Ex-Church of Christ Support Board

I have a relative who is coC and I get ads on facebook of a page dedicated to the the coc cause. Out of curiosity I check the site out and immediately saw the attitude that caused me to leave the coC. Arrogance was prevalent and self-confirmation of why they are the only ones saved. One particular person drew my ire and I decided to challenge her privately. She was spewing the typical vitriol toward the world that is lost.

Here is our short conversation before she banned me from her page.

Me: As one who left the church of Christ I read your post on the church of Christ facebook page and it reminded me why I left. Your arrogant proclamation that only those in the coC are saved is what makes my skin crawl. Would love to discuss this further if you're willing.

Her response: Sir,I would love to study with you.....but in gentleness and love...the scriptures are crystal clear about the only church that will be saved.You hate the TRUTH.It is satan that lured you out...please get back in the Lords church of Christ.People warn others bc we love their souls and want them saved...you should rejoice over that not be angry.Your soul is priceless and precious and you are very loved,sir.Jesus works directly with me.I had gotten off in a church that was not the church of Christ and THE LORD opened my eyes fast and got me back in...PRAISE THE LORD.Sweet man,lets get you back in the only church that will be saved.Try to look at this with a different attitude and approach...see the goodness of people wanting to help the lost.You are severely misunderstanding the church of Christ by calling us arrogant.The scripture are clear in EPHESIANS 4:5 ONE LORD,ONE FAITH,ONE BAPTISM.so,dear soul when you call the church of Christ arrogant...it is GOD that you are calling arrogant..bc the coc is merely going by scripture and we have ALL been commanded to go YE therefore into all the world and teach....so when we do..you call us arrogant...sweet sir,that is satan that has put that worthless lie into your head.Please get back in the Lords church and never leave....I love you and I am here anytime to help...god bless you,Phil.

My response: I'm afraid you are the one who needs to have your eyes opened to the fact that you are practicing legalism and are indoctrinated into a system of salvation by obedience and not be grace. You have no business condemning those who are not in the coC to hell. You know that you are inviolation of judging others and yet you do it. It ruins your credibility. Your misunderstanding of the Spiritual process toward rebirth is what keeps you stuck in this place of "salvation by works," which is a perversion of Truth. Learn to think for yourself and stop allowing coC legalism contaminate your mind. I'll be glad to show you where your wrong if your open to truth. I spent 35 years in the coC. It's not like I have no idea what you teach. I can defend my position and will be glad to do so. But you speak of being loving, gentle and caring, then tell me I hate the truth, LOL! How would you expect me to respond to this????

Her response: Like I said...JESUS CHRIST works directly with me.HE has many warning and ministering about HIS church of Christ....so,sir,,,no thank you..I take NO delight in listening to satan work through people like your self.I am not practicing legalism...I AM PRACTICING GODS TRUTH AND RIGHTEOUSNESS.Obviously satan has you by the jugular and you are perishing quickly...it may be too late for you...something in scripture warns that once a Christian or believer falls away from the taste of the TRUTH they cannot come back.I hope you wiil repent and return to the glorious church of Christ..the only church that WILL BE SAVED.

She then proceeded to ban me from responding to her facebook site. Yep, she got the last word. Imagine that!

You are severely misunderstanding the church of Christ by calling us arrogant.

lol!

The scripture are clear in EPHESIANS 4:5 ONE LORD,ONE FAITH,ONE BAPTISM.so,dear soul when you call the church of Christ arrogant...it is GOD that you are calling arrogant..bc the coc is merely going by scripture and we have ALL been commanded to go YE therefore into all the world and teach....so when we do..you call us arrogant...sweet sir,that is satan that has put that worthless lie into your head.

