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Re: Christmas Eve on Wednesday
Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2014 12:18 am
by B.H.
Ivy wrote:B.H. wrote:As a Muslim it is a religious duty to stay out of church services, can't be encouraging false doctrine ya know.
My son is dating a lovely Muslim woman and she has wholeheartedly helped us celebrate Christmas. We didn't go to church services, however.
You never know. She may be the means to bring you and your family to Islam.
I'm sorry I am just such a bad example. I don't act like I do online in real life. In real life I am very nice and sweet to everyone.
Re: Christmas Eve on Wednesday
Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2014 12:20 pm
by Ivy
Struggler wrote:Some cited Hebrews 10:25 and said that whenever the elders decided the church should meet, everyone should be there.
I don't recall the Hebrews 10:25 part, but do remember the part about "whenever the elders decided".
Wow, that's a real work-around the scriptures right there.....HAHAHAHA
Re: Christmas Eve on Wednesday
Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2014 12:20 pm
by Ivy
B.H. wrote:Ivy wrote:B.H. wrote:As a Muslim it is a religious duty to stay out of church services, can't be encouraging false doctrine ya know.
My son is dating a lovely Muslim woman and she has wholeheartedly helped us celebrate Christmas. We didn't go to church services, however.
You never know. She may be the means to bring you and your family to Islam.
I'm sorry I am just such a bad example. I don't act like I do online in real life. In real life I am very nice and sweet to everyone.
Why do you think you're a bad example, BH?
Re: Christmas Eve on Wednesday
Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2014 12:42 pm
by Lev
Ivy wrote:Struggler wrote:Some cited Hebrews 10:25 and said that whenever the elders decided the church should meet, everyone should be there.
I don't recall the Hebrews 10:25 part, but do remember the part about "whenever the elders decided".
Wow, that's a real work-around the scriptures right there.....HAHAHAHA
I've heard the "whenever the elders decided" part as well. I thought Struggler meant that some COCers taught that Wednesday (as opposed to other weekdays) was specifically mentioned in the Bible as a day for Christians to assemble. Other than Wednesday being the day that Jesus (most likely) instituted the Lord's Supper, I can't think of any special significance given to any day other than Saturday or Sunday in the Bible. It may be there, but I can't recall it now.
That said, I've heard COC preachers try to use scripture to prove that the specific length of shorts should be "to the knee" so I would not be surprised to hear that someone, somewhere, was trying to prove that there was some special NT significance to churches meeting on Wednesdays.
Lev
Re: Christmas Eve on Wednesday
Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2014 5:03 pm
by lvmaus
Ivy wrote:Struggler wrote:Some cited Hebrews 10:25 and said that whenever the elders decided the church should meet, everyone should be there.
I don't recall the Hebrews 10:25 part, but do remember the part about "whenever the elders decided".
Wow, that's a real work-around the scriptures right there.....HAHAHAHA
Elders in the CoC spend a great deal of their time insuring that the rank-and-file members adhere to the groups traditional beliefs, with little regard to the possibility they just might be wrong ... that would be out of the question.
The elders word is law ... Obey, or else! If they decide on a Friday class at noon, you're suppose to drop everything and be there with bells on your toes ... no excuses!
Re: Christmas Eve on Wednesday
Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2014 8:13 am
by Lev
lvmaus wrote:Elders in the CoC spend a great deal of their time insuring that the rank-and-file members adhere to the groups traditional beliefs, with little regard to the possibility they just might be wrong ... that would be out of the question.
The elders word is law ... Obey, or else! If they decide on a Friday class at noon, you're suppose to drop everything and be there with bells on your toes ... no excuses!
You're right about that. My question is: where in scripture do they get this idea?
Lev
Re: Christmas Eve on Wednesday
Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2014 10:00 am
by Struggler
So much of C of C doctrine is simply tradition, passed down from generation to generation. After a while, people just assume it is Gospel and don't question it.
The unwritten liturgy, the brand championing, the heavy emphasis on attending every time the door is open, and the way services are done--so much is tradition. I guess it's easier for many among the rank-and-file to just follow along and not rock the boat.
