Posted on 12/15/2011 10:14:12 AM PST by Cronos
Sadly, many in our brotherhood would answer “yes” to this question. Denominations have for years taught that it does not matter what church you attend, as long as a person is sincere and honest. Many in the Lord’s church have swallowed this idea. They cry long and hard that there are sincere, devout Christians in any given denomination. It is no wonder, then, that many congregations of the Lord’s church have joined hands with denominational churches to promote or to participate in any number of things. Of course, they consider their actions to have Biblical backing. They proclaim the words of Jesus in defense of their endeavors: "other sheep I have, which are not of this fold” (Jn.10:16). To them, “this fold” represents the Church of Christ (denominational concept of the Lord’s church), and the other sheep outside of “this fold” represent God’s children scattered among the denominations. Does this interpretation have credence? Is it the case that there are devout Christians in denominations? The answer is no to both questions.
The passage under consideration does not support the idea that there are devout Christians in denominations. To the dismay of those who would espouse this soul-damning doctrine, this passage destroys their convoluted thinking. There is no hint of such a doctrine taught in this passage, nor is it even possible that this passage could teach such. The New Testament knows nothing of denominationalism. In the first century, there was one church and only one church (Eph.4:4). Although the seeds of denominationalism were being planted during the first century, these seeds did not bloom until after the close of New Testament times. To claim that John 10:16 deals in any respect with denominationalism is to force a 21st century interpretation on a 1st century passage.
The latter half of the verse under consideration inflicts even more damage upon the idea that there are devout Christians in denominations. Christ proclaimed that the “other sheep” would be brought into “one fold” under the care of “one shepherd.” This one fold is the one church! And this one church is under the care of the Great Shepherd Jesus Christ! Those in denominations follow the voice of Luther, or Calvin, or Wesley, or Pope John Paul II, but they are not following the voice of the Great Shepherd! The other sheep to whom Jesus was referring were the Gentiles. Though there were some Gentiles who sought God, and anticipated the coming of the Messiah, the Jews and Gentiles remained separated. Through Christ’s death, he would bring both Jew and Gentile together in one body, one fold (Eph.2:14)! The Lord’s church today is a fulfillment of John 10:16—both Jew and Gentile in one body under the care of the Great Shepherd.
Are there devout Christians in denominations? No. Are there children of God in denominations? Yes, but only because they chose to leave the safety of the one fold, the Lord’s church, to follow the doctrines and commandments of men. Those who have done so must repent and return to the church of our Lord before it is eternally too late! PM
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They are a ‘restorationist’ group - like the Mormons, SDA’S, JW’s, etc. Most of their teaching come from Alexander Campbell and one of the main players in the development of LDS theology was a Campbellite minister (Rigdon) before joining the LDS.
Like all Restorationist movements they believe all other churches are in error. That there was a great apostasy and that the denomination Christ founded needed to be restored.
http://www.therestorationmovement.com/
So we should all join the Orthodox church?
I think the writer of this article is missing something somewhere.
Why the fixation on the purity or otherwise of others?
Biblically and doctrinally quite correct.
The question then becomes, of course, one of which group that claims to be "the Lord’s church" actually is. If any.
The truth of this question is not immediately apparent to an unbiased observer. :)
Pretty much the theory behind the original Protestants, FTM.
Not really. Luther and others set out to REFORM, not restore. Also, all of them accepted the place of Catholicism in the history of Christianity and while several (particularly Zwingli) sought a return to the Early Church, NONE of them believe that Christ set up a specific denomination that needed a full ‘restoration’.
Restoration groups have several things in common, all of which are outside protestantism. I can give you more detail if you like (its a current research topic of mine).
Biblically and doctrinally quite correct.
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No it isn’t, but since you are Catholic I can see how you would see it that way.
From my experience with them, they’re always willing to discuss their beliefs over an open Bible...NOT (as some would have you believe) appealing to the teachings of Alexander Campbell or any other fallible man, NOR appealing to extrabiblical “revelations” a la Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, etc.
They’re reminiscent of the Bereans, “who searched the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so,” and following what they find therein.
ah — interesting. Each has a different idea of when the “Great Apostasy” happened. The CoC as per that link says that it occured in 550 AD while the Mormons push it back to 33 AD
They are nutters.
And they have spawned a rather pernicious cult - the International Church of Christ. (Who are really, really the “only right way”.)
The key to the article is the word “denomination”
denomination
late 14c., “a naming, act of giving a name to,” from O.Fr. denominacion “nominating, naming,” from L. denominationem (nom. denominatio) “a calling by anything other than the proper name, metonymy,” from denominare “to name,” from de- “completely” (see de-) + nominare “to name” (see nominate). Meaning “a class” is from mid-15c. Monetary sense is 1650s; meaning “religious sect” is 1716.
The basic tenet of Church of Christ congregations (there is no earthly ruling body above those listed in the New Testament - Elders 1 Timothy 3 ) is that the New Testament is complete and unalterable being the final word to man until the Christ returns.
Hope that helps some.
Sir, unlike the followers of Joseph Smiths movement the Church of Christ only uses the Bible.
As to believing all were in apostasy, that is also not as I understand the Church of Christ view, as the Church was made by Christ and would be extant till his return.
Actually no. It is God that takes, makes and plants believers in the Body of Christ. It is He that saves, perseveres and preserves them. He has taken them from the dead from every tongue, tribe and nation for His own purposes and given them Faith.
It is not up to man and your salvation is not defined by what earthly church you attend, but by His work and Faith which He has planted in folks like us.
If Salvation is determined by man, man can undo it just that fast and upon a whim. No one would be saved. But thank God, Salvation is by God just as Jonah said "Salvation is of the Lord" - not man.
But what about all those discussions by Paul of how Christians should be of one mind and expel from their midst those advocating false doctrines?
If Christians are to implement these scriptural instructions, they can’t be believing a whole bunch of different things.
All denominations can be wrong, but they most certainly can’t all be right.
I have studied this group for 20+ years and there is currently a large gap developing between 2 distinct groups. One group follows the teachings of Memphis School of Preaching the other group holds no allegiance to any institution. The MSOP followers seem to believe in a theocratic oligarchy from which the congregants must adhere to all teachings that their “elders” subscribe to. 3 teachings are that elders choose other elders, binding the use of the king james version and that the Holy spirit dwells within the words of the bible ONLY. They are militant against other churches of Christ that don’t subscribe to these tenets. These churches are more tradition based than bible based. The other type congregations loosely called “autonomous” tend to be more open towards their community and are not nearly “orthodox”, just simply want to worship God as prescribed in the Bible.They believe that the church was “simple” when established and should remain “simple”.
I’m a Baptist, but ... I have lots of Church of Christ friends and others.
There will not be Baptists, Methodists, Church of Christ, Catholic etc in heaven. That will not be important. There will only be Christians and Jews.
I do not want to argue about the Jews statement with anyone.
Exactly. There are other common characteristics, most have some sort of prophet or revelation and extra scripture (even if they don’t call it that), most have ways that the ‘proper authority’ was ‘restored’ to only their founder, and all are pretty much exclusivists (only their group goes to Heaven). Mormonism is unique in that it is, at the same time, both exclusivist and universalist.
I am just starting a research project on the Campbell and the rise of restoration movements in the 19th century US.
Something that intrigues me is that at least 3 of these groups (LDS, JW, SDA) were founded in NY within about 60 years and 100 miles of each other.
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