Eaton, Charles Van

English

Harding School of Theology

Harding UniversityScholar Works at HardingJohn Allen Chalk: Personal Correspondence John Allen Chalk1-29-1971From/To: Charles Van Eaton (Chalk's reply filedfirst)Charles Van EatonFollow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.harding.edu/hst-chalk-personalThis Letter is brought to you for free and open access by the John AllenChalk at Scholar Works at Harding. It has been accepted for inclusion inJohn Allen Chalk: Personal Correspondence by an authorizedadministrator of Scholar Works at Harding. For more information, pleasecontact scholarworks@harding.edu.Recommended CitationEaton, C. V. (1971). From/To: Charles Van Eaton (Chalk's reply filed first). Retrieved from https://scholarworks.harding.edu/hst-chalk-personal/3306It'.• -· - ... January 29, 1971 Dr. Charles Van Eaton Department of Econtmics Western Kentucky University Bowling Green, Kentucky Dear Chuck: Thank you for such a sensitive letter. I don't know when I have enjoyed readin g a letter as much as I did yours. It said, in such a convincing way , that you loved me and I thank God for that. Today I received a letter fro~ the Park Street Elders. I think it must have been the most sensitive and spiritual letter I've ever received from an eldership attempting to get a new preacher. I hav e tried to convey my gratitude to the Park Street Elders in a return letter. I hope that -you can, a.s the opportunity presents itself, also assure themoof the profound respect that their letter created within me for them. I appreciated so much them writing. It was not a form letter. It was a very personal letter three pages in length, single-spaced. I appreciate your perception of the situation regarding ".Mid night Cowboy . " I am continuing here as long as the Lord allows or wills, but I must say, in all honesty, that each day presents a new · opportunity and a new encouragement to run. My concerns and questions are much deeper than whether the brethren appreciate me or not, although that must have some psych i c impact. I believe that the problem is much bigger than that . Although I accept your view of the institutional church and find it to be the same one I hold, I nevertheless find less and less opportu-nities to minister the Word freely. I see no reason to continue without the freedom to pursue the ministry of the Word. In fact, as some perceptive -friends of mine have observed , my problem and the tensions I create -within the institutional church are because of my co~mitment to Biblical theology and to Biblical truth • . The only reason I continue to preach at Highland is because of my daily response to what I believe the will of God is. I know that in response to His will, I will be provided the necessary strength and power to persevere. Please pray for the wisdom needed, first of all for a viable ministry of the Word here, and secondly, aor my oppnness to God's will in every area of my life. ..... . ·" ,. .. D Page 2, Dr. Charles Van Eaton I pray for God's great use of you there. I believe you are in a place where you can minister with great effectiveness. Let's stay in touch. Your brother, John Allen Chalk JAC:lc Depa rtment of Economics WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY BOWLING GREEN, KENTUCKY January 20, 1971 Dear John, ,,J'hile some few months have passed since 1'I1idYJ.i ght II da1tMed, I gather th a t the s tor m i s Dot yet passed . I must admit that I knew n othi ng of Ira Rice or his d oi ngs . It is wonder ful wha t eleven years hidden away with th e ron-Sw'lday School bre thre11 can do for yo ur ·11er ves . I am go i ng to ra.ake a co mment ab out your leavi ng or staying with Hi ghla nd St . a11d about a statement you made i n your letter to me: First: ,Jhile I personally want you here, I feel that you mu st han g -in where you are . The Devil mus t n ot have the victory. You wi ll draw fire simply because you are what you a re an d because you a re a t Hi ~h land. So long as the Elder s supp ort you i n your service to the Lor d you have nothin~ substantial to fe a r fro m the Ira d ice s ( by "subs t ant i a l " I mea ·n_ i n the sense th a t your opportu11i ty to make u seful co~tacts wit~ many brethren will not be ex cluded). It is o·'lly whe· - the Bl ders fail to st8,11d wi t h you that you will be reduced. If you l e ft now it mi ~ht appea r to pr ove the Dev il' s c ase . I n Y:O case , however, can Ira Hice or a·r,_y other "Ila 1 sep arate you fro m t he Love of God whic h i s i n Christ Jesus • . m i le we hold thi s as a su re a~d stead f as t ho pe , there is a need to be wise as s erp ants aYJ.d harmless as doves: there are such thi11.gs as Christian battle tactics; now is the tiYJJe to s ta vid your g r ound no t retre a t . ( A ... n Rn as ide co n cern in ~ my spelli1"g: please remember that I did not receive an Ass oci ates of 1\ rt Degree fro m FHC for th a t very re as o n ) Se co nd: You said i n your letter th at you were n ot sure abo ut your co n tinu a tio n as a p reacher for the 11i ns ti tutio na. 1'' church. I u•1derstand exactly what you mea11. I have been at war with th e 11Ins titution a l Church 11 siY1ce high-school dgys . I bel iev e that the p roble ms of the 11insti tutiO ''la l church '' occupy the g re ater par t of Paul's epistiles. Accordi