In the Greek New Testament, the word “oinon” is used which refers to both fermented and unfermented wine. Grape juice is unfermented wine.
That varies somewhat, but you would be correct in stating that most churches would use only unfermented wine/grape juice. Plenty of us recognize you could do it either way. A slim minority contend that it has to be fermented.
So you’re writing about a church you don’t fully understand, and representing its preacher as a bad guy? That could be kind of inflammatory.Without trying to give away too much of the plot (I’ll have to shoot you all if I do), I really do need the pastor to be a bit more antagonistic than I had originally planned (his favorite granddaughter turned prima donna on me and went from a cameo role to an important minor character–if there is such a thing!–and so there is a lot more to his motives for dissuading the protagonist’s love interest than concern for his spiritual welfare… hey, ministers are human, too!)
I hope your novel also recognizes that there are Catholics who behave in the same way. Considering you didn’t really know enough about the church of Christ to know that it does not refer to its ministers as “Pastor,” I’m curious why you selected that religious group for depicting such people. Anyone in your novel from the church of Christ who does not stretch the definition of Christian to the breaking point? We try to acknowledge that most people are at least sincerely trying to do what is right even when they do not agree with us.
For 1) say, “our preacher discussed this at Bible study last week.” For 2) say “[Firstname Lastname] has a lot on his mind these days.”Oh, dear, I see lots of editing ahead of me!
So, what would I use in place of “pastor” in the following sentences?
Sorry I went AWOL there for a few days… trying to get ready for the holidays isn’t conducive to spending time on-line (or getting much writing done!)
- “Our pastor discussed this at Bible study last week…”
- “Pastor Smith has a lot on his mind these days…”
BlueRose
Yes.
No. Where did you hear this?
For fun, let me point out that churches of Christ and the RCC are pretty much the only churches in the world that teach that baptism is “for the remission of sins.” We get mocked for this a lot by Protestants and told that we’re teaching “works salvation” and so on, same as you do. I believe there are some “Independent Baptist” or “Primitive Baptist” groups that also teach this, and possibly the Eastern Orthodox. That’s about it.
I was one of the respondants, and I can not ,obviously speak for all of them…But as far as what I have experienced growing up in one,it was a nightmare to me.Maybe I shouldn’t have posted.God Bless
I’m not questioning whether you should say anything about a church you grew up in, but I am questioning whether an author should write a novel about a church she doesn’t understand and depict persons in that church as “bad guys.” I probably wouldn’t raise that issue if it were you writing the novel. Though I’d certainly counter with the fact that growing up in the church was not nightmarish for me. Sorry to hear about your experience.
I am glad you didn’t have that experience.God Bless
The term used by the DofC is not “christening” but “dedication”.
It would probably be good to decide at least if the book is about the Church of Christ or the Disciples of Christ (Christian Church) rather than mixing elements of both together. Otherwise you may depict a religious body which does not actually exist, though that could make for an interesting book.
Anne: the “fruit of the vine” is GRAPE JUICE. You misunderstood Bhanifan’s point. He was giving you the exact phrase preferred by Restorationists in many cases. Very few CofC’ers would use ‘fermented wine’ (alcoholic wine). As I indicated elsewhere in this thread, many Protestants believe alcohol is expressly forbidden to Christians, and that it was in fact never used in Jewish Temple worship until after the Babylonian diaspora. See the “Spirit-Filled Study Bible” (which is NOT specifically a CofC publication–they would staunchly denounce the Pentecostal flavor of many parts of this study Bible!!!) for an expanded outline of the sorts of reasons that fundamentalists generally will give for not using alcoholic beverages.
bluerose said:
Members of the church of Christ would almost never use the phrase “accept Christ as your personal savior,” because in most of those tracts it means to believe and say a prayer in order to be saved. Persons who say that usually have a nonbiblical purpose in mind for baptism and would strongly disagree with the church of Christ’s feelings on the matter.
The church of Christ is anti-Calvinism.
They are Armenian?
To be honest I don’t know enough about theological terms to say. Basically I don’t know the definition of Armenian.
Here’s the church of Christ’s doctrine on the five points of Calvinism (TULIP)
She said it is to far away. That is why she asked,I was Church of Christ until I became Catholic thanks be to God. If you are not in one you have heard described thank the Lord.God BlessBluerose,
As a member of a Church of Christ, I think it would be a good idea to actually research for yourself the group you’re depicting in this novel, instead of asking for someone else’s opinion. Many people may have misconceptions about Catholicism, and it would be poor form for me to simply speak to those people to get an understanding of Catholics. I should make the effort to study Catholicism before writing a book on the subject. Your protagonist seems to be willing to attend a Church of Christ service. Why aren’t you?
God bless you in your endeavor.
amontoya, Bluerose has already answered this question at least twice in this thread. You might consider trying to read her postings about this.Bluerose,
As a member of a Church of Christ, I think it would be a good idea to actually research for yourself the group you’re depicting in this novel, instead of asking for someone else’s o…pinion. Many people may have misconceptions about Catholicism, and it would be poor form for me to simply speak to those people to get an understanding of Catholics. I should make the effort to study Catholicism before writing a book on the subject. Your protagonist seems to be willing to attend a Church of Christ service. Why aren’t you?
God bless you in your endeavor.
