Church of Christ- Not Protestant ?

[Kay_Cee]

Thank you! Your link actually helped me ALOT!

Glad I could help!

While this “debate” has definitely been frustrating to me, I cannot condemn the experience. I must admit, I am a 43 year old who walked away from the church about 20 years ago. I don’t think I ever “renounced” the church, because whenever asked I would always tell people I am Catholic. I have wanted to return to the church on many occasions, however it is difficult when the only catholic church near you either (1) gives mass in spanish, which I do not speak or (2) the only english mass is filled with mostly elderly members and there are no childrens services (I have 5 children!)

You might call your diocese and ask what is available in your area. They might be able to help, they might not be able to help, but you have nothing to lose by calling them.

We moved to a new town, and there is no Catholic Church nearby. As I stated in my original post, I am the ONLY Catholic in town. I firmly believe God, in his great wisdom, brought me to the Topix forum so that I could see what was being written. My passion and love for the church was still strong, I was SO angered by what I saw. I know that the Church of Christ’s preacher was trying to win converts, he even tried convincing me, but all he served to do was to strengthen my faith in the Catholic church.

This sort of thing happens a lot. The amount of misinformation out there is simply staggering. As Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said, “There are not over a 100 people in the U.S. that hate the Catholic Church, there are millions however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church, which is, of course, quite a different thing.”

It might interest you to know that Catholic Answers (and of course Catholic Answers Forum) was begun by Karl Keating, who was upset by an anti-Catholic flier left on his car while he was attending Mass. You can read a short story about that here:
catholic.com/home/history.asp

I have had to research everything he’s accused the church of in order to defend it. I’ve gotten quite an education! (all those years of CCD didn’t stick with me). I have a renewed faith, love and awe in the Catholic Church, and for that I have to thank the COC preacher.

It feels GREAT to be back!:knight1:

So glad you’re here!

I should mention that sticking around the forums will give you a quick education too. Sometimes I’m simply astounded at the knowledgable folks around here. So, if you ever have a problem defending the Church, please feel free to open a thread about it, and you will be amazed at the help you get. We are here for you. You are not alone in this.

I understand exactly what you mean by a renewed faith, love, and awe in the Catholic Church. I’ve been studying the Church for 14 years now, and I still get astonished by the depth of our faith. It’s something like exploring a mansion, each room filled with dazzling treasures. The more I study, the more I’m struck by the beauty, love, and logic of the Church.

 

[LorenaMarie]

Thank you so much! I’m glad to be back … I will DEFINITELY be coming back to these forums and asking LOTS of questions!

I did check that link on how the forums got started. I can remember as a kid coming out of church and finding fliers like that on our cars, too! It would anger the entire congregation!

Talk about disrespectful!

 

[Darron_Steele]

My husband grew up in the COC and now considers them to be a cult. He was basically guilted and stalked by members for leaving. His parents treat him like he is a drug pusher and shame him (people outside the coc cannot understand why a good man, never go so much as a school detention growing up, who went to college on a scholarship, worked hard, never disobeyed his parents and is now a dream husband is being shunned by his parents). They are similar to Mormon and J&Ws in their cult-like behavior.

They have an absurd view of history and deny being established by Alexander Campbell here in the United States in the 1800’s. Very anti-Catholic and many lies from the preachers. Music, dancing, drinking a sip of wine all send you to hell in their eyes. They claim the 33ad establishment yet can provide no historical proof of ever existing. People are leaving by the droves, they are basically self-imploding as a denomination and probably will not exist in 20 years. There is so much emotional absue and manipulation in the coc, it has a bigger place in their theology than Jesus. Church splits happen daily over minor issues and gossip.
A good place to learn more is the ex-churchofchrist message board. There is also a great board called coc to Catholic.

Hugs to any ex-cocers on this board, I understand the frustration these people put you through.

I am a former adherent of the Churches of Christ.

There are two types of congregations that identify as “Church of Christ.” One is affiliated with the Independent Christian Churches, and the other is not.

Restoration history is not simple.

