I think it's important to regularly re-examine our beliefs and assumptions in the light of the Bible, and to pray about the matters we take for granted.
One thing we all long for is assurance that we are correct in our assumptions and beliefs. This need is so strong that we will often continue to cling to old beliefs simply because we have always believed them. Many people, I'm afraid, do not actively seek to refresh their view of what's real and what isn't. They cling to familiar rocks. Consider liberals and conservatives. Both are convinced they are right and their counterparts are fools. One of them, however, perhaps both, are wrong. But both stand in assurance that they are right. People believe all kinds of things and most are convinced they are right. They can't all be.
Canfield's book on the Ground of Locality reveals a person who really is not re-examining his assumptions much. The fact that he re-iterates this doctrine in the same way it's always been iterated, in the same voice with the same illustrations and examples, shows a lack of fresh insight, or even a desire for it. On the contrary, what comes through is the mindset that he was right in the past and he is more right now.
One of the hardest things to do is to drop old beliefs that you are on record as defending and, especially, which you have based your identity on. It's hard to admit that though your belief seemed so real, you actually didn't know what you were talking about. It's very unsettling because it makes you wonder how many other of your foundational beliefs are wrong.
This is why we need to really pray about everything we believe, about all our assumptions. And we need to do it regularly, because what we are really getting to know is not just the truth, but God as truth.
The truth sets us free. But we don't get to the truth by just following what seems right, or what we've always been taught, or what we learned when we were young. We have to ask God again and again to make us clear. We have to challenge our assumptions to prove themselves.
And we especially have to avoid the attitude that people who don't agree with us are wrong or, worse, have bad motives. Perhaps we are the ones with the bad motives. I wonder if Canfield has ever considered this possibility. I certainly didn't when I was in the LC. I just thought I was right and that was that.
The LC expects its members to accept certain beliefs without question. They don't ask you to pray about what they teach, they expect you believe it, wholesale, without modification. Canfield does mention prayer in his book. Sort of. He says:
In contrast [to those with hard hearts who don't follow the Ground of Locality teaching], if we really have a heart to know the Lord’s will, then His way in this matter, what really is according to His heart, will become plain to us as we prayerfully consider the New Testament pattern;
Do you see what he's saying? He's not asking us to pray. He's not saying go to the Lord and see what he tells you. He's saying if you have a heart to know God's will then when you pray you
will agree with Canfield's opinion.
So Canfield is saying: Heart to Know God's Will + Prayer = Agreeing with Canfield.
Another thing Canfield is saying is that throughout the course of history, very few people have ever sincerely prayed to God about how to have church correctly, because so very few have seen what he sees and obeyed that vision.
The implications are staggering if you think about that. But, apparently he truly believes it.
As if this wasn't arrogant enough, right after this Canfield goes on to blatantly declare that those who don't agree with his interpretation of the Bible don't love the Lord enough.
You can't make this stuff up, folks. You really can't.