Hello

[Letmethink]

Hello all,

I have posted a few times on some of the threads, but haven't introduced myself yet. Up until about a year or so ago, I had been a lifelong attendee/member (I guess you're not officially a member until you've been baptized, which I was as an early teen) of the church of Christ. Please notice that the lower case "c" in "church" is no mistake; I specifically came from the non-instrumental, non-institutional, aka "anti" coC, and we were always careful to make sure to keep that first "c" lower case so that others would know that we were not just Another Christian Denomination. We were the "no-bus, no-gym, no-playground, no-kitchen, no-fellowship-hall, no-preschool, no-instruments, no-evening-service-Lord's-supper, but Sunday-class-is-okay, and so-are-multiple-cups" variety coC. Oh and of course, since we got all these things right, we were the One True Church™.

I began to question and challenge the dogmatic coC doctrines about 8-9 years ago. I was active teaching, preaching, song-leading, and doing lots of other activities in the "worship service." As time went on, more and more of these doctrines seemed to be based on church traditions and man-made beliefs, rather than on the Bible (which I typically referred to as "the word of God" rather than "Bible").

Suffice it to say, I pretty well studied myself out of the coC. During much of this time, I challenged many of the coC teachings with preachers, elders, and others. I could feel the hostility toward me rising, felt so beat down every Sunday and Wednesday, that I threw in the towel and began going to a progressive coC, and taking a backseat to service and leadership roles within the church.

Little did I know that I was also on the verge of giving up my faith completely (not losing - but giving it up), yet that's where I am now. There's obviously loads that could be unpacked behind what I have shared here, but that's for some other time.

So that's a short synopsis of me. Not even sure what I hope to get from or contribute to this forum, but I suppose it's helpful to see the experiences of others, and share mine as well. These experiences can be filled with emotional turmoil, pain, hurt, and quite frankly a lot of very unloving behaviors by the most die-hard Christians, and often close family members.

[Cootie Brown]

Hello again, since we've already met & exchanged some thoughts. As you already know I'm ex-c of c & also a non-believer. We"re out numbered but not alone. Hope you stick around for awhile.

[flawed]

Welcome Letmethink, I'm glad you have joined us.

[agricola]

Welcome to the ex-board. Grab a chair and join the conversation.

[Moogy]

Welcome! I also was part of the non-institutional coC. My group did have the Lord's Supper on Sunday nights. I left over 30 years ago, so they have had time to split over more "issues".
Until I typed that, I had forgotten the special meaning of the word "issues" in the NICOC. "Brother Longwind preached a fine sermon on the issues this morning." It was a code for the NI division, of course.
Was it used as a special code in other branches of the church? Is it still used in that sense today?

[Struggles101]

Welcome!

Amazing were a little self study without the coC blinders has lead so many of us.

[HighLiter871]

Please notice that the lower case "c" in "church" is no mistake . . . we were always careful to make sure to keep that first "c" lower case so that others would know that we were not just Another Christian Denomination. . . we were the One True Church™.

You have just enunciated the very reason I refuse to play the "small first c" game.

And besides, it's grammatically incorrect in the average instance -- it's a proper noun, describing a particular sect.

Sure, a small "c" could be correct in limited cases, as when referencing the universal Christian church in an all-encompassing manner -- but not for propaganda purposes as we have here, not when referencing the particular church which history irrefutably tells us traces it's roots back no farther then the 19th century's "Second Great Awakening" (you can google it).

So incredibly juvenile . . .

[Opie]

It's not only juvenile, it's also intellectually dishonest.