 |
| # | First Name | Last Name | State | Country | Comments |
|---|
| 1 | David | Rhoades | TN | US | |
| 2 | Lester | Westmoreland | TN | US | Brethren,
Why would you want to continue on a path that has proven time after time to cause division?
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| 3 | Gerald | Ellis | GA | US | To God be true! |
| 4 | Shirley | Crownover | TN | US | I visited Madison while Brother Ira North was Minister and my Bible teacher at Lipscomb. I'm very disturbed if the members who know what the bible teachs does not stand up and be firm - this will be another denomination. |
| 5 | Donnie | Cruz | | | I ask for your forgiveness |
| 6 | Scott | Beauchamp | TX | US | You are in my prayers! |
| 7 | Robert | Warner | NC | US | |
| 8 | Jeff | Day | TX | US | WAIT A MINUTE!! I think this petition is totally without merit. Please don't listen to those who are malicious in thier efforts to undermine your authority by sending this to you. Our thoughts and prayers are with the body of Christ at Madison. Grace and Peace to you.
Jeff |
| 9 | Glenn | Farris | CA | US | Study the word to make sure they are qualified to be Elders. |
| 10 | George | Reed | CA | US | Keep the faith. |
| 11 | Torence | Buttermore | OH | US | It is only right and proper that the congregation select their leadership (except the clergy, i.e., preachers, that is unscriptural to begin with) , but those selected MUST meet the qualifications given in scripture for the elders and deacons. |
| 12 | Allison | Grayson | TN | US | According to Acts 1:21-26, two, Justus and Matthias, were nominated. The
final selection was by lot. Essentially the same idea as a flip of the coin.
The church (local meeting) a democracy? Who is to decide who is a qualified
elector?
Draw up a constitution? Who will the "We The People" of the church be? Who will decide? How will they decide? |
| 13 | Brett | Harding | AR | | |
| 14 | I think | this is silly | TX | US | I think that this is STUPID. This is doing nothing but creating discord. I am for all of the changes. Don't let them get you down. |
| 15 | Mark | Shuck | SD | US | I am a current member of The Church of Christ. I have quietly listened to the reasons given why music is not allowed in church. Like every good Chistian should do, I check out what it meant to the first century church to sing, what are hymns, what melody. What I found was when the subject of music comes up, webster's dictionary is used. I found if you stick with the original translation as found in Vine's expository dictionary, then the light shines on The Church of Christ's error. |
| 16 | Jay | Repecko | MA | US | |
| 17 | Patsy | Hirlston | TN | US | Let us not accept a watered down version of the New Testament teaching. |
| 18 | HELEN | WATKINS | TN | US | I am having a problem simular to Madison's in my own church..we desperately need new elders |
| 19 | Tommy | Parish | AR | US | Elders do not select the elders. This is sin and they should know it. I think (by reading your whole website) that you and everyone that petitioned the elder should have made a public announcement that there was going to be a congregational meeting to discuss the present situation with the Madison church and then let the church (people) decide if the Eldership was going by the bible. And that discision by the members should have been good enough to regain the true Lord's church back. This is such a heartbreaking event. But, God's word say that satan is roaming the earth it he is in a lot of church's, too. |
| 20 | Tommy | Parish | AR | US | Elders do not select the elders. This is sin and they should know it. I think (by reading your whole website) that you and everyone that petitioned the elder should have made a public announcement that there was going to be a congregational meeting to discuss the present situation with the Madison church and then let the church (people) decide if the Eldership was going by the bible. And that discision by the members should have been good enough to regain the true Lord's church back. This is such a heartbreaking event. But, God's word say that satan is roaming the earth it he is in a lot of church's, too. |
| 21 | Angelo | Muñoz | KY | PA | En realidad, hermanos, me gustaría saber qué es lo que sucede en ésta congregación, por favo infórmenme de ello. |
| 22 | Brandi | Simonton | TX | US | |
| 23 | B | D | VA | US | |
| 24 | Corey | Harlow | AL | US | |
| 25 | Heather | Powell | TN | US | I have never been a member of the madison congregation but know some who have been and have been affected by infulences and changes. |
| 26 | Kenneth | Tanner | IN | US | Please read the qualifications for elders in 1Timothy first. then read Acts this was used to replace one of the twelve not apoint an elder to the local worship area. It is not for us to let them choose their leaders it is what Gods will is. |
| 27 | Sylvester | Lyons | AL | US | What a sad day! I will pray for the brethren at Madison Church of Christ that they will return to the Lord.
