Featured Is the Church of Christ a cult?

I do not think that it automatically makes them a cult. I know many who are certainly cult-like, but I also know several that are not (some teach one must be a member of the CoC to be saved...not their denomination because unlike the Baptist they don't follow a man and Alexander Campbell doesn't count).

 

Some of those things are what makes the CoC cultic. I have friends who are CoC (it is a very popular denomination where I live). Their parents believe that I am going to Hell because I am Baptist and therefore a member of a false church following a man rather than Christ. But my friends do not think that CoC members are the only ones going to Heaven. So there are a couple of differences between generations and churches.

But their insistence that they are not a denomination is not something to be appreciated but reviled. It makes them cultic. They believe that they are not a denomination because there are no other Christian churches. Alexander Campbell did not set out to make another denomination, and before his death he expressed regret that this is precisely what he did. His desire to unite all Christianity resulted in the exact opposite in practice. But the issue was that he was not trying to unite Christianity "in Christ" through the gospel of Christ but rather in an umbrella of univocal doctrine (and more specifically, his doctrine). In other words, they believe that they are not a denomination because there are no other true churches. They confuse the title "Church of Christ" with the actual Church of Christ mentioned in Scripture.

In my area, I am comfortable calling most CoC churches cults. But there are exceptions, not only churches but also members within these churches.

 

I don't think that the question is regeneration here, but whether or not water baptism is the mode by which our sins are washed away. And for most of the CoC, you are only "saved" if you were dunked under the water by a CoC elder. In other words, if you were not physically submerged in water by an authorized minister then you have not been regenerated.

 

just wanted throw in my 2 cents here - where does Scripture REQUIRE an authorized minister.
I realize that our Baptist tradition is that the pastor does the baptizing - but there have times when a person other than pastor preformed the ordinance.

 

I don't think an authorized minister is required.

 

There are many things about some of the smaller (and older) CoC churches in my area that I would consider false doctrine. What prevents them from being "Baptist" is their view that God uses water baptism in saving men by His grace. What you have to decide is what false doctrine actually causes them not to believe the true gospel.

Is it their view that God uses water baptism in salvation? Is it their exclusion of other believers in the Kingdom of God? Is it their false understanding of biblical authorization (or the hypocrisy of their practice)? Is it their misunderstanding of the nature of translation and adherence to the King James Version Bible as the "perfect Word of God"? All of those are false doctrines, but I do not know that any of those preclude them from being saved.

They are cult like. I don't now that they are not, however, truly saved while believing those false doctrines.

 

I think it best not to look for doctrines that "damn" (they do not infact condemn but instead they reflect an already condemned state) but look for the doctrines that save. Do they hold fast to the gospel of Jesus Christ?

If so, then no amount of error can rip them from His grasp. If not, then no amount of correct theology can save them.

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