Ex-Church of Christ Support Board

It seems like in every CoC I've been to, they got off on the idea of making sacrifices for the "one true church". In reality most people didn't sacrifice anything, but they would stand up and act like they were such a big person because they gave up so much to be a faithful CoC member.

I remember one time in bible class around the time I was 14 or 15 the teacher went around the room and wanted us to talk about all that we've sacrificed in life to be a Christian. I was the first one to go and I said the only thing I really did sacrifice, sleep on Sunday morning and free time on Sunday and Wednesday night. The other four of us said the same thing. The teacher seemed somewhat angry after we all spoke, seemingly shocked that none of us gave up sports, family and friends for the church. What is it with these people and their obsession with losing friends over church? I remember lots of preachers talking about losing friends because of church and I never understood that. None of my friends ever cared what church I went to. The funny thing is the only people I knew that ended friendships over church were CoCers who didn't want to be friends with people who were "of the world" and "hated the truth".

In high school I was once commended from the pulpit for choosing to be at church on a Wednesday night instead of at a school awards ceremony at which I was being honored with some award. The truth was, I didn't want to go to the ceremony and would have skipped it anyway, regardless of the night of the week on which it was scheduled. I can remember grimacing when the preacher called me out because I definitely didn't deserve or want any praise.

Lev

More examples of the COC determination to be miserable.

When I first saw the title, I thought it was about people who wanted to sacrifice a sheep. We had a preacher who wanted to try that as an experiment. The idea didn't go very far.

MusicMan826 wrote:It seems like in every CoC I've been to, they got off on the idea of making sacrifices for the "one true church". In reality most people didn't sacrifice anything, but they would stand up and act like they were such a big person because they gave up so much to be a faithful CoC member.

Unfortunately money does make the world go round. If you listen to some sermons you would think that God is a pauper. He is not. In fact he knows where all the gold is hidden. You can put you trust in dollars and they will become worthless. Whatever God has made hold's value. What man makes does not last.

Jesus covers this aspect well. I think you can tell whether something truely came from Jesus because it will be insightful and true at many levels. Sometimes having application to things today. He hits it out of the park! He was a truly incredible person.

Mark 12:41 Version not known
41 And He sat down opposite the treasury, and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. 42A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. 43Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, "Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury;…

Ashes wrote:When I first saw the title, I thought it was about people who wanted to sacrifice a sheep. We had a preacher who wanted to try that as an experiment. The idea didn't go very far.

Now that was one nutty preacher!