S Lyons III |
| 28 | calvin | coats | TX | US | I agree wholeheartedly with the election/selection process. The congreation must be involved in appointment of its leadership. |
| 29 | Linda | Jackson | TN | AL | |
| 30 | Linda | Jackson | TN | US | |
| 31 | Sharon | Webb | | CA | |
| 32 | Jack | Morris | FL | US | Letter to Phil Donahue:
JESUS AND ADMISSION TO HEAVEN
Your program on religion, Jesus and salvation was of great interest to me. Obviously some of the characters on the program actually believe that the Bible is the sanctified word of God Himself. It is inconceivable to me that well dressed men, supposedly intelligent and Christian can believe this. Of course, religion is a business (and a power trip), and these men are in that business! To begin with, religion is a relic of tribal life. It answers what appears to be a very human need to believe in something. The concept of God has changed through the ages. In early stages of the human race, man believed in a mountain, animals, a series of gods, the sun, the stars, etc.
It was the Jews, for better or for worse, who brought us the idea of one most powerful God for all. The Bible is a series of stories that made the rounds for centuries before it was written down. It has been interpreted and reinterpreted, translated and retranslated over and over again. A person who believes that the Bible, even under these circumstances, must be the Holy Word of God has the mind of a Lilliputian, and not even as much logical thought as that of an infant. If they do not have the sense to understand this, I would not waste my time to try to educate them as their minds are dead, closed, warped and bigoted.
For those whose minds are open, it is essentiel that we understand that religion, which has always been a cause of blood baths through the ages, is even more dangerous today because we are living in a very dangerous age as a result of technology moving ahead much faster than the human mind can learn to live with it.
The obvious trouble makers are the extremist Muslims and the Christian religious right, both of which believe that if you do not have absolute faith in their particular line of "melarky," you are cursed and doomed to spend eternity in burning hell! To avoid hell on earth which these religious fanatics are almost sure to bring us, we must come to understand that all mankind needs is to:
1. have concern and respect for all human beings, no matter how different they may be,
2. do unto others as we would have them do unto us,
3. be good to one another: within the family, within the nation, within the world.
The faster the world recognizes the above, the better chance we have for human survival. In the meantime, let us be patient and try to reason with those who insist on believing in a God as children believe in the Tooth Fairy or Santa Claus. As long as they do not try to force their faith on anyone else, let them be happy in their beliefs.
I feel I must make such shocking statements because I spent over thirty years of my life promoting the voucher system in education in order to have private schools paid for out of government funds, even for religious schools. We may soon see the realization of what I have been advocating. But now, with a strident Christian right trying to force its views upon all of our lives and a growing Muslim population in our midst, I would no longer be in favor of public funds for any religion which teaches that their brand is the only correct one to assure a seat in heaven or on a cloud to float around heaven all day!
Many Muslims, tragically, do the Christians one better, they advocate that if you do not convert to their brand, you should be killed because you are an infidel! Of course, the latter (Christians) got over that mentality centuries ago. Unfortunately, too many Muslims are still living in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries or earlier! Can you imagine this being taught in our private schools at public expense? Sorry, not on my money! In fact, Muslim schools in this country (mostly paid for by Saudi Arabia) should be closed down for teaching hate against infidels and for sedition.
Any religion should continue to be free to teach what they want as long as they do not preach dogma which can bring harm to others. Those religious establishments which preach that homosexuality is an abomination in the eyes of the Lord, and other such humbug, should have their tax exempt status removed. Not to do so is forcing the use of public funds to dehumanize homosexuals just as they once did with blacks and Jews until these Christian churches were forced by law out of their time warp! And they should no longer be allowed to burn witches! Sorry, I had to put this in for sake of perspective!
Below is another letter I wrote that will enlarge upon the above.
A LOOK AT RELIGION
This was written to a friend who has a Christian right website. I would love to have it printed someplace with the title: A DIFFERENT VIEW OF A DEEP, DARK SUBJECT.
Dear Friend (xyz):
Even though I am very busy, too busy to keep up with much of my e-mail, I feel that God must have moved me to read #109 of yours. It is sad that so many decent and good Christians (and I mean this in all sincerity) seem to have a mental block or fixation on homosexuality. I do not condemn or criticize as I can appreciate how difficult it is to understand a matter that is so foreign to most. After all, if you were born to desire a female, how can you fathom a man who desires another man? Only, perhaps, if you were a savage, heathen Indian who was closer to and more understanding of nature and was not corrupted by a bible that was written to sell a dramatic story that had been making the rounds of the universe for centuries before it was ever written down.
