I don't blame Campbell for trying. He was frustrated that people in nearly every denomination thought that everyone in every other denomination was not really a Christian and was going to Hell. He, a Presbyterian minister, got into trouble for "having fellowship" with the wrong kinds of Presbyterians. He believed there were Christians in all of the denominations.Cootie Brown wrote:The original premise of the restoration movement was fatally flawed from its inception. It was believed all one had to do was follow & adhere to the Bible as literally as possible, because the Bible was accepted as the literal words of God. The Bible was accepted as a literal instruction manual created by God personally for mankind.
So he thought he had come up with a way to get everyone to take a step back and come to agreement. Seems logical on some level. It's ironic that within 75 or so years the denomination that resulted became one of the worst offenders, then. And now, after another hundred years, most of the people in other denominations have gotten past the pettiness, leaving his group as one of the few "One True Church" denominations. So, yes, it was fatally flawed, but I can see why he thought something had to be done and that this might work.