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Now when you look at the bread that you may be given in church, does it actually look like human flesh?....no?
Then no matter what you may think the bread stands for, the real truth is that no matter how you look at it, it's still just some bread...
So on the 'outside" the bread and wine you receive in church is really is just food and drink.
So if the "outside' never changes...then the only way to look at the Holy meal is that the bread and wine change on the inside...
Not their "insides" as if you could cut the bread in half and see a change, but our insides...
Not their insides, but inside us...
the Bread changes in our heart and minds so that it becomes a symbol of a concept we hold as holy.
The same is true for the waters of baptism.
Science tells us that the water is just water...
no matter how you look at it, test it, heat it, cool it, it's all just water.
But in our eyes of faith we can say that the water of baptism becomes the grave...
I agree that the bread and wine are just what they are. Yes, it is symbolic because we can't really eat the body of Christ and drink His blood. That would be cannabalism. The bible even tells us to abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood (Acts 15:20). But when it comes to baptism, the water is real and is used for the purpose of what God intended it to be. Science might tell us that water is water, but God is far superior than science. He is the Creator of the world and everything in it (Genesis 1:1-31). All things are possible with God (Mk. 10:27). Again, we have to come in contact with the blood of Christ (Rev. 1:5). It is in the water. Can we see it? No. We have faith that it's in there (2 Cor. 5:7). God bless.
I am a Christian. Nothing more or less. Church of Christ does not believe that anyone not part of the church is going to hell, but if the person does not believe what the bible says..and does not follow Gods requirements, then yes that person would be considered not saved. Church of Christ gets a bad wrap because we stand for what God stands for. That convicts people, and they are forced to either change their lives or find a church that tickles their ears. My advice would be to you, is to read the bible for yourself. Research baptism, communion, elders, church leadership, womens roles in the church, submission, so forth. I would research and study with ONLY the bible. Do not add or take away from what God says, pray for truth, and find the church that is the closest to it! Know this though, the closer you get to God, the more Satan will try to tempt you to be mislead. I have been a Christian for three years now, and I can tell you that I came from a really screwed up background, and had no desire for God or church until I studied on my own, and found that the church of christ...christian church...was the closest thing I found to a wordly Godly church. I hope this helps.
I am a Christian. Nothing more or less. Church of Christ does not believe that anyone not part of the church is going to hell, but if the person does not believe what the bible says..and does not follow Gods requirements, then yes that person would be considered not saved. Church of Christ gets a bad wrap because we stand for what God stands for. That convicts people, and they are forced to either change their lives or find a church that tickles their ears. My advice would be to you, is to read the bible for yourself. Research baptism, communion, elders, church leadership, womens roles in the church, submission, so forth. I would research and study with ONLY the bible. Do not add or take away from what God says, pray for truth, and find the church that is the closest to it! Know this though, the closer you get to God, the more Satan will try to tempt you to be mislead. I have been a Christian for three years now, and I can tell you that I came from a really screwed up background, and had no desire for God or church until I studied on my own, and found that the church of christ...christian church...was the closest thing I found to a wordly Godly church. I hope this helps
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Amen on the Christian nothing more nothing less. I feel however when you do research and study the Bible that you also research a little history behind some of the things in the bible. Such as womens roles in the church one of the roles is for the women to be quiet in the church however when you research the history behind the Corinth Church you will learn that women sat on one side of the building and men sat on the other and the women were shouting across the aisle to the men and this was causing a disruption in the church. That is why the bible says for the women to be quiet in the church so that everyone could hear what was being said. As there are many things in the bible that you all say is commanded which if you read and study the history you will see its just tradional ways handed down. The Church of Christ I use to attend told the members of its congregation that anyone who didn't take communion every Sunday didn't have the Lord in thier hearts and would be persecuted. That is just wrong I am sorry and that just states that CofC is the only ones that has the Lord in thier hearts besides Catholics since they are the only ones that take communion every Sunday.
Amen on the Christian nothing more nothing less. I feel however when you do research and study the Bible that you also research a little history behind some of the things in the bible. Such as womens roles in the church one of the roles is for the women to be quiet in the church however when you research the history behind the Corinth Church you will learn that women sat on one side of the building and men sat on the other and the women were shouting across the aisle to the men and this was causing a disruption in the church. That is why the bible says for the women to be quiet in the church so that everyone could hear what was being said. As there are many things in the bible that you all say is commanded which if you read and study the history you will see its just tradional ways handed down. The Church of Christ I use to attend told the members of its congregation that anyone who didn't take communion every Sunday didn't have the Lord in thier hearts and would be persecuted. That is just wrong I am sorry and that just states that CofC is the only ones that has the Lord in thier hearts besides Catholics since they are the only ones that take communion every Sunday.