vig to Soc i al Psy cholo g ist s , there is an a l mo st enexorable te11dency for h um.ans to codify and structure every ide a which ga i "lS more t han one adhe re n t in a g i ven p l a ce. Th is behavior seems to se rv e a useful pur p ose: it sheilds it s members fro m haYi 1'1p- to take any se rious thou. l2"ht abou t v i ews outside the wa ll. I~ my jud~ene~t the Church of Christ Church is abs olut ely no exceptio'1 to this. Yet where do we Q'O? I at one t i me thought that I would have -2-to leave the CofC completely. mhis is ''1Ot the answer. The answer , I believe, lies in lifting the Church, bodily, over the wall and in to the world ( Into the world-;10 t of the world) . /e have made the church everywhere into a worship society wheYl it is i n reality and accordin, to scripture ( I Cor. 12:7-12 ) a fellowship of men and women who are a,11 a li lrn struP-gling with the prob le m of sin in our lives. In order to briner this home we are goin~ to require a demonstration of our belief that in Christ Jes us ne ither circumcisio n (re ad: Code, Gospel Adv ocate, Gospel Guardian, Ehristi an Colleges, Post-Pre-A- or anything else Mille nn ial views, Pro or Ant i Orphan Homes , etc.) or uncircumcision cou n ts for anythinv, but Faith which 1orks Throu gh Love. One way to demonstrate this belief is to dismantle the i ns titutio n wit h all its appendages ( both physical , as the institutions~and mental , as the various ppinions which we have raised to the level of scripture) by takin g the church bac k into the homes, the store-front holes i n the wall, the prayer g rou ps i n the factory and i n the colle ges . Th is does ~ot mean that we abandon the co ng re ga tio n but rather tha,t we g ive it life by mak i' '1g it the center of every aspect of our lives, the point to which we retreat for succor before we go~ut again to serve. ·le mi gh t encoura~e a select g rou p M'~ our co ngregation ~ to establ i sh satell i te g rou ps i n the more desperate parts of the co nLmunity. In all these thin ~s there must be co mplete respect g ive n to the autono~y of the loc a l co ngre~at io n to pu rsue whatever pro g ra m it ca n wheriever it is loc ated . Really John, how could I ever leave the church as an i nstitut ion, even thouP-h I dearly wish to leave it as an "I~stitut-mon". Supp ose I found several who wanted to start somethinf better? -ft1at ·would we do? ',Je probably begin to meet somewhere re gu larly. ,Te would commune i n the Lord's Body and Blood; we would sing, probably without an iYJ.str~e n t since they are expensive and bul1<y and probably ~ e could :play one well enough. Soo ne r or later someone in the g roup would loveingly e;r:;;;;i co mpile i n one little st~pled-together little volume the songs we seem to sing most . The question af adm iti n~ others to our g rou p would have to be met; we would require no mor e than what we believe the Bible requires-and no less . Jhat do we have? A con gre gat io n • .Then does it beco me an "Ins titution"? As soon as we become aware th at there are others li ~e it and decide to ~e t together with them to discuss our problems, etc. One meeting leads to another end another. So on someo11e suga_;ests that we publish a newslette r and e~coura~e the establishme~t of other f ro ups just li ~e us. 3efo re 1011g an invisible, but non-the -less stringent, set of rules i s drawn up. .le wake up to d i scover that ·we a re rip-ht back whe re we started . Ira B.ice and his helpers c ayr-1.ot be co mpletely stopped . They c e:l'J only be made i nef fective by lettiYlP" the Holy Sp irit have Its way wi thi''l every co YJ.gregat io 11 and i nd ividual who wants to be Saved . The phys ic a l trappings have been a snare and a delusion. God does not dwell i n temples made with hands--even Church of Christ temples •• It i s n ot enough to -3-drive the mo,1e1 changers out of the temples; we must make sure that we are not tryinp- to build temples and make God dwell in them in the first pla ce. I am not saying that large congregat io ns are bad; in fs.ct I am not tall{ing about phys ic al size at al l. I am talking about a menta l set--the co nce pt of the church as any thi ng other th an a family brought into existence by the love of God . T'his mental set is ca r na l and is, therefore, always a t war wi th the Sp irit. ly fe a r is that too many of the men who have considerable access to the brethren through the coll eges , papers, etc. do not kYJ.ow enough about the nature of Man to know that this war is always goi np-on. :'hey have he l ped create this ''Ins ti tutio'.".111 th rou gh their well-intentioned labors . ·ow they are laying cl aim to the right to "tile chastise any brother who behaves i n any way they i nterpret as a threat to the "Inst itutio n" . In their mi nds they a r e co mpletely right. fhe problem is simple; their minds are wrong and have been-in most cases -fro m the bep-innirig. I love you. You deserve better than this long erratic mental ab err at io n from me. Keep the Faith . 

From/To: Charles Van Eaton (Chalk\u27s reply filed first)

https://scholarworks.harding.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4312&amp;context=hst-chalk-personal

From/To: Charles Van Eaton (Chalk\u27s reply filed first)

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