Church of Christ- Not Protestant ?

[FanOfU2]

I was a member of the Church of Christ from the time I was born up until I was 13, (then my family became Baptists)

-I wasn’t really sure the branch of CoC, but they were VERY hardline conservative

-The Church didn’t allow musical insturments in worship (which to me, doesn’t matter) and would make a really big deal about it

-Alot of our preaching was devoid of the suffering of Christ

-Baptism was called being “washed in the water” as if the water alone held power.

It was just a negative experience overall.

 

[nolesmom2011]

I found this forum after watching what I considered to be an anti-Catholic video aired on HLN, sponsored by uccfla.org In it we see a church that looks like a Catholic cathedral (or could be Episocopalian). A young single mom’s baby cried; she gets ejected. Two gay men sit together;they are ejected. And on and on until we get to the beautiful, loving tagline: “Jesus didn’t reject people. Neither do we.”

I also work with a woman at my Catholic church who attends a local UCC church and she frequently makes derisive comments about the Catholic church, the church I chose to join as a young adult, after finding that my own church of birth didn’t feed me spiritually.

If you want all people to come to your church, great! But instead of slamming other churches for not being as “good” as you, why not find a different way to show how accepting you are? Like showing your members out doing good works, helping the homeless, driving the elderly to services, and the like?

 

[OhioanJack]

Hi,
Anyone have much contact with members of the Protestant sect
called “Church of Christ” ? (This is not connected with the cult called Church of Christ of Boston). Whats been your experience? These are local Churches of Christ and often tag on the name of the town/city where they are located, e.g., Church of Christ of Florence. It holds a set of Protestant beliefs, but claims not to be Protestant. It simply is the Church of Christ founded by Jesus Christ. They have no Church government beyond each individual congregation.

I work with a number of co-workers who belong to this denomination. Most all of them are strongly anti-Catholic.I recently attended a funeral service connected to my job at a Church of Christ and the pastor just about put me to sleep.
Another Church of Christ in our area had a former Catholic going
around the country giving a mission weekend based of course on the anti-Catholic theme.

Any thoughts, comments?

The Church of Christ is actually a very liberal church and they hold very different views from the Catholic Church. As a Catholic In Name Only (CINO), I can personally tell you that I actually enjoy the Church of Christ, since I am a pretty hardcore liberal myself. Although I find Catholicism to be interesting, the other denominations and their churches are just as interesting. There is a lot to be learnt about them and a lot of Catholics don’t take the time to learn about the other churches but their own. I am fond of the Church of Christ, along with the Presbyterian church.

Jack

 

[Cat]

I’ll have to say that I’ve never heard any negative thing said out of the United Church of Christ. Quite a few of our politicians belong to it, and it seems to be a very gentle non-judgemental religion.

Amy

Yikes .

How about, “Jesus didn’t really rise from the dead. What the resurrection really is is the spirit of love that he taught us.”

The pillar of Christianity–the teaching that sets it apart from every other religion, is the literal bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. When an organization denies the resurrection, it is no longer Christian. It may be a fine, charitable, loving, non-judgemental (except of other Christians) friendly gathering place for like-minded people, but it is not a Christian church, and IMO, should not be called the “Church of Christ.”

And how about this: ucc.org/about-us/ucc-firsts.html The UCC is proud of the fact that they were the first to ordain an openly gay person to the ministry, and proud of the fact that they are actively supporting homosexual marriage.

Again, this is NOT traditional, orthodox, Christian teaching. You and many others may think that it’s the right thing to do, and that’s fine for you, but it’s NOT right for this denomination to advocate the ordination of open homosexuals or the establishment of gay marriage, and call these teachings and practices “Christian.” That’s like someone bringing a hockey stick and a puck out onto the ice and insisting that they are “figure skating.” No, they’re not.

Anyway, the UCC is NOT the same as the church of Christ (by the way, many of the Campbellite churches don’t capitalize “church” when they say, “church of Christ.”