Re: Christmas Eve on Wednesday
Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2014 11:08 am
by sonicrainkrieg42
My family's church decided to have services on Tuesday night instead, which was rather reasonable of them since people would be doing things on Christmas Eve.
Struggler wrote:So much of C of C doctrine is simply tradition, passed down from generation to generation. After a while, people just assume it is Gospel and don't question it.
The unwritten liturgy, the brand championing, the heavy emphasis on attending every time the door is open, and the way services are done--so much is tradition. I guess it's easier for many among the rank-and-file to just follow along and not rock the boat.
Also, this is right on the money.
Re: Christmas Eve on Wednesday
Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2014 11:39 am
by Lev
Struggler wrote:So much of C of C doctrine is simply tradition, passed down from generation to generation. After a while, people just assume it is Gospel and don't question it.
The unwritten liturgy, the brand championing, the heavy emphasis on attending every time the door is open, and the way services are done--so much is tradition. I guess it's easier for many among the rank-and-file to just follow along and not rock the boat.
Agreed. Especially with regard to Wednesday services in the first place. Who came up with this? Why is it so widespread in the COC? Sure, there's the odd church that doesn't comply--either by holding mid-week services on Tuesday or Thursday, or, more rarely, not holding mid-week services at all. These exceptions are quite rare, though, in my experience. My travels for Christmas this year took me through a large part of the southeastern US, mostly on backroads, not interstates. I passed a lot of COCs. Without exception, every one that had its meeting times posted on a sign included a Wednesday night service. COCers will even joke among themselves about when is the "scriptural" time for Wednesday evening services to begin. Going back to CENI, the only example I see in the NT is that the 1st century Christians met daily. Nothing wrong with Wednesday nights. Nothing even wrong with having a standard mid-week meeting time/day that's consistent throughout the denomination. What's wrong is putting up the pretense that COC churches are each autonomous, under the leadership of the local elders alone. When will that nonsense be dropped?
Lev
Re: Christmas Eve on Wednesday
Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2014 12:41 am
by lvmaus
Lev wrote:Struggler wrote:So much of C of C doctrine is simply tradition, passed down from generation to generation. After a while, people just assume it is Gospel and don't question it.
The unwritten liturgy, the brand championing, the heavy emphasis on attending every time the door is open, and the way services are done--so much is tradition. I guess it's easier for many among the rank-and-file to just follow along and not rock the boat.
Agreed. Especially with regard to Wednesday services in the first place. Who came up with this? Why is it so widespread in the COC? Sure, there's the odd church that doesn't comply--either by holding mid-week services on Tuesday or Thursday, or, more rarely, not holding mid-week services at all. These exceptions are quite rare, though, in my experience. My travels for Christmas this year took me through a large part of the southeastern US, mostly on backroads, not interstates. I passed a lot of COCs. Without exception, every one that had its meeting times posted on a sign included a Wednesday night service. COCers will even joke am ong themselves about when is the "scriptural" time for Wednesday evening services to begin. Going back to CENI, the only example I see in the NT is that the 1st century Christians met daily. Nothing wrong with Wednesday nights. Nothing even wrong with having a standard mid-week meeting time/day that's consistent throughout the denomination. What's wrong is putting up the pretense that COC churches are each autonomous, under the leadership of the local elders alone. When will that nonsense be dropped?
Lev
The CoC has determined its members are Scripturally required to attend any meeting, class, or shindig the elders schedule. Attempts to pinpoint the proof texts that validate this twisted thinking are nonexistent. Strange that the CoC - proudly promoting their motto of being silent where the Scriptures are silent - would be so dogmatic about pushing class attendance as an absolute necessity when it violates their own unwritten creeds.
I have no particular beef with a church being autonomous - in fact I prefer this approach - but not the way many churches implement the idea. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I literally despise churches being under the control of a foundation, board, person, or any other centralized governing body. At least if a church is TRULY autonomous they don't copy each other's mistakes ... if one church is horrible, it doesn't have to mean all other churches will be infected as well.
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