Maurice Barnett’s Response to Tom Couchman
Editor’s Note: When you have responses to responses to responses, it can get complicated. Brother Barnett does a fine job answering Tom Couchman’s article found elsewhere on this site. This article has been posted to the Gospel Anchor Web Site, and is reprinted here by permission.
There is nothing personal about this review. I had never heard of brother Couchman before this, much less have I met him. Seeing that I was one of those who signed the Open Letter under discussion, brother Couchman necessarily included me in his criticism of the Letter. That calls for this reply. I am not interested in any personal vindication. I have no pride that’s been bruised nor an injured reputation that needs salvaging. I am interested only in truth.I care not at all what “pillars” of the past or present have said on this subject. They do not determine what truth is. The Open Letter is being tagged as a creed by its opponents and their supporters. They say this because so many men signed the letter to show their agreement with it. That is supposed to make it a creed. However, the very ones who are saying this are making up a list of “pillars” in the church, past and present, of those who are supposed to agree with them. Brother Couchman does some of that. Now, why is it that the Open Letter is a creed because it has several who signed it, but the other side’s position is not a creed though they make up their list of men who agree with them? Watch your step, brethren, You’re condemning yourselves. My decision to sign the Open Letter was because I, on my own, agreed with what was said. There was no collusion between the signators. I would have signed it even if no other had done so. Brother Caldwell sent a letter to all the signers of the Open Letter. He had a seven point inclosure with it titled “The President’s Position On Teaching Divine Creation at Florida College.” How many signatures would it have taken to make that inclosure a creed? If one other person signed it would it have been a creed, or would it have needed sixty-seven signatures to make it so? Or, just how many in between?
