Ex-Church of Christ Support Board

ISTM that really the CofC is simply not involved in spirituality in relating to God....Instead, since the Holy Spirit is somehow considered to have been replaced by the New Testament, the spirituality found through the Holy Spirit, i.e., the Spirit of God, is replaced with a consuming involvement with scripture....Therefore, spirituality becomes defined as "scripturality" essentially.

I am not knocking knowledge of scripture, that is so important....but its underlying power lies in a present spiritual realm, the movement of God, His power now moving through it.....not just a power that was cast when those scriptures were written. It's a nuance in concept, but important I believe in coming to terms with who God is and who we are today, now, developing a direct spiritual relationship with Him now just as in any other time in human history.

Hence why I myself had to leave, I could not see therein any recognition of spirituality existing today...the thought that God (i.e., the Holy Spirit) had died out or left humanity to develop a relationship instead with the NT is quite disturbing in the final analysis to me.....because that mindset ascribes a worshipful attribution to the NT itself....headed ISTM in the direction of idolatry....

I think the almost "anti" spiritual direction is a response (perhaps in to the extreme) to those that went to far in claiming indwelling and miracles. To those that just override and negate even scripture by saying anything from "God put this on my heart" to "God gave me a third wife" to ecstatic trance like behaviors. And probably not wanting to be bamboozled by snake oil salesmen and get-rich-quick faith healers.

So it all...all of it gets wrapped up under the heading of Holy Spirit stuff and it is all considered suspect unless it is provable. And so yes...it is most likely there are some good things being missed in wanting to defend against apostasy and whacky doctrines and practices.

I mean is it reasonable to pray for a broken limb to be instantly healed? Or for a burned down house to not be burned down? Once we start applying what we think are reasonable limits to what prayer and the Spirit will do, then isn't all just a matter of degree or where we decide to draw the line. If one has any limit at all for what is reasonable and what should be prayed for then why fault someone else on where they draw their limit line? That is a form of Phariseesism...drawing our own lines

KLP wrote:I think the almost "anti" spiritual direction is a response (perhaps in to the extreme) to those that went to far in claiming indwelling and miracles. To those that just override and negate even scripture by saying anything from "God put this on my heart" to "God gave me a third wife" to ecstatic trance like behaviors. And probably not wanting to be bamboozled by snake oil salesmen and get-rich-quick faith healers.

Many of the coC beliefs are in reaction to beliefs of denominations around them, much like this. And often they go to the extreme opposite end, trying so hard to not be like that unfaithful group that does xyz (meanwhile ignoring their own inconsistent following of scripture).