Predictable for a coc'er, and wrong. I agree with her on eph 4:5 but that is where it stops since they quote scriptures and change the meaning to fit coc doctrine.
They think Jesus and the coc organization (founded by men in the 1800's) are one in the same. Eph 4:5 is about Jesus and faith through him, but since it says "one" so many times it's ripe for the picking for a proof text by coc'ers. And the capitalization... sheesh. That's spot on for a coc post. The only thing missing from her response is an overwhelming amount of proof texts pulled out of context. They must think ' If I quote a ton of scriptures and capitalize certain words I will be right and the other person will be wrong because I quoted the word.'

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zeek wrote:There is one part of her response that I find unusual for a cocer. She seems to be claiming some sort of unique personal relationship with Jesus or some kind of "divine intervention" in her life. Both of those notions are completely foreign concepts in the coC, at least in my experience.

I agree. I know very few CofCers who actually claim Jesus or the Spirit working in their lives directly. Those are very atypical conservative CofC values, when the usual belief is dismissal of spiritual gifts and insistence that the Spirit works only through the reading and preaching of the Bible.

margin overa wrote: I agree. I know very few CofCers who actually claim Jesus or the Spirit working in their lives directly. Those are very atypical conservative CofC values, when the usual belief is dismissal of spiritual gifts and insistence that the Spirit works only through the reading and preaching of the Bible.

Paul in first Corinthians discusses the spiritual gift led Church. In other words let your gifts do the leading. He even discuses speaking in tongues. He then goes back to the elder led church based on the Roman military model in Titus? The pastorals may be forged. That is 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus. I myself reject 1 Timothy because it reads that a woman is saved though childbearing. I do not see that has anything to do with salvation. Nonsense! That is personally held. The other two books are questionable as to Paul being the author rather than a Christian control freak. It is that spooky. The very authorship is in doubt. No church has the proof of what is valid or invalid. All we have is copies not the originals. The Church of Christ is on shakier ground than it knows. I have personally seen a wrong headed elder damage a Church badly. Numerous people have been hurt by CoC doctrine. Did this come from God?

Oh my goodness! That is someone I definitely wouldn't even attempt to have a religion conversation with. Hopeless.

I picked up on the fact that she said she has a direct connection with God, which is the antithesis of what the coC teaches.. I was going to bring that up but she cut me off.

This is why you can never have a proper discussion or debate with a CoCer. They're convinced that the bible is as clear as can be on every little thing they teach and there's no way anyone reading with an open mind can see it any differently. It's funny how they slam denominations for interpreting the bible to fit what they want to believe when the CoC does exactly that. And of course they have to get the last word in. And if you don't end up agreeing with them in the end you're just hard-hearted and satan has a hold of your heart. Absolutely ridiculous, these people...

Consider the fact that you are reading someone else mail as far as Paul is concerned. Also you don't know the players and cannot ask what is really meant. In today's world it is virtually impossible to recreate the socioeconomic world of the first century. Who do you know know that was burned as a candle by having their bodies covered with wax and set ablaze. It was common under Nero. He liked his parties well lit with burning Christians. This guy was a real sicko. What the CoC thinks insignificant. God is much bigger than their small minds can comprehend.

MusicMan826 wrote:This is why you can never have a proper discussion or debate with a CoCer. They're convinced that the bible is as clear as can be on every little thing they teach and there's no way anyone reading with an open mind can see it any differently. It's funny how they slam denominations for interpreting the bible to fit what they want to believe when the CoC does exactly that. And of course they have to get the last word in. And if you don't end up agreeing with them in the end you're just hard-hearted and satan has a hold of your heart. Absolutely ridiculous, these people...

The C o C does indeed make the Bible fit what it wants to believe. It takes verses totally out of context and uses them to back up its beliefs.

The "Plan of Salvation" and "5 Acts of Worship" are prime examples of this.

Anyone who reads the Bible with an open mind can easily see the fallacies in C o C doctrine. One prime example is the use of Ephesians 5:19 as a prohibition of instrumental music. If the entire chapter is read in context, a person will easily see that it is NOT giving instructions for a worship service. If verse 19 tells us not to have instruments in the worship service, the two verses before it are telling us not to get drunk or act like fools during the service!