Church of Christ (page 2)

Shining One

You have to investigate the various COC branches. Not all of them are cultic. The one big tip off is they think only they will go to heaven. Another one might be baptismal regeneration.
Rex

heathen

being somewhat, similar to the jws except for the rules and regulations and the strong focus on end times.

Oh my God , what's left ? I mean jeezus how different could you be? The church of christ around here actually does charity work and gives people food or clothing , granted the clothing isn't stylish or anything . I'd rather have a shirt with a hole in it than no shirt at all . I've never attended a sermon tho . I always thought they were more of a baptist relation . Don't care for the king james bible at all . I could get into going to church if there was a good sounding choir .

Still waiting AuldSoul.......

icocer

Was member of ICOC for 10 years. One big difference would be that they were a family of churches controlled by a hierarchy of leaders. The culture was cultic and controlling similar to JW. No focus on end times. Focus was on making disciples. Believed they were the only ones saved

The mainline is totally different, they are autonomous. Each church operates on their own. You have various levels of control and teachings. Some might focus on end times, others don’t. Some are excepting of other churches, some believe they are the only ones saved. They do have a strong emphasis on bible study and are knowledgeable. Are more knowledgeable as a whole than ICOCers.

The ICOC had a huge shakeup in 2003 and the church basically feel to pieces. It operates more autonomous now, though many churches have maintained relationships and control.

Also another group is the

TheListener

My God!! This church of christ thing is unbelievable!! There seems to be no end to the various groups with names so similar I can't make head or tails out of it.

The Kip McKean churches or Int'l COC appears to be a cult. Perhaps he took the names ICOC to make it confusing?

The Church of Christ that I'm checking out is not affiliated with any denominational governing body. It's independent and may work with one other church of christ to do charity work. The buck stops at the local elders which are chosen by the congregation themselves. There seems to be thousands of these churches around and they all operate independently.

BTW, I first heard of Church of Christ in a country song that was on the radio. The song was called "My Town", I think.

Rooster

All religions today are operated by the devil.. A true Christian is on his/her own. There was some sort of group in he first century but that was only to establish Christianity. When all of the wicket spirits were thrown out of the heavens in 33 AD. They went to work destroying the Christian structure.

MegaDude

The Church of Christ (two of them) was a denomination I spent some time with on Mega's Tour of Churches that I did just to see how the other half lived.

The bottom line is there is a strong element of fanaticism in their denomination much like the JWs. For example, they don't allow musical instruments in their church. I asked why and the response was there is no mention of the early Christians using musical instruments in the New Testament. They sing acapella only with a choir on stage at some of the larger COC denominations. (Gee, where have I heard that shallow argument before?)

Also, they don't like divorced people. I was greeted very warmly like I was a long-lost family relative at first. While introducing me around to members of the church, the assistant minister casually asked me about myself and my marital status. I replied that I was a single man, having been divorced a year or so ago. He excused himself almost immediately and walked away as if I was disfellowshipped.

Of the mainstream denominations of Christianity I visited, I found this one to be the most like the JWs. They made the Southern Baptists appear almost carefree.

AuldSoul

That's an interesting observation, MegaDude. My wife was raised Church of Christ before becoming a JW, she played drums and occasionally bass for their choir...there were many other instruments in the band. I think maybe you either got hold of one of the churches in the cult brand ICOC, or an extremely strict non-denominational offering of COC.

As has been mentioned, among the non-denom varieties there is little OFFICIAL oversight as to how the church decides to do things.

Respectfully,
AuldSoul

MegaDude

Hi Auldsoul,

There is a breakoff group of the Church of Christ that does allow musical instruments, The Independent Christian Churches/Church of Christ. Perhaps this was the one your wife was a part of?

With all the splinter groups it gets a mite confusing.

Like I said, I visited two different COC churches, a very large one and a smaller one. Both were the same in temperment and attitude. Not nearly as much fun as the charismatics who know how to let it loose and have a good time.

AuldSoul

Nope. She said the ICOC was the one that was strict. No makeup, no music...she was part of a non-denom COC, that worked as described by others in this thread. Not affiliated with any "parent" organization, as most COC's aren't. They loosely organize for certain efforts, but other than that, they accept that there are core doctrines and there are other doctrines that are unessential for salvation.

Maybe it depends on the area you live in. Either way, organized religion is a snarl to try and navigate. And generalizations don't usually apply correctly, unless the Org has one pure language of lies simultaneously delivered around the world in a neat little 32-page package.

Respectfully,
AuldSoul

TheListener

All I know is this: No country song on the top 10 charts would mention a cult. would they?

I'm starting a petition to send to the president to demand that all churches named church of christ rename themselves so they can be distinguished from each other

Church of Christ

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