Go way, way back to the beginning. In the late 1700’s, creeds were `must believes’ and clergymen were not to be disagreed with. In the United States, there arose three groups that sought to establish in the church the same sort of liberty that existed in all other aspects of American life. These groups were led by James O’Kelley/O’Kelly, Abner Jones, and Elias Smith. The common idea was to require only that people be Christians, follow the Bible, and allow them to disagree. They eventually merged into what became called the Christian Connexion.

Independently of this, the same thing happened with a group led by Barton Stone in the first decade of the 1800’s. Also in the early 1800’s, Alexander Campbell began calling for unity, but he sought to do it on the basis of replicating the New Testament-era church. The list of precepts that were required was not acceptable to people who wanted all Christians accepted. Part of Barton Stone’s group merged with A. Campbell’s group – and the rest vehemently rejected joining A. Campbell’s group.

The part that did not merge had common cause with the legacy of James O’Kelley, Elias Smith, and Abner Jones. This was what was called the Christian Connexion, or Christian Church, and eventually the General Convention of the Christian Church. It merged with Congregationalists in 1931 to become the Congregational Christian churches, and no longer exists.

The part of B. Stone’s group that did merge with Alexander Campbell’s group became the larger Restoration group. A. Campbell’s group had adherents that took his ideas and went where he did not wish. A. Campbell’s adherents soon began pressing their views on the Christians merged in, making them factious protégés. This caused the larger Restoration body to be overrun by factious people. The attitude `Agree with me or we will divide’ was a huge problem in the larger Restoration body. Alexander Campbell had much difficulty restraining it, and when he died, it went crazy.

Representatives of those who hated musical instruments directed the 1906 census to list them as a separate body: the Churches of Christ. They remained separate from the Christian Churches/Disciples of Christ and other Churches of Christ who did not join the split.

In the 1960’s, the Disciples of Christ began a Restructure. Due to a misinformation campaign, many congregations withdrew under fear that they would lose rights to their property and their own affairs. Over time, it became apparent that the Restructure was primarily to protect the denominational agencies from accountability to the congregations. Later congregations began withdrawing over fruitless protests or to protect themselves from embarrassment. Congregations have been fizzling off the Disciples of Christ ever since, making the Independent Christian churches and Churches of Christ.

Both groups of Churches of Christ share the same insistence that everyone agree with the party line precepts. If a person agrees with those precepts, they are sound, faithful Christians' no matter how they behave. In general, any Christian who does not agree with those precepts is considered of lesser quality, or not a Christian at all. They insist that they have no creed and follow only the Bible, but they have a list of Scripture inferences’ Christians `should have’ which make an unwritten creed often more ruthlessly enforced than written creeds.

The Churches of Christ are undergoing changes at the present time. In some areas, the factiousness is going down. People who are factious feel pressure to hide it. In other places, the factiousness is now being extended against even Churches of Christ that even get suspected of not toeing the party lines, and they are shrinking. Where this is going to lead is uncertain, but I can tell you one thing: there are Churches of Christ that are accepting Christians from outside church groups in ways that were totally outside my imagination 10 years ago. This seems to be on the rise.

 

[NHInsider]

As a fairly new member of my local Church of Christ, I thought I could provide some insight for you on this topic. There are four types of ‘Churches of Christ’:

*The Church of Christ, Scientist-Founded by Mary Baker Eddy. Also known as Church of Christ of Boston, like you mentioned.

Just to clarify, the Church of Christ of Boston is NOT the same as the Church of Christ, Scientist, even though the Mother Church of Christian Science is also in Boston.

And one is a respected, albeit non-Christian denomination (because of their defective Christology) and the other is a cult (of which my s-i-l is a member). And neither of them is affiliated with the quasi-denomination that is the subject of this thread.

 

[MercyMia]

Just to clarify, the Church of Christ of Boston is NOT the same as the Church of Christ, Scientist, even though the Mother Church of Christian Science is also in Boston.

And one is a respected, albeit non-Christian denomination (because of their defective Christology) and the other is a cult (of which my s-i-l is a member). And neither of them is affiliated with the quasi-denomination that is the subject of this thread.