With regard to the molestation of minors, your reference to homosexuals as "deeply corrupted people" is quite offensive. The "corruption" is the act of seducing a minor into a sexual act. Both homosexual and heterosexual perverts do this. This is the corruption, not homosexuality! I would never think of doing this even when offered, as has been the case. I was a teacher and could have done so, but would not allow it. I know what is right and wrong without the need of any religion to tell me so. I know you have difficulty in understanding this, but sexual orientation is not a matter of choice, for most. I could no more go to bed with a woman than most men would be able to go with a man. God has made us all different, as He did with plants and all forms of life. God created homosexuality as a humane means of bringing about population balance rather than through disease, war or famine. It is because of the blessing of homosexuality that heterosexuals may have more children! I know this is so because God told me so! Yes He did! He gave us all a BRAIN and that is what I have deducted! One day, all religions will understand this as I am a firm believer in the Evolution of Human Thought! Do you remember when kings were said to be appointed by God and that the world was flat? I guess not because you are too young!
The bible was written at a time of tribalism. For survival, they had to increase the number of tillers of the soil, hunters and gatherers and spear throwers available. Homosexuals, normally or abnormally, do not usually create children. Is it then any wonder that they were condemned!
You may know that many Christians do not have the view of homosexuality as you (and your cohorts) do. Any religion which teaches that its views, dogma or theology is the only one that will deliver the believer to the "promised land" to "eternal life" is committing the greatest consumer fraud ever perpetrated upon a gullible public! The insistence that our religion and ours alone is the only road to eternal salvation is an outrage in itself. IT IS THIS MENTALITY THAT LED TO THE INQUISITION, THE CRUSADES AND, TODAY, THE TALIBAN AND OTHER EXTREMIST MUSLIM SECTS. The latter is a present day glowing example of how a religion, carried to an extreme, warps minds and becomes a disease. The obsession against homosexuality is a manifestation of how religion can become a disease, in this case, a disease of hate. If you object to me stating that religion can be distorted into becoming a disease just think of the Christians who died in a suicide pact as a means of getting to heaven on the tail of a comet or the many who refuse medical treatment, believeing that God will heal them!
Think about it for a moment! Would Ford tell the consumer that a GM car is just as good and would get you from point A to point B just as well! Those who wrote the bible had a product to sell just as any other business. Hence, in centuries past, and even some religions today, claim that theirs is the only road to salvation! Believe this and I will sell you the Brooklyn Bridge, cheap!
I have been told that it is futile to write letters such as this to people with strong religious beliefs because religions, for the most part, SHUT OUT REASON. It may be true that it is impossible to reason with the likes of the extremist Muslim groups which now torment the world, as the Crusades did in the past, but I am hoping that in an advanced western culture some minds can be opened. Hopefully, we in the west have progressed beyond the Dark Ages.
Jack J. Morris, author of DISASTER ZONE - U.S.A., a teacher whose career and health were destroyed because he wanted a black child to succeed in school so that he could have a fulfilling life! E-mail: usaawake@bellsouth.net
P.S. I finished the letter with the following:
I wonder if you would be democratic enough to print this on your website with a title such as: A DIFFERENT VIEW OF A DEEP, DARK SUBJECT. (He did agree to print it. In fact, asked permission to do so!)
