I’ve been thinking alot about the silence of the scriptures, why the churches of Christ generally hold some of the beliefs they hold, and why I hold the specific beliefs that I have.

I was taught from a very young age to respect the silence of the sciptures. I’ve heard more times than I can count the old Restoration slogan “We speak where the Bible speaks, and we are silent where the bible is silent.”

I have always taken that slogan to mean that where there is silence, there is prohibition – that we have no right to do anything that is not specifically mentioned in the New Testament for the practice of the church, – and I have taken that slogan quite seriously. It is an important principle in understanding where we are in the churches of Christ, and why the divisions that exist today exist at all.

However, the Independent Christian Churches understand that slogan and concept quite differently. To them, “being silent where the bible is silent” means that they do not restrict fellowship based upon beliefs and practices that are not specifically mentioned in the New Testament.

We in the a capella churches of Christ have taken silence to be restrictive, and the Independents have taken it to give them liberty.

That is quite a clash in belief.