The Boston church of Christ is part of the International church of Christ which is not affilated with the church of Chrsit but I believe it is an offshoot of it. The International church of Christ is quite similar to the churches of Christ but much much more scary. It is widely known as a cult with lots of abuse and mind control.

 

[MercyMia]

I am a former adherent of the Churches of Christ.

There are two types of congregations that identify as “Church of Christ.” One is affiliated with the Independent Christian Churches, and the other is not.

Restoration history is not simple.

Go way, way back to the beginning. In the late 1700’s, creeds were `must believes’ and clergymen were not to be disagreed with. In the United States, there arose three groups that sought to establish in the church the same sort of liberty that existed in all other aspects of American life. These groups were led by James O’Kelley/O’Kelly, Abner Jones, and Elias Smith. The common idea was to require only that people be Christians, follow the Bible, and allow them to disagree. They eventually merged into what became called the Christian Connexion.

Independently of this, the same thing happened with a group led by Barton Stone in the first decade of the 1800’s. Also in the early 1800’s, Alexander Campbell began calling for unity, but he sought to do it on the basis of replicating the New Testament-era church. The list of precepts that were required was not acceptable to people who wanted all Christians accepted. Part of Barton Stone’s group merged with A. Campbell’s group – and the rest vehemently rejected joining A. Campbell’s group.

The part that did not merge had common cause with the legacy of James O’Kelley, Elias Smith, and Abner Jones. This was what was called the Christian Connexion, or Christian Church, and eventually the General Convention of the Christian Church. It merged with Congregationalists in 1931 to become the Congregational Christian churches, and no longer exists.

The part of B. Stone’s group that did merge with Alexander Campbell’s group became the larger Restoration group. A. Campbell’s group had adherents that took his ideas and went where he did not wish. A. Campbell’s adherents soon began pressing their views on the Christians merged in, making them factious protégés. This caused the larger Restoration body to be overrun by factious people. The attitude `Agree with me or we will divide’ was a huge problem in the larger Restoration body. Alexander Campbell had much difficulty restraining it, and when he died, it went crazy.

Representatives of those who hated musical instruments directed the 1906 census to list them as a separate body: the Churches of Christ. They remained separate from the Christian Churches/Disciples of Christ and other Churches of Christ who did not join the split.

In the 1960’s, the Disciples of Christ began a Restructure. Due to a misinformation campaign, many congregations withdrew under fear that they would lose rights to their property and their own affairs. Over time, it became apparent that the Restructure was primarily to protect the denominational agencies from accountability to the congregations. Later congregations began withdrawing over fruitless protests or to protect themselves from embarrassment. Congregations have been fizzling off the Disciples of Christ ever since, making the Independent Christian churches and Churches of Christ.

Both groups of Churches of Christ share the same insistence that everyone agree with the party line precepts. If a person agrees with those precepts, they are sound, faithful Christians' no matter how they behave. In general, any Christian who does not agree with those precepts is considered of lesser quality, or not a Christian at all. They insist that they have no creed and follow only the Bible, but they have a list of Scripture inferences’ Christians `should have’ which make an unwritten creed often more ruthlessly enforced than written creeds.

The Churches of Christ are undergoing changes at the present time. In some areas, the factiousness is going down. People who are factious feel pressure to hide it. In other places, the factiousness is now being extended against even Churches of Christ that even get suspected of not toeing the party lines, and they are shrinking. Where this is going to lead is uncertain, but I can tell you one thing: there are Churches of Christ that are accepting Christians from outside church groups in ways that were totally outside my imagination 10 years ago. This seems to be on the rise.

Thank you for such a detailed history.

 

[eucharisteo]

For anyone seeking to know more about the “church of Christ” please “Google” coc to Catholic. That forum is currently down because the server is under some sort of restructuring or whatever. The lady that created it is a former member of the COC, as we call it. I too came out of the “coc” and some people on this thread got it right. But the “coc” is not the same as the “united coc” the “Boston coc” is an offshoot cult that took evangelism to a completely new level of controlling its members and recruiting others. The “COC scientist” has nothing to do with the “coc”. *

My wife is a cradle “coc” and converted to Catholicism in 2007 after I discovered information that clearly disbuted some claims of the “coc”. The Didache includes other than complete submersion in water baptism. Baptism is necessary for salvation, they believe as the Catholic Church teaches. But they do not accept infant baptism.

