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Is Church of Christ A Cult?

StoveBolts said:
Wow... So glad you know what we believe.
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Hi Steve,
I have your doctrines and manifesto right in front of me.....not from the net. but from the written book and papers that the C of C publish. If you are not of that C of C doctrine, then what are you defending. I have no problem with no music in the Church. I have herd some beautiful voice choirs in the C of C. But, what if a persons joyful heart in the lord comes from their ability to play an instrument. If a man plays his his musical talents to the Lord, may his heart be fulfilled. But those who play their musical talents, and even those who can sing well, who do so by the pride of the flesh, never honor the Lord.

In Christ
Douglas Summers
 
Willie T said:
In all fairness, he can only go by what is posted by the churches of Christ when stating what the churches of Christ say they believe.. And that is all he did.
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I agree
However, we can take that same mindset from the point of view of a non- believer toward Christians.
It's dangerous to paint any group with a broad stroke of a brush, especially when it comes to their baggage, and heaven knows Christianity as a whole has its own baggage.

Use this forum as an example. How many differing views within Christianity are expressed here? Certainly not one single individual represents the whole of Christianity nor should it be that way.

Each New Testament church in the first century looked a bit different. Uniformity was never Paul's mission because he understood the importance of unity. Unity is not uniformity. We all have freedoms within Christ and we ought to be able to express those freedoms within the context of unity
 
Douglas Summers said:
Hi Steve, No, I do not see any thing wrong with it. Music is not the meat of the Gospel. But you mentioned my brothers in your post as if we ( of those not members of the C of C) are your brethren. But the C of C believes that they are the only true church and all others are apostate. You don't believe that the Holy Spirit indwells believers today.(born again) That it only happened twice in Act and that was all. You believe that we are not justified by faith in God's grace only, but we need works to make us saved. You believe the C of C is the Kingdom of God. You do not believe that God alone can save us, that we must work for it. You believe that conversion is being saved. You believe that it is water baptism is what accounts for salvation. You believe all Baptist are condemned to hell. None of these are core doctrines that is taught by Christ. I have the manifesto of the C of C and it teaches all of these doctrines above. I have no judgment of these things you believe, but judgment on those doctrines when they are introduced into the body of Christ.

In Christ (really)
Douglas Summers
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Hi Doug:

Apparently I did not misunderstand your quote. If there is a one-on-one on this forum are you willing to defend that article?
 
Douglas Summers said:
The Bible versus the "Church of Christ"
www.av1611.org/jmelton/chchurch.html - Similar
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From that site in regard to the Lords Supper
#########################
Notice Mr. Gardner's comments about having to "visualize the broken body and the shed blood of the Master" in order to stay in fellowship with Him. Where in the Bible are we told that our fellowship with Christ is based on our visualizing his body and blood? The Bible tells us to walk by FAITH, not by SIGHT (II Cor. 5:7)! Friend, you can observe the Lord's Supper fifty-two weeks a year, but if you haven't been born again then you're lost and going to Hell, and if your sins aren't being confessed to the Lord regularly, then you are OUT of fellowship with Him, in spite of your faithfulness to the Lord's Supper (Jn. 3:1-7; I Jn. 1:1-10).
########################

Jesus said "do this in remberance of me". Jesus also said, "take this. This is my body.".. And when the meal was finished, do you know what he said ?

I often am called to be table speaker. Nothing wrong with reminding ourselves what Jesus went through for us.

But what really peaks me is the inference that we are not "born again". Rubbish. And then the strict warning that we are not saved and are going to hell.

But wait, there's more. He states, "but where in the bible does it say".... First, it would only be found in the New Testament. Yet, it is wrong for somebody who is trying to please the Lord to ask, "where in the NT do you find the use of musical instruments in worship"
Sounds like a double standard to me.
It also sOunds like the same ego that would say if you ain't a part of "our" denomination, you ain't saved.

So tell me, what gives you or anyone else the authority to boldly state another believer in Christ that they are at risk of going to hell unless they (fill in your own blank)

The Gospel is the good news of what Christ did, and that Gospel is echoed both in the Lords Supper and Baptism. Jesus commanded us to preach the good news. Nowhere do I read Jesus cohersing another human with the threat of Hell. What I do read, is Jesus telling us to take the plank out of our own eye.... And I am doing just that

We are a diverse group, but we are united in our common bond through Christ. We have our baggage.... We all do, including the author of the article you posted
 
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This may seem negative, but it is really positive in the obvious willingness of some congregations to evolve...
The series has 4 posts, but I will only post a small portion of just one. If interested, you can ask, and I will send the remaining ones to you. (My apologies for not getting this preacher's address, but you can do some Googling to find it.... I simply stuck his articles in my hard drive.)

Why are Churches of Christ Shrinking?
Part 1: A Left-Brained Fellowship in a Right-Brained World
For followers of this blog, you know that most all of my posts deal with larger kingdom and cultural issues. The Missional Outreach Network has readers from all different denominational backgrounds, and I want to bring people together through Christ and his mission.

However, if my non-Church of Christ readers can indulge me, I want to post a series dealing with some issues in my fellowship (Churches of Christ). Specifically, I want to seek to address the issue as to why Churches of Christ are shrinking--seeking both your thoughts and to provide some analysis and insights.

First, just an acknowledgment of the fact that we are shrinking is a huge step. For years, somehow we took solace in the fact that our numbers in the US were constant--despite the fact that, as a percentage of the US population, we were already in rapid decline. The US population was growing, and we were not.

