Hatfields and McCoys

                                                                                                                                   Roger’s Life-blog

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 
(1 Peter 4:8-11 ESV)

Old Ran'l McCoy

Wednesday afternoon 5/30/12... 

"Devil Anse" Hatfield

The Hatfields and McCoys

Starting Memorial Day, the History Channel aired a 3-part Docudrama about the famous feud between the Hatfield and McCoy families that ran from 1880 to 1891. The decade long shooting war resulted in the deaths of a dozen members of the two families. While the feud didn’t really flame up until after a trial over a pig the McCoys accused the Hatfields of stealing, there were ill feelings between the two patriarchs of the family that could be traced back to the Civil War. Harmon McCoy fought on the side of the Union while most of his family and all the Hatfields fought for the Confederacy. When he was murdered, the Hatfields were immediately suspected, though no one was ever brought to justice for the crime. This movie apparently stimulated great interest in many people, because the New York Post reports that the Monday night debut “attracted a monster audience Monday night, 13.9 million viewers, the second largest for a cable program that did not involve sports.” I was no exception, and even missed a Rangers game to view the first two episodes.

            I find history fascinating and this story is right up my alley. And, like my “take” on most of history, I saw deep theological implications in this feud that I want to share in this article—though doing so may possibly fan to flames another feud of epic proportions among folks whose names are neither Hatfield nor McCoy.

            Unfortunately, I see in these feuding people, the same kind of tribalistic potential for violence that I see in some folk who claim to be Christian. The pattern seems to focus mostly around tightly grasped theological traditions handed down from generation to generation. Although, in some cases these traditions have become nothing more than unwritten creeds, they are apparently worth taking a spiritual life to defend.

            Some groups have a great affinity for unwritten creeds – as if to say that unwritten creeds permit a kind of plausible deniability to the existence of any systematic delineation of beliefs at all. One unwritten credo, is “No creed but the Bible.” It is honorable in its expression and was honorable when the first men spoke it in the early days of the American Restoration Movement. Unfortunately, today it has most often come to mean “No creed but (my interpretation of) the Bible!” Result: formula for a feud!

            Another tenet of the unwritten Restoration creed is “We will speak where the Bible speaks and be silent where it is silent.” The battle lines for this creed are drawn between the understanding of silence: is silence permissive or is it prohibitive. When God doesn’t mention something in his word does that mean we do not have authority for it, or it is irrelevant and permitted?  Again, unfortunately the answer to that question is determined by (a) what we happen to be talking about at the time and (b) what we want it to mean. Consider the feud about fellowship halls (or family-life centers, kitchens, gymnasiums, coffee shops, etc.) in church. One group says they are not mentioned, therefore they must be unauthorized and to build one is to introduce “strange fire”. The other group agrees they are not mentioned, but draws the opposite conclusion:  they must be therefore permitted. Oddly enough, most of those who object to playing basketball in a church-owned building, eating a meal in a fellow-ship hall, would be the first to complain of a building without an indoor toilet. Result: formula for a feud!

            Not long ago, an incensed brother who had found great fault in the sermon I had just delivered approached me after services. He took extreme exception to the fact that my congregation had found a way to cooperate with some other Christians who were not of our faith heritage and didn’t believe the same as we did about certain worship practices. When I mentioned that we all served and worshipped the same Jesus, his objections became loud and belligerent. “They absolutely are NOT Christians” he said. I replied that I found that pretty odd, because they THOUGHT they were, they WORSHIPPED Jesus as Sovereign Lord, they claimed to be his disciples. His conclusion was that a person could NOT be a Christian unless they believed – in EVERY way – the way he did. Result: formula for a feud!

            Our text cited above, written by Peter makes clear the message that above all, we are to keep on loving one another; show hospitality to one another; use our gifts to serve one another; with the stated intended purpose: to bring God the glory through Jesus Christ in all that we do or say.

            May God forgive us when we approach our Christianity like the feuding Hatfield and McCoy families of the 1800s! May God forgive me personally – and I believe he has -- for that is EXACTLY the way I once approached my Christian walk! We do not look like Jesus when we are feuding, fighting, labeling, dividing, and accusing. We never look more like Jesus than we reach out to help and heal the hurting. Jesus did NOT die for a feuding model of discipleship – his model was a model of inclusivity not exclusivity.

            Isn’t it time we got it right?

       

                                                               I love you!     Roger