I’ve heard stories about people being re-submerged simply because a finger or foot was out of the water at the pronouncement of the trinitarian baptism words were spoken. I baptized my oldest son at the age of 9. He started asking to be baptized at around 5 and I was too scrupulous to allow it. I am technically a cradle Catholic but grew up in a broken home where religion was not really practiced. I was proselytized at the age of 9 and ultimately never received enough catechesis to understand or recognize Church authority quite the way I should have. I thought sacred tradition was man’s tradition and that the bible was the inerrant word of God in that it was the supreme authority. I’ve studies scripture most of my life beginning at the age of 14, right after my first communion.

I spent a total of maybe 10 classes preparing for all the sacraments, including 2 for confirmation. I was deeply confused but very much in love with Jesus and always understood Mary as forever virgin as do some “coc”. It was not a point to argue in our mainstream.

In the “Coc” there are “liberal” congregations, “mainstream” and “ante” or conservative “coc”. Our family is mainly “mainstream”. Our marriage was convalidated and our 2 littlest ones wre baptized the following day. Finding a godparent was extremely difficult for us and we eventually “transferred” or adopted a priest friend of mine from when I even attended the seminary to become a priest. Long story.

Google coc to catholic or pm me to obtain any information you are interested in knowing. I realize this is an old thread but it was started about 9 months prior to my realizing I’m actually Catholic, not this splinter group that believes they are members of the one true church founded by Christ.*

 

[Crusader1978]

Having grown up in an enormous Church of Christ family and gone to a Church of Christ university, I might be able to help whoever might be interested understand this particular Protestant denomination a little bit better.

Every post I have read on here thus far as been in correct - in different ways. Church’s of Christ vary, depending on the size of the community. Some are more liberal and accepting than others, many are still quite narrow minded and full of fire and brimstone condemnation. You will find that these latter types of fire-eaters are usually in the very small communities in the Southern US. They are indeed gradually dying out, as one commentator posted. They consist mostly of seniors who were raised this way through the early to mid 20th century. Most larger congregations in larger cities are more liberal, and though they certainly find Catholics and other faiths’ hope of salvation extremely problematic, in some cases even doubtful, they are more concerned with saving that person than in condemning them.

Almost all labor under the mistaken idea that the Church of Christ (their version) has always been around. It was the NT church at first, but when the Church became corrupt through Roman influence, they supposedly went underground and have always had a secret sect of true believers carrying on the original Scriptural interpretations. You will find that almost all of them are utterly unread in church history, but through no fault of their own. The only thing we study in Sunday school is the first 100 years or so of the church, then totally skip to the Reformation, if even that, since that was Lutheran. As previously mentioned by a poster, Churches of Christ are actually members of the Stone-Campbell movement which started back in the early 1800’s. They, kind of like the Puritans, wanted to get back to what they considered to be the original church, based on their own very literal idea of sola scriptura. If it’s not mentioned or spelled out in very concrete black and white terms in scripture (and only the protestant version of the bible), then they don’t consider it to be valid New Testament worship. That’s why there are no musical instruments involved with worship, no infant baptism, and also why there is nothing remotely like a Pope. Since these ideas are not very clearly described in the scriptures (though I know the concepts ARE there), they refuse to find them valid aspects of Christian worship, viewing them as the traditions of men that supposedly corrupted the Church over time. I know that Catholics more than adequately support their faith through scripture, but most Church of Christer’s will find most Catholic dogmas to to be totally absent from scripture. And if a Catholic talks about the idea of Church tradition, they will simply point to one of several scripture verses that say to not hold onto tradition. Of course, they have their own traditions, but they do not see them as such. Only “correct” apostolic interpretations of the Bible.