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| 33 | Cassie | Williams | WV | US | We have the same problem in our congregation. One of the elders shouldn't be one, but if you go to them they think you are just a liberal. |
| 34 | Darlene | Tollett | TN | US | |
| 35 | Johnnie | Rosa | SC | US | This is the way all sin creeps in Unaware, like SATAN , going to and fro and seeking whom he may devour, A PILLAR church brought down by one mans' teaching, We must always be on guard, watch, the LORD said, for many shall fall away and take many with them, they will believe a lie but WOE to them who kill the little ones who love Jesus in the PURE WAY , it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of our Father when you have killed and maimed his little ones, the damage sometimes is never repaired, souls lost , discouraged and cast down,the PURE church may have to leave and start over, apparently , some do not remember a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump ,they come in unaware to destroy, who was on watch, now all this bickering and backbiting will only tear JESUS down again on the CROSS, CRUCIFY HIM AFRESH ON THE CROSS,tis better to leave peacably and start over, once false teachers dig in , it is very hard , MARK THEM PUBLICALLY and start over, CHRIST WANTS PEACE IN HIS CHILDREN, MANY FALSE TEACHERS HE SAID WOULD COME, BUT WE ARE TAKE A STAND, AND AFTER WE MUST RETREAT AND REGROUP AND START OVER, THE PURE WILL THRIVE AGAIN, PLEASE KNOW I WILL PRAY FOR MADISON AVE, but all this airing on the WEB may have serious repercussions for OUR LORD, we are take matters before each other, NOT THE WORLD, ,yes,if not for this WEB-SITE I would have never known your spirtual problems and perhaps would have not the chance to respond, but brothers are to settle these,SPIRTUAL among themselves not thru the whole world to drag down our LORDS, KINGDOM, be wise STOP ALL THIS AND GET YOUR YOURSELVES IN ARBITRATION AMONG YOURSELVES AND IF NOT ,MOVE ON , START OVER, THE TRUE CHURCH YOU STRAT OVER WILL THRIVE BECAUSE GOD WILL PUT YOU UP ON EAGLES WINGS AND YOU WILL SOAR,THE TRUE CHURCH WILL ALWAYS BE TESTED TILL CHRIST COMES, THE FADS OF CROSSROADS HAVE TAKEN THEIR TOLLS AND LIFE GROUPS, HOUSE CHURCH GROUPS, MAX LUCADO, BUT THE REMNANT WILL BE SAVED. I hope you MOVE ON, TAKE THIS WEB-SITE OFF PLEASE WE NEED NOT AIR DIRTY LAUNDRY TO THE WORLD, IN JESUS ,MRS.JOHNNIE ROSA, DENMARK, SOUTH CAROLINA ,A CHRISTINA RAISED IN THE OLD AND PURE DOCTINRE OF THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST, I SALUTE YOU AND PRAY THIS WILL END. |
| 36 | RUD | SANDERS | TN | | At Granny White CoC the elders submit who they want for elders - rather than the members putting forth recommendations - they have placed several Lipscomb Professors in these positions - recently they had a 4pm Sunday night service to accommodate the showing of the Super Bowl - that big hoopla event with all its beer commercials and scantily clad entertainers and cheerleaders - it was sold to them as a community outreach program - I confronted one of the young elders and ask him "What next, dances" - he said that was ridiculous - I told him showing the SB as a community outreach program was ridiculous - We have not had a gospel meeting for 2 or 3 years, yet we the elders can approve the showing of the SB to try to attract people to our services - in my opinion this whole church organization has gotten out of hand - where is the simple way of worshiping God as proscribed in the NT |
| 37 | Leo | Strong | FL | | It is time to go back to the Bible. Christ and the Apostles left a road for us to walk in. And it not a wide pass. it is very small. |
| 38 | Igor | Pedchenco | | RO | |
| 39 | ben | n | | | of course homosexuality isnt a sin!!!!!!!!!!!!
those who believe that are scared stupid people who see life in black and white and condemn things they dont understand!!!!!!!! |
| 40 | joyce | lowery | IN | US | God bless you. I attend the Madison congregation for about 3 years in the 1980s. I've been in Oklahoma for the past 10 years and am now in Indianapolis (following my son) Keep me in your prayers. I don't get around well any more. I am now a member of the Allisonville Disciplesw of Christ church in Indy but still feel like a member of the church. It's in my bones, blood annd mind. I know I am still a Christian. I owe a great deal of my firm Christianity to Dr. Steve Flatt when he was at Madison and I was a member there. God bless you all. Joyce Lowery |
| 41 | joyce | lowery | IN | US | God bless you. I attend the Madison congregation for about 3 years in the 1980s. I've been in Oklahoma for the past 10 years and am now in Indianapolis (following my son) Keep me in your prayers. I don't get around well any more. I am now a member of the Allisonville Disciplesw of Christ church in Indy but still feel like a member of the church. It's in my bones, blood annd mind. I know I am still a Christian. I owe a great deal of my firm Christianity to Dr. Steve Flatt when he was at Madison and I was a member there. God bless you all. Joyce Lowery |
| 42 | joyce | lowery | IN | US | Dear Christian brothers and sisters
keep up the good work. hold fast to your convictioins. The Lord will bless and keep you. Yours in Christ,Joyce Lowery ps I'm a member of Disciples ofChrist church in Allisonville, Indiana.I Know that I am a Christian and believe that you all are, too. God bless you |
| 43 | Anonymous | Anonymous | | | |
| 44 | Anonymous | Anonymous | | | In my church we do something very similar to what you're suggesting and it works very well |
| 45 | Debra | Hooper- Jones | AZ | US | |
| 46 | Anonymous | Anonymous | GA | | |
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