The Restoration Movement

[jon_crj200]

I have some questions for the other members of CAF about the Restoration Movement. I already know my answers to them, but I want to know what you think.

I am a member at the local Church of Christ (in the independent Christian Church/Churches of Christ branch), and tommorow marks the start of our week long “revival”, which we have twice a year.

QUESTION #1: How can you revive something unless it is dead? Most protestant churches that have revivals have them only once a year.

This implies to me that the church dies twice a year .

QUESTION #2: If the Church of Christ is really the church established by Jesus, how can it be a part of a “Restoration Movement”?

Did Jesus not promise that his church would never fail, that the gates of hell would not prevail against it? If one holds that the church needs restoring, then one must also hold that Jesus is a liar!

Give me some insight here guys before I am dragged away every night this week to sit in a pew and daydream about flying airplanes, which is what I would rather be doing.

WOO! CATHOLIC POWER!

 

[whosebob]

I am a member at the local Church of Christ (in the independent Christian Church/Churches of Christ branch), and tommorow marks the start of our week long “revival”, which we have twice a year.

I see in your profile that you are age 16. I can’t tell for certain by the content of your post, but are you saying that you have doubts about the your church’s beliefs and are looking to understand things from the Catholic perspective? Or have you gone farther than that, and you would rather not be a member of your parents’ church but have no other choice as you are a minor? Or have I entirely misunderstood you?

QUESTION #1: How can you revive something unless it is dead? Most protestant churches that have revivals have them only once a year.

This implies to me that the church dies twice a year .

Actually, the Catholic Church has two periods of time each year which are especially dedicated to personal and communal renewal: there are the four weeks of Advent which precede Christmas; and there are the six weeks of Lent + Holy Week which precede Easter Sunday. Both of those periods are traditionally times when the Church’s liturgy and our personal lives are supposed to focus a bit more on repentence for our sins, healthy acts of asceticism, and a heightened awareness of the realities of Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory, and anticipation of Jesus Christ’s Second Coming. It is not uncommon too for Catholic men and women to make personal retreats during those times, and for Catholic pastors to host “parish missions” where he or a guest preacher will spend a few days in a row preaching on the core realities of our Catholic Faith and the importance of living lives grounded in prayer and the Sacraments.

We don’t do this because we believe the Church dies once or more during the year, but as a matter of discipline to help us more faithfully follow the Way of the Lord Jesus. So the concept of “revival” isn’t completely foreign to us Catholics, but we go about it a bit differently.

QUESTION #2: If the Church of Christ is really the church established by Jesus, how can it be a part of a “Restoration Movement”? Did Jesus not promise that his church would never fail, that the gates of hell would not prevail against it? If one holds that the church needs restoring, then one must also hold that Jesus is a liar!

Give me some insight here guys before I am dragged away every night this week to sit in a pew and daydream about flying airplanes, which is what I would rather be doing.

WOO! CATHOLIC POWER!

Here is a website that you might find interesting or helpful: ScriptureCatholic.com; see particularly this page – The Biblical Church.

Please post more specific questions, otherwise I’m not quite sure in what direction to point you, though the Catechism of the Catholic Church is always a great source for learning more about what the Catholic Church really teaches. (Did you know? If you read 8 numbered paragraphs per day from the Catechism, beginning with, #1, you will read the entire text in just under one calendar year [358 days].)

Instead of daydreaming about paper airplanes, one thing you could do, if you’re ready for this, is memorize the basic prayers of the Holy Rosary and then quietly offer up those prayers (that is in your head, not spoken outloud) while sitting in the pew.

In the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

IC XC NIKA

 

[boppysbud]

jon crj, I was raised in a very simular denomination the acapella “church of Christ”, but I became Catholic when I was not much older than you are now.

I was taught that the origianl church went strictly by a legalistic interpretation of the Bible, and that when the church stopped following the bible in this legalistic way it became “totally apostate” and ceased to exist until Alex Cambell and Barton Stone, and others “Restored” the church back into existence in the 19th century.

By the way that teaching is very simular to the Jehovah Witnesses, and Mormons who also teach the “apostate” and “restored” church dichotomy.

The only problem is that the original church supposedly “apostacised” itself right our of existence long before the bible existed and was canonised into one volume. My question to the church of Christers is “how could the church gone out of existence for not following the bible before the bible even existed”? I still havent gotten a satisfactory answer for that question yet, and I have been asking it for years.

And Our Lord Jesus promised that the church would never go out of existence, he said the gates of hell will not prevail against the church, he said the so called “Total apostasy” is impossible.

The original church, the Catholic church has existed from the year 33 AD to the present in a continous line, it never ceased to exist and never needed to be “restored”.

The so called “church of Christ” accapella was, is, a brand new invention going all the way back to the year 1906, no further.

 

[Steadfast]

Why are you askign Catholics why your non-catholic church does things the way you do?

That makes no sense at all.

If you want to know whay Catholics do the things they do, ask them things about that but if you have questions about why your church does what it does ask the leaders of your church.

If you don’t like their answers, suck it up until you can leave and then, leave.

I have some questions for the other members of CAF about the Restoration Movement. I already know my answers to them, but I want to know what you think.

I am a member at the local Church of Christ (in the independent Christian Church/Churches of Christ branch), and tommorow marks the start of our week long “revival”, which we have twice a year.

QUESTION #1: How can you revive something unless it is dead? Most protestant churches that have revivals have them only once a year.

This implies to me that the church dies twice a year .

QUESTION #2: If the Church of Christ is really the church established by Jesus, how can it be a part of a “Restoration Movement”?

Did Jesus not promise that his church would never fail, that the gates of hell would not prevail against it? If one holds that the church needs restoring, then one must also hold that Jesus is a liar!

Give me some insight here guys before I am dragged away every night this week to sit in a pew and daydream about flying airplanes, which is what I would rather be doing.

WOO! CATHOLIC POWER!

 

[boppysbud]

Take it easy (take a tizy) on John, have you forgotten his age? He reminds me a LOT of myself, at age 16 I was sitting in my parent’s church of Christ pew and asking a lot of the same questions.

If he is like me, he is going to their church merely out of duress, IOW he is being forced to and has no say in the matter.

He is already getting that Jesus gauranteed that the true church can not fall to “apostasy” and that his parent’s church is a false church, just one more Protestant Denomination out of thousands.

I bet the second he escapes his parent’s control he will be in the Catholic church just like I and others from that situation have become.

 

[Steadfast]

You’re absolutely right.

I’m sorry about that.

Take it easy (take a tizy) on John, have you forgotten his age? He reminds me a LOT of myself, at age 16 I was sitting in my parent’s church of Christ pew and asking a lot of the same questions.

If he is like me, he is going to their church merely out of duress, IOW he is being forced to and has no say in the matter.

He is already getting that Jesus gauranteed that the true church can not fall to “apostasy” and that his parent’s church is a false church, just one more Protestant Denomination out of thousands.

I bet the second he escapes his parent’s control he will be in the Catholic church just like I and others from that situation have become.