An Introduction and a Confession

I have posted for a number of years at a particular discussion board. That board has a Church of Christ forum. I was raised, so to speak, in a Restoration type Independent Christian Church. I spent a number of years in a Church of Christ congregation. My girlfriend, who became my wife, was a life-long member of the Church of Christ, and to my parents' dismay, I started attending her congregation and we stayed there until the senior minister retired. After that there was much division within the church. I won't get into that except to say that it was not long until they lost most of the membership and ended-up selling the property. It's too bad how some congregations seem to become too dependent on one man and cannot accept anyone who comes in afterward. Again, that's another subject.

I attended a Restoration Bible college later in life (i.e. after my children were basically grown and becoming more self-dependent). I got a great education there but I did not agree with all of the doctrine there. I developed a chip on my shoulder, you my say, in this regard. I had taken just about all of the classes I could take with professors who were of the Independent Christian Church variety, and the balance were of the hard line Church of Christ variety. Even the new Dean of Students was Church of Christ. I had been in one of this man's classes for awhile and dropped it. I won't get into all the details but after hearing some of his talks and his speaking about how badly the elders of his church mistreated him and his family, I thought they had the wrong man in the wrong positions. He should be an encourager and not a discourager. I learned about some other professors and how they were so hard-line that if you disagreed with them on any minor point you'd be in the dog house with them. So, I ended up leaving this school and left discouraged. I left with a "sour taste" for Church of Christ doctrine that I did not experience when I was a member of a Church of Christ.

I have a pretty sizable library of Restoration Movement books. I have studied the Movement over the course of several years and I have studied it with great intensity. I became almost obsessed in my study. I can tell you the history of the Campbells, Stone or Scott. I can tell you about others. I can tell you that most of us don't really know the whole history of the Restoration Movement. You've got to trace it back to Scotland before Alexander Campbell was born. You've got to look at the Sandemanians. There is a connection between the Restoration Movement and Christadelphians. A former Restoration Movement preacher by the name of Sidney Rigdon probably wrote the bulk of the Book of Mormon. I came up with my own conclusions about the Restoration Movement, and especially as it relates to the Church of Christ and got downright hateful about it. After awhile the Lord severely convicted me about this. And, the more I read about Alexander Campbell, the more I realized that this man changed through the years. He started out with his own chips on his shoulders and he changed. The famous "Lunenburg Letter" is evidence of that. If you ever do your own detailed study of the Restoration I am going to give you some free information and advice before you start. You need to consider your source as you acquire books and read them. There are three sources of material. One source is anti-Campbell and anti-Restoration Movement. The writers only want to discredit the founders of what the people here think of as the Restoration Movement. Another source are the hard-liners who hold to the earliest teachings of Campbell and refuse to acknowledge that he changed what he believed. The last source are books written by people who are just conveying the history of this Movement as they would convey the history of any other Christian or "religious" group. They don't have an ax to grind and just report the facts. I started to change my views when I started reading the unbiased reports.

After I changed, I apologized to that discussion forum at large. Enter the wolves. For over two years I was cheered-on by the hateful "ex-Church of Christ" people, and now they hate me. They hate me because I won't lie down in the muck and mire with them any more. One member there blames on her marriage and her miserable life on the Church of Christ. Obviously she has put her emphasis on "church" and not enough on Christ.

I hope to post here, and I'll say what I think, but I'll do my best to leave the past in the past. Thanks for your time (and a bit of bandwidth).

Hey bro - welcome to these forums first of all. Hope you find a place here where you feel welcome, where you feel you can contribute, and where you feel you can learn. Amen!

My wife and I have been through (and survived) the Crossroads -> Boston -> ICOC debacle, so I think I can appreciate some of what you lament above. The experience wasn't pleasant, I can assure you, and it challenged our faith in Christ significantly. Having said that, I still love the church, believe firmly in the fundamentals and basics of [Christian] doctrine, without all the trappings of personality-based factions, which all churches unfortunately have (I Cor 1). And if we had a good cofC congregation in my area, we'd be worshipping there (we worship in a Christian church now). We've attended several churches over the years, and even spent several years in an e-free church for a variety of reasons. To make a long story short, we don't believe we can in good conscience attend other than a cofC or Christian church for doctrinal reasons - the primary reason for that being that when we meet someone with whom we can share our faith and (Lord willing) be able to study the bible, we need to be in a congregation that believes as we do what the Lord's plan for salvation is. We're not into debating the doctrinal validity of instrumental music, one cup or many, or some of the other reasons that have split churches in the past; but on the issue of salvation, we can't compromise, nor can we worship in a church that has contrary beliefs on that subject.

We both lament the divisions in the church, including those across the breadth of Christianity. Whether it be "non-denominationalism," or "restorationism," or some other moniker, we both pray for unity within the body of Christ, particularly on key, fundamental doctrinal issues. On issues of opinion, hey - whatever - as long as there's love, for

There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call — one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

We both believe there have been significant departures (particularly in modern Christianity) from the basics of scripture to various "progressive" teachings and beliefs, which we believe is not God's will for the church, which prompts us always back to the basics - "Where the bible speaks, we speak; and where the bible is silent, we are silent" being a good guideline, imho.

Anyway, there's a conversational start

God bless!

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Thank you. You have a kind heart.

Hello, Notreligus. Do you remember me from that old forum? I left there because all I was doing was getting mad every day from the slander and trashing of the church for those ex-CoC members. Hope things are better here.

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God's United Kingdom ( The Church ) Romans 16:16
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