To boil it down, The Church of Christ denomination is a very bare bones version of Christianity. No instrumental music, no Church heiarchy as we know it (though there are elders and deacons), and each congregation is autonomous and completely seperate from the other ones. However, in their favor, Churches of Christ are one of the few protestant denominations that insist on taking communion every Sunday, (though it is just crackers and grape juice symbols), sing GLORIOUSLY at worship since there is no musical instrumentation to back them up, and are very rightly concerned about a believer being baptized before he/she can be accepted into the Body of Christ. Most members also hold to the same moral code as Catholics do, decrying abortion, gay marriage, fornication, and the other usual suspects.

If you happen to enter into a theological discussion with a Church of Christ’er, please know that they will probably know more scripture verses than most any Catholic. The way to really show them about the truth and primacy of the Catholic Church is to expose them to actual Church history. That is the only way one can prove to them that their interpretation of scripture is misinformed. That’s the main reason I converted from the Church of Christ to Catholicism. I learned more about Church history than I had been taught, and realized that the Catholic Church interpretation of scripture was ALSO the interpretation of the Apostles and other early Church fathers. If you can prove that historical fact to a Church of Christ member, they may not still convert, but their minds at least will be opened, and the possibility to a conversion will at least be much much stronger.

Hope this helps explain the thinking behind this particular denomination.

Please feel free to ask me any questions and I will do my best to answer them!

 

[eucharisteo]

Crusader1978

I take offense to your statement that everything stated on the thread was “incorrect”. I beg to differ with you. However, you only reiterated other aspect of the church of Christ. There are probably aspects of the COC that you are unfamiliar with. My FIL was an elder, my 2 oldest BIL are preachers, one is an elder. Then I have 3 other BIL that are deacons. Then the our nephews and their spouses we have 2 more preachers and several deacons among them. The Campbellite movement as some call it is a term that typically offends them. In fact to refer to them as a denomination is considered offensive.

Go here for more information about how I converted. I was prepared for an advanced degree through ACU but God stuck His 2 cents in for me and stopped me by means of my wife, who loathed her own faith.

COC to Catholic

 

[LorenaMarie]

Having a conversation about Church history with someone from the COC is quite a difficult undertaking!!! I’ve been debating this COC preacher (who admits he never had any formal training, and admits there are NO elders or deacons at his church) for months now. Catholic history has been a major topic of discussion. I have provided him with plenty of proof, list of popes, letters from Saints such as Ignatius of Antioch to Smyrneans, etc., but to no avail. I’ve even shown him in the Encyclopedia Brittanica where it states that the COC was a part of the Protestant movement!!!

He claims that the Catholic church “made up” the list of Popes, we created the letter to the Smyrneans, and that the Encyclopedia Brittanica was written by Satan!!!

There are simply some people who WILL NOT listen to reason… but I still try. As much as this man irks me, he is still a Child of God, and is worthy of the Truth!

 

[eucharisteo]

Having a conversation about Church history with someone from the COC is quite a difficult undertaking!!! I’ve been debating this COC preacher (who admits he never had any formal training, and admits there are NO elders or deacons at his church) for months now. Catholic history has been a major topic of discussion. I have provided him with plenty of proof, list of popes, letters from Saints such as Ignatius of Antioch to Smyrneans, etc., but to no avail. I’ve even shown him in the Encyclopedia Brittanica where it states that the COC was a part of the Protestant movement!!!

He claims that the Catholic church “made up” the list of Popes, we created the letter to the Smyrnaeans, and that the Encyclopedia Brittanica was written by Satan!!!

There are simply some people who WILL NOT listen to reason… but I still try. As much as this man irks me, he is still a Child of God, and is worthy of the Truth!

Yet you do not do like Christ commands you? Remove your sandals and dust the dirt off. Have nothing to do with them. You see, I appreciate your charity, but it goes a bit too far. And sense you are a woman it is very unlikely he will ever take anything you say seriously. You action will only draw attacks, which does not bring the peace we are also commanded to seek. You’ve planted the seed, now let the Holy Spirit make it grow. Hand him a book written by a former COC preacher, Bruce Sullivan, who converted to Catholicism. The name of the book is “CHRIST IN HIS FULLNESS - A Protestant Minister Discovers The Fullness of Christ in the Catholic Church”. Bruce is a friend of mine and called me out of the blue one day after discussing my conversion back to the Church. I was on my way to becoming a COC minister too. But God put a major stumbling block in my path that saved me from not being allowed to become a deacon in the Catholic Church.

