Question about Church of Christ.

Not sure about the Church of Christ, but in the Catholic Church anyone is able to baptize someone in an emergency. Administered by a man or women.

 

When I was in the Church of Christ, any male could do so. Usually, the minister did so.

 

The male would have to be a “properly” baptized member. I know they are VERY particular about the concept of a valid chain of baptisms going back to Christ.

 

I never heard of such a concept in my 42 years attending the Church of Christ from my birth in November 1955 until February 1998.

 

They would say he did not go to heaven because he was not baptized

 