 

[hn160]

I’ll have to say that I’ve never heard any negative thing said out of the United Church of Christ. Quite a few of our politicians belong to it, and it seems to be a very gentle non-judgemental religion.

Amy

The United Church of Christ or UCC is so far out in left field that it is referred to as Unitarians Considering Christ.

 

[loneviking]

The United Church of Christ or UCC is so far out in left field that it is referred to as Unitarians Considering Christ.

Yep…that’s excactly what they are. And they are in no way part of the Churches of Christ.

 

[Montalo]

shoot, my best friend(well, the best male friend i have) is COC, and is majoring in bible at one of their schools( i would name it, but its only like 800 or so kids).

very, very biblical(aka sola scripture), and hes not exactly anti catholic. he says that catholic are wrong, where the teaching contradict scripture in his interpretation.-]/-]

very nice guy, but very vey conserative, might just be his own views, but also his church’s.

he considers himself protestant, in the basis that he is not catholic(or orthodox, but thats not exactly all that relevant here).

he also likes all sorts of bibles, and promotes relativity, saying it doesnt matter which bible you read. he did like my OSB though( i bought it through him where he works)

 

[loneviking]

shoot, my best friend(well, the best male friend i have) is COC, and is majoring in bible at one of their schools( i would name it, but its only like 800 or so kids).

very, very biblical(aka sola scripture), and hes not exactly anti catholic. he says that catholic are wrong, where the teaching contradict scripture in his interpretation.-]/-]

very nice guy, but very vey conserative, might just be his own views, but also his church’s.

he considers himself protestant, in the basis that he is not catholic(or orthodox, but thats not exactly all that relevant here).

he also likes all sorts of bibles, and promotes relativity, saying it doesnt matter which bible you read. he did like my OSB though( i bought it through him where he works)

You’ll find a range of views with the CofC. Some are almost evangelical in their beliefs and teachings. Others are really extreme in their beliefs and practices.

As an example, I studied my way out of Adventism through a local CofC. I was comfortable with this congregation. My dad and his side of the family were all CofC, and not the radically conservative kind. This church, like all of them, had vocal only music but they would sing everything from hymns to some of the modern, contemporary stuff. They would do rounds, with girls leading one side up front, with the boys leading on the other side. Clapping of hands to some of the songs was done. It really reminded me of a lot of non-denom worship just without the instruments.

And then, we moved across the country to another CofC that was of a completely different mindset. There, clapping of hands, or even keeping time by clapping one hand on your leg was verboten! That was making music with something other than your mouth and by singing. And contemporary songs? Not on your life! Hymns only and women weren’t allowed to do anything up front.

So, you can get quite a range of experiences with these folks. Remember, they are congregational and VERY fractional so there is no hierarchy laying down any sort of hard and fast rules.

 

[system]

Hello to all - this is my first post and I am a member of the life long member of the coc with a BA in Bible from a Liberal Lutheran college, MDiv work at a secular divinity school (the univ of Chicago) and have studied and admired the catholic church throughout my life. I tell classes at my church on the regular basis that, while we look like a Baptist or Methodist church, we are closer in doctrine to the Catholics than the Protestant groups. The “three great principles” of Protestantism are usually cited as sola scriptura, sola gratia, and sola fide. The first and last divide us from the Protestants because they add catechisms and confessions or creeds and believe is salvation through faith alone. We split with the catholics because we have no magisterium or creeds but sola scriptura as a source of authority. Saved by grace alone – that we can handle.

Grace and peace,
DrDoyle

 

[CopticChristian]

I have known folks in the conservative Church of Christ and the liberal United Church of Christ including pastors of both and never found the ones I’ve known to be anti Catholic as being described in this thread. But stop and think a min. I can see where some Catholics insistence on being the one and only true church could make some other Christians defensive. They don’t see any true attempt at reconcilliation when one side is always going around saying only they have the whole truth and everyone else has to come entirely their way.

I do not think it is some…

If you believe founded one Church then you have to come to some conclusion that there is not many but one…

The dairy industry does the same thing you know…gotta get real…or you don’t get the real thing…