Ridiculous reasons for splits....

[Ivy]

Ridiculous reasons for "splits" that we've heard tell of, or witnessed:

Cushions on the pews
Carpet, carpet color
(Are cushions and carpeting scriptural? You should be willing to suffer on that hard wooden pew).
Ceiling fans bothering people. Pro and con ceiling fan splits.
Not baptizing immediately.
Getting too much into "grace". The very idea!!
What is / what isn't a salvation issue
Homer Hailey's scandalous booklet about MDR (Marriage, divorce, remarriage). I'm sure it caused some splits.

Anyone else?

[agricola]

water fountains in the building. Are they or aren't they a slippery slope toward - horrors - EATING IN THE BUILDING.

(Explain to me why the 'building' is never 'the church' and therefore not really sacred, but it is too holy to take a drink of water in it?)

[longdistancerunner]

Having DayCare Kindergarten and Christian Schools in the building has been a huge source of contention.

[SolaDude]

Ridiculous reasons for "splits" that we've heard tell of, or witnessed:

Cushions on the pews
Carpet, carpet color
(Are cushions and carpeting scriptural? You should be willing to suffer on that hard wooden pew).
Ceiling fans bothering people. Pro and con ceiling fan splits.
Not baptizing immediately.
Getting too much into "grace". The very idea!!
What is / what isn't a salvation issue
Homer Hailey's scandalous booklet about MDR (Marriage, divorce, remarriage). I'm sure it caused some splits.

Anyone else?

--a book entitled "The Gospel Blimp"
--teaching what happened in the Garden with Adam and Eve was a myth (heretical)
--the book of Galatians
--having small group meetings in homes, caused the firing of the minister who tried that

[Ivy]

--a book entitled "The Gospel Blimp"
--teaching what happened in the Garden with Adam and Eve was a myth (heretical)
--the book of Galatians
--having small group meetings in homes, caused the firing of the minister who tried that

The Gospel Blimp...will have to google that!!

Adam and Eve a myth....elders and praycher triggered!! That there is a slippery slope.

For some reason, small group meetings in homes really triggers them. Loss of control? Somebody might start a heresy and the church could be "marked" by the brethren in other congregations?? I remember once a group of women in a certain cofc wanted to meet in homes for a weekly women's group, or class. Oh, boy, did it hit the fan!!! That was just NOT OK!! You've gotta keep the women under supervision; no telling what they might do!! "Captive silly women", you know, always learning but never coming to the "truth".

Oh, and another thing. What in the world is a "captive silly woman"? Why is there no mention of "captive silly men"?

[agricola]

I don't know if it teetered on a potential split, but once upon a time we had a youth group (for maybe two years) and once upon a time the youth group leader thought it would be a Good Idea for the youth group to learn about OTHER denominations and faiths, and therefore he arranged a (first of a planned many) visit to a different religious service.

As it happened, he chose a Saturday morning (God forbid we should miss OUR church service) event, which was (I mean, how many choices did he have for a Saturday anyway?) a Jewish service.

Results:

• Youth group disbanded immediately.
  Youth group leader fired.

I don't know if they EVER re-constituted any sort of youth group at that church!

Before that, though, youth group was pretty lame. Occasional meetings with kids we all knew PERFECTLY well for YEARS (and were perfectly bored with) at the youth leader's house, with mostly peanuts and potato chips, and if there was some kind of theme or idea or - anything - I missed it.

SOME youth groups went on mission trips to MEXICO. We met in someone's suburban den, that looked exactly like everybody else's den.

[Ivy]

That is really sad, Agri, about the youth pastor and youth group. They just have to have full control. If cofc has "truth", then why are they
afraid of their youth learning about other denominations.

[SolaDude]

As it happened, he chose a Saturday morning (God forbid we should miss OUR church service) event, which was (I mean, how many choices did he have for a Saturday anyway?) a Jewish service.

Jesus attended Jewish services. Paul attended Jewish services, three years in Ephesus. Talk about frantic insecurity

[Ivy]

As it happened, he chose a Saturday morning (God forbid we should miss OUR church service) event, which was (I mean, how many choices did he have for a Saturday anyway?) a Jewish service.

Jesus attended Jewish services. Paul attended Jewish services, three years in Ephesus. Talk about frantic insecurity

Of course!! Learning about other faiths just increases one's knowledge base and understanding of how other people think about spirituality. I'd
think it would be a "win". But of course, control of the narrative is central to cofc existence.

[agricola]

My mother always said I didn't need to know what (fill in the blank denomination) taught, because they were Wrong. The CoC was Right. So I only needed to go to the CoC. So I should urge my school friends to come to church with US, but I was forbidden to attend THEIR church (whatever they were).

Never would understand that, if you only know 'one thing', you don't REALLY even know that one thing, because you have nothing to compare/contrast it to.
Works for languages. Works for religions. Works for economics, sociology, and a host of other subjects.

As for the Jewish service - I don't think that, until that time, that it had occurred to be that there even WERE Jews still alive in the world! My impression from church is that they all sort of vanished from history right after the book of Acts, or something.

And I ALSO had the unexamined notion that OF COURSE they would be obvious, because they would look exactly like the ILLUSTRATIONS in the Bible, right?
Striped bathrobes, and probably walking sticks, and those cloth head things. Nobody like THAT in MY neighborhood!

We were kept so IGNORANT, it HURTS.

So anyway - the youth group leader took us to a Shabbat morning service and it wasn't very well attended at all, and nobody explained anything to us, and my MAIN impression was the Jewish girls didn't have anything like the same dress code WE had, because they were all in miniskirts! I was envious.

Don't remember anything else.