In more recent years, the Christian Chronicle (our non-official official newspaper for Churches of Christ) has awakened us to cold reality. Not only are we declining as a percentage of the US population; we are shrinking numerically as well. We are a fellowship in decline. Maybe not declining as quickly as some of the mainline denominations that we have pointed towards, but still, like them, declining.

As long as we were "holding our own," we could just keep doing what we had always been doing, "holding to our principals"--not changing anything--and waiting for the world to change and come around to our point of view. If you are staying about the same, well, that is not good, but it does not put you in a crisis mode that prompts organizations to change or die. But now, as we slowly, painfully, begin to acknowledge that we are dying, we now are perhaps more willing to look at the causes of our death, with the hope perhaps that a cure can be found.

There are numerous reasons for our fellowship's decline which I hope to discuss in this blog post series. But the reason that I want to put forward today is this: we are a left-brained fellowship in a right-brained world.
Churches of Christ in their current, visible form were birthed in the 1800s during the height of the "modern" worldview. This was the age of Reason. We were skeptical of emotion, which could lead us astray. All that stuff at Cane Ridge, where people were looking for expressions of the Spirit as confirmation of their faith, which could include barking like dogs and the like, led nearly half of our fellowship to disbelieve that the Spirit of God worked at all outside of the written word and that there was no indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Shocking to deny, for without the Spirit, we have no eternal life.

All I was allowed to post, due to the forum limit.
 
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Douglas Summers said:
Hi Webb,
No, I don't have to defend it.....You do. It is what the C of C publishes. I do not believe those doctrines.
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Hi Doug
Then I will gladly defend it on the one-on-one with you or any on this forum. Just select one of the charges made against us in your article and I shall defend them one at a time.
God bless,
W
Rom.16:16

TO BE DEEP IN SCRIPTURE IS TO CEASE BEING CATHOLIC, PROTESTAND AND JEW --- WEBB
 
Webb said:
Hi Doug
Then I will gladly defend it on the one-on-one with you or any on this forum. Just select one of the charges made against us in your article and I shall defend them one at a time.
God bless,
W
Rom.16:16

TO BE DEEP IN SCRIPTURE IS TO CEASE BEING CATHOLIC, PROTESTAND AND JEW --- WEBB
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Hi Webb,
You do not have to defend them to me. Defend them to someone who wants to debate them. I do not care to debate. We all have the Book. We just all have to study and read the Scriptures. Nothing in the Body of Christ is left to self will, all understanding is given by the Spirit of Christ. You must be born again.

In Christ
Douglas Summers

 
Douglas Summers said:
Hi Webb,
You do not have to defend them to me. Defend them to someone who wants to debate them. I do not care to debate. We all have the Book. We just all have to study and read the Scriptures. Nothing in the Body of Christ is left to self will, all understanding is given by the Spirit of Christ. You must be born again.

In Christ
Douglas Summers
Hi Doug
I didn't post the article, you did. It was filled with error on the part of its author, accusations without merit and taken out of context. If one posts on this or any forum they should be willing and ready to defend them. "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ" I Peter 3:15,16.
I have no animosity toward you but interested only in what does the Bible teach. My offer to take this to the one-on-one was not to you alone but to any on this forum, such is fair enough.
God bless,
w
Romans 16:16
TO BE DEEP IN SCRIPTURE IS TO CEASE BEING PROTESTANT, CATHOLIC OR JEW --- Webb
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Rollo Tamasi said:
Well, now that the Church of Christ is settled, what do you say we move on to the 7th Day Adventists?
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Haha, very funny
Now, let's all follow the bouncing ball and sing along, Ready?

Welcome back my friends to a show that never ends, we're so glad you could attend; come inside, come inside.
Right behind the glass is a real blade of grass, be careful as you pass; move along move along.

La la la....
 
StoveBolts said:
Haha, very funny
Now, let's all follow the bouncing ball and sing along, Ready?

Welcome back my friends to a show that never ends, we're so glad you could attend; come inside, come inside.
Right behind the glass is a real blade of grass, be careful as you pass; move along move along.

La la la....
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Now you've got the spirit, la la la...
 
Rollo Tamasi said:
By the way, I attend Calvary Chapel.
Since they don't have memberships, I can't say I'm a member.
But if you want to blast them, you can.
They have as many problems as anyone else.
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We only blast people to take the spotlight off ourselves....
Some of the biggest hypocrites, religious or not spend more time disrespecting the differences in others than they do trying to improve their own lives...
Look, a squirrel...
 
StoveBolts said:
Haha, very funny
Now, let's all follow the bouncing ball and sing along, Ready?

Welcome back my friends to a show that never ends, we're so glad you could attend; come inside, come inside.
Right behind the glass is a real blade of grass, be careful as you pass; move along move along.

La la la....
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that church is a bit out there imho, not a cult but not my style
 
jasonc said:
that church is a bit out there imho, not a cult but not my style
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Me either lol

Left behind the bars, rows of Bishops' heads in jars
and a bomb inside a car
Spectacular! Spectacular!

If you follow me there's a speciality
some tears for you to see
Misery, misery,
Roll up! Roll up! Roll up!
See the show!

Next upon the bill in our House of Vaudeville
We've a stripper in a till
What a thrill! What a thrill!
And not content with that, with our hands behind our backs,
We pull Jesus from a hat,
Get into that! Get into that!
Roll up! Roll up! Roll up!
See the show!
 
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