 

[Crusader1978]

My apologies. I should have proof read it better. I meant correct - not incorrect. I am hoping that the rest of the post made up for that mistake. I too went to ACU so I know of what you speak. However my conversion didn’t come around until about 8 years after I graduated. You still in Texas? I will take a look at your link. Sounds pretty interesting to me!

 

[Annabelle_Marie]

One of the people who works for me goes to the Church of Christ. She has been very negative about a parishoner who no longer goes there (but is my neighbor). I think this neighbor changed churches because I still see them leave to go somewhere on Sundays. I suspect that she in anti-Catholic against me (especially since I just came back to the Church) but doesn’t voice it as I am her boss…

I don’t get the whole acapella thing…didn’t David play a harp? I could never do this church because I sing TERRIBLE!

 

[eucharisteo]

My apologies. I should have proof read it better. I meant correct - not incorrect. I am hoping that the rest of the post made up for that mistake. I too went to ACU so I know of what you speak. However my conversion didn’t come around until about 8 years after I graduated. You still in Texas? I will take a look at your link. Sounds pretty interesting to me!

Many of us are Texans on that link y’all. Stephanie, a young lady, from the same area I went to school started that website for us. We were on the ex-churchofchrist board but it became quite hostile and I bowed out of it and she finally started this board for us right after we came home to the Catholic Church.

Yes, the rest of your post was spot on and describes exactly what many other evangelicals can’t even understand. We’re about as hard headed as they get, unless we became part of one of those “liberal” congregations teaching apostacy…they have a quartet choir. Such heretics.

 

[Darron_Steele]

Having a conversation about Church history with someone from the COC is quite a difficult undertaking!!! I’ve been debating this COC preacher (who admits he never had any formal training,
…
He claims that the Catholic church “made up” the list of Popes, we created the letter to the Smyrneans, and that the Encyclopedia Brittanica was written by Satan!!!

There are simply some people who WILL NOT listen to reason… but I still try. As much as this man irks me, he is still a Child of God, and is worthy of the Truth!

Yet you do not do like Christ commands you? Remove your sandals and dust the dirt off. Have nothing to do with them. You see, I appreciate your charity, but it goes a bit too far. And sense you are a woman it is very unlikely he will ever take anything you say seriously. You action will only draw attacks, which does not bring the peace we are also commanded to seek. …

There are two common types of leaders and influencers among the Churches of Christ.

There are those who do give attention to contrary evidence, whether it is from the Bible or history, but refuse to reconsider what they already believe. You are wasting your time.

There are those who will not give real attention to contrary evidence, whether it is from Bible or history, and refuse to reconsider what they already think – and will get acrimonious. The best thing is to avoid discussion of disagreements, and if he will not allow it, avoid him.

About the latter, I visited a Church of Christ 30 minutes away this past weekend. I was approached by the preacher, and asked about my church affiliation. This was a filtering conversation. It was to get acquainted with me and to determine my soundness.' I am not sound’ and so I need to be watched.' I am certainly welcome to come back, for now. If I fail’ to accept the party lines within reasonable' time limits, my conditional welcome’ will run out.

When he derived my church affiliation, he proceeded to tell me about what goes on with Disciples of Christ. Keep in mind that I am in one weekend and weekend out. He was undaunted in continuing to tell me his inaccurate diatribes. After a bit, I did not make any effort to correct him. I saw no merit to getting him upset, and thereby risking a fight, by interfering with his fun.

I also see nothing to be gained by going back, either.

On the other hand, I really miss a Church of Christ I once frequented about an hour from where I live. Nice people from the pews to the pulpit. Certainly there was disdain for other church groups, but no acrimony for them or for their adherents.

