule of faith was the New Testament.

            But, today unfortunately, there is no such love for the Bible.  Many churchgoers don’t even bring their Bibles to church, much less open them to examine the truthfulness of what is being taught.  Communities no longer assemble when a preacher comes to town to preach.  Why not?  Perhaps it is lack of interest.  Perhaps it is denominational barriers.  Probably both.  The spirit of investigation, the quest for truth, is gone.  Many have the skeptical and perhaps even sarcastic attitude of Pilate, “What is truth?”

(Jn 18:38)   Most people accept the common thought that it doesn’t matter what you believe.  If this be so, why sit down with others who differ with you and study the Bible to find out what God has spoken on the subject (s) of difference?  There would be no point.  It is so sad that the day of discussion has been replaced by the day of tolerance.  No longer do “Christians” desire and put forth effort to unite upon the objective truth of the New Testament, but they are content “to live and let live”, accepting those in all denominations as “brothers”, yet remaining divided, contrary to Jesus’ prayer that His disciples who be one as He and the Father are one (Jn 17:20-21).

            We, the Palmer Road church of Christ, are calling men back to open investigation of the Scriptures.   We are calling men back to the spirit of the pioneers of our country, only as that spirit is in keeping with the Bereans of the first century (see Acts 17:11-12; front page article).  It is the goal of the Palmer Road church in the 21^st century to practice the undenominational Christianity of the 1^st century, a Christianity based on “the faith” (Jude 3).  We call all men back to Jesus’ New Testament as THE standard of authority that all may serve Him acceptably and receive the eternal salvation He promised the obedient (Heb 5:8-9).