It seems very strange to me that anyone would judge the entire church of Christ by what they were told in one congregation! We, who are members, have stated over and over here that the congregations of the church are self-governed, and no two are exactly alike, no more than the 7 churches of Asia were.
These statements cause me to believe that the speaker has a lot bigger issue with the doctrine than what they are saying. I feel that it narrows down to the : "Don't tell me what to do" mentality.
Amen on the Christian nothing more nothing less. I feel however when you do research and study the Bible that you also research a little history behind some of the things in the bible. Such as womens roles in the church one of the roles is for the women to be quiet in the church however when you research the history behind the Corinth Church you will learn that women sat on one side of the building and men sat on the other and the women were shouting across the aisle to the men and this was causing a disruption in the church. That is why the bible says for the women to be quiet in the church so that everyone could hear what was being said. As there are many things in the bible that you all say is commanded which if you read and study the history you will see its just tradional ways handed down. The Church of Christ I use to attend told the members of its congregation that anyone who didn't take communion every Sunday didn't have the Lord in thier hearts and would be persecuted. That is just wrong I am sorry and that just states that CofC is the only ones that has the Lord in thier hearts besides Catholics since they are the only ones that take communion every Sunday.
I have heard this same thing about the women in Corinth and I am not disagreeing with you but there is another scripture that talks about women speaking in the church. 1 Tim. 2:11-13 but more emphasis on verse 13 where it says that Adam was first formed, then Eve. This shows leadership roles. It is God's intention that the man be in leadership in basic institutions. Family and church are institutions.God set in order who is to be the head (Eph. 5:23). This does not mean that the man is superior over the woman. They both are equal in the sight of God.
It has been stated that people should do more study or research on the women speaking in church issue and I agree but people also should do more study or research on all the different churches and if the things that they are teaching inline with the scriptures. If you have different churches, you will have different doctrines (Heb. 13:9). Everybody can't be right if everybody is teaching different things. Example: God is not going to tell the Adventists to worship on Saturday and say that they are right and then tell the Baptists to worship on Sunday and tell them that they are right. Something is terribly wrong with this. As I have said, people just need to really study and look at this real close.
Amen on the Christian nothing more nothing less. I feel however when you do research and study the Bible that you also research a little history behind some of the things in the bible. Such as womens roles in the church one of the roles is for the women to be quiet in the church however when you research the history behind the Corinth Church you will learn that women sat on one side of the building and men sat on the other and the women were shouting across the aisle to the men and this was causing a disruption in the church. That is why the bible says for the women to be quiet in the church so that everyone could hear what was being said. As there are many things in the bible that you all say is commanded which if you read and study the history you will see its just tradional ways handed down. The Church of Christ I use to attend told the members of its congregation that anyone who didn't take communion every Sunday didn't have the Lord in thier hearts and would be persecuted. That is just wrong I am sorry and that just states that CofC is the only ones that has the Lord in thier hearts besides Catholics since they are the only ones that take communion every Sunday.
If you are so against the CofC why do you keep coming to this site. I also have a problem with authority. I like to be in charge. I know that what God says is right, so I try to abide by that. So if He says take the Lord's supper on the first day of the week I am going to assume that he means every first day of the week. That saves me from trying to decide that whether I should take it on the first sunday of the month, or quarterly, or yearly.
Never said I was so against it as it was where my Grandparents were founders of the local CofC that I attended and my Grandpa was an elder. I just stated that their beliefs has caused me to stray from them as they are traditional and not all biblical and especially their belief on baptism when they told my wife that she would have to be rebaptized because her first baptism was in an other church and they said that baptism wasn't good enough. Again never said I was against them just against how they dont follow the bible and act like if you dont go to a CofC then your not saved.
My own view of the COC is that they still are mostly Christian, mostly.
My history with that church casused me to come to the point where I felt that the COC and me were a bad fit.
They had many good teachings, and then they (for some unknown reason) toss in a really weird and pointless teaching that totally takes away all the good stuff thay had going.
The music and the name teachings get in the way for them...so I closed my connection to the COC and moved on to better things.
I still have a few good friendships from the COC, but Im never going back there.
My own view of the COC is that they still are mostly Christian, mostly.
My history with that church casused me to come to the point where I felt that the COC and me were a bad fit.
They had many good teachings, and then they (for some unknown reason) toss in a really weird and pointless teaching that totally takes away all the good stuff thay had going.
The music and the name teachings get in the way for them...so I closed my connection to the COC and moved on to better things.
I still have a few good friendships from the COC, but Im never going back there.
So, my understanding is that you desire to be entertained ??? The early church was not into entertaining.
I don't understand the "name teachings". Is there a problem with speaking as the scriptures speak???
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