 

[eucharisteo]

Having searched so much for a “church home” I certainly know exactly what you mean. We’ve been Catholic for 3 years 7 months now. At least I have once I realized I had to come home and went to confession. You have no idea the sins you commit that need to think about when you go through searching your conscience for all sins, particularly mortal sins. It is grueling. Practicing Catholicism really changes you. It motivates you to really change, internally. I found the whole COC thing to be one of the best and worst experiences of my life. Yet you’d have to put a gun to me to make me attend one again, even ecumenically because of the scars from abuse it left me and my wife.

One major tactic they use when “checking them out” is give you the third degree. We’ve been disfellowshipped twice. The first time I lost faith but tried to restore it simply because my wife wouldn’t let go. I longed to return to the Catholic Church, even though I thought it was truthfully dead. Finding COCs that converted to being Catholic blew my mind and caused me to ask many questions. In fact, I was like that preacher you spoke to, quite annoying and very uncharitable. Why? Because I was afraid too. But I knew something was wrong and in 1990 I saw the first pictures with explanation of an Orthodox Christian Divine Liturgy. I thought they were Orthodox Jews. It caused me to seek out a better explanation when I finally realized what was wrong about Protestantism of our flavor. I understood mainstream Protestant Evangelicals and saw very clearly a lack of “truth” simply by being well versed in scripture. I have to admit that learning and reading my bible gave me a serious advantage over Catholics who were wrongfully taught to not read their bibles. But my family always read theirs, even the Catholics. My grandfather spent 2 years in the seminary. I spent one. We took classes there as well, but it was nothing like ACU, Harding, OCU, LCU, Lipscomb, etc. However, it was my personal bible study that led me to the truth in the Catholic Church along with discovering authentic historical writings from well known Christian leaders. All of this “making it up” just rings of absolute ignorance in the true sense. It would be like a general not being educated in the history of war, etc. Can you imagine George C. Scott, playing General Patton and not being able to recite quotes from famous military leaders?

 

[Darron_Steele]

Having searched so much for a “church home” I certainly know exactly what you mean.
…
I found the whole COC thing to be one of the best and worst experiences of my life. Yet you’d have to put a gun to me to make me attend one again, even ecumenically because of the scars from abuse it left me and my wife.

I am sorry to hear that you suffered directly due to these people.

I had a hard-line “Church of Christ” scare me back in August of 1999. I had long been disturbed by the encouragement of
a) ill feelings towards “the denominations” and their adherents, and
b) contra-Scriptural conduct toward “the denominations” and their adherents.
It bothered me to see a place portraying itself as a church act this way, but they talked right about the Bible. I did not apply the maxim “talk is cheap” as I should have. Well, one day, I realized that the conduct encouraged toward “denominational” people could one day be directed at me. I was no longer just bothered; I was now scared. I did not go back.

In retrospect, I should not have been going there. Hebrews 10:24-5 tells us that church congregations ought to assemble to urge us to do what is good and right. As these types of “Church of Christ” places encourage people to act in ways totally unbefitting followers of Jesus Christ, they are not church congregations. I should have been assembling with a church congregation during that time, and years later, I know that I was duped into wasting time with an imitation.

I went to a Baptist congregation that evening. A few years later, I found better Church of Christ congregations that were not like the place I described above. These were places that, despite their flaws, deserved to be called church congregations.

One major tactic they use when “checking them out” is give you the third degree. We’ve been disfellowshipped twice. …

Yeah; I knew the subtle `third degree’ I was getting.

I knew what would have been coming. I am not interested. The people in the pews seem pretty nice. However, I bet the people in authority overall are not so nice if they determine they have someone `chronically unsound’ assembling among them. In some cases, ceasing to attend is not enough to stop the trouble.

I have been happily in the Disciples of Christ for several years now. I have no desire to ever leave this church group.

Before I got married, I went to a Disciples of Christ congregation that had only morning services, and went to a pretty cool Church of Christ in the evenings. I miss it.

My current congregation has only morning services. I was hoping to find a Church of Christ congregation for the evenings fairly close to where my wife and I now live. There is another Church of Christ congregation about 35 minutes from where I now live. If this one does not seem to be a good fit, I will drive the 50-55 minutes to the one I miss. It would be a good reason to visit my parents who live just six minutes away from it anyway.

 

[ggteach]

I grew up with a sister-in-law who was raised in the Church of Christ. She, too, stated that they were not Protestant. They were the one true church and they had the one true Bible. She was always trying to save us because we had not been properly baptized. I went to her church once when I was about fifteen or sixteen. The preacher made two anti-Catholic comments during his sermon because he knew I was there. Further, the national periodical that they published had a “question and answer” column in which a person had asked the columnist “Where does the 666 appear on the Pope?” The response was something like “we don’t know exactly,” as if to say that it was there, just not easily seen. She eventually left my brother for another man. She wasn’t well-versed on Catholic doctrine, but she knew it was wrong! To this day, I cringe when I think about my experience there. The preacher was a welder or something like that during the week and preached on Sundays to a congregation of about 30 people. Eventually, the local church closed. If one was not in their church, they would not get to Heaven. God help Jews! God help Catholics! We were all doomed. If she ever reads this, I’m in trouble, but I feel better knowing that I’m not the only person who ever had this kind of experience with this particular religious sect.

 

[Esdra]

I grew up with a sister-in-law who was raised in the Church of Christ. She, too, stated that they were not Protestant. They were the one true church and they had the one true Bible. She was always trying to save us because we had not been properly baptized. I went to her church once when I was about fifteen or sixteen. The preacher made two anti-Catholic comments during his sermon because he knew I was there. Further, the national periodical that they published had a “question and answer” column in which a person had asked the columnist “Where does the 666 appear on the Pope?” The response was something like “we don’t know exactly,” as if to say that it was there, just not easily seen. She eventually left my brother for another man. She wasn’t well-versed on Catholic doctrine, but she knew it was wrong! To this day, I cringe when I think about my experience there. The preacher was a welder or something like that during the week and preached on Sundays to a congregation of about 30 people. Eventually, the local church closed. If one was not in their church, they would not get to Heaven. God help Jews! God help Catholics! We were all doomed. If she ever reads this, I’m in trouble, but I feel better knowing that I’m not the only person who ever had this kind of experience with this particular religious sect.

Hi

Actually, it’s agains the forum rules to post in a thread that is older than half a year (just like this one). just to warn you.

 

[Roy5]

The Church of Christ is like the Catholic Church in that both claim they are the one and only true church.

 It grew out of the Campbellite movement of the 19th century. Alexander Campbell actually wanted to unite Christians and he apparently decided that such a church should simply be called the Church of Christ. The idea was to have independent churches, congregational in polity, each one independent, though otherwise united in belief and working together amicably without a hierarchy.

 Gradually, a division resulted. The Disciples of Christ today, which developed out of the Campbellite movement, is one of the more liberal Protestant denominations, closely related to and similar to the United Church of Christ (a merger of the Congregationalists and the Evangelical and Reformed churches). The similiarity of names can confuse, but the Church of Christ is very different from the Disciples of Christ. While the Disciples of Christ are not dogmatic and work closely with other churches, the Church of Christ warns that if you're not a member of that flock you will have trouble going to heaven!

 I greatly admire the United Church of Christ, but have difficulty admiring the Church of Christ as much as I try. In the past a couple of its members tried to get me to join their congregation. It was friendly enough, and I appreciated the closeness of the flock as well as their excellent singing without instrumental accompaniment. But the notion that there is only one true church always has troubled me. I've come to believe that we need to be humble in our faith. This world is so much beyond our human understanding, with maybe a billion solar systems, etc., that I'm inclined to think that none of us comes close to knowing the ultimate spiritual truth. I worship God not because I understand God but because I don't understand God. Churches help us live by faith, which is good, but when they preach love, humility and peace while actually promoting bigotry, arrogance and hostility - well, I have a problem with that. I rather think Christ does, too.

God bless Catholics, Protestants, even members of the Church of Christ and those of every creed, color, class, culture, and country. May religion become a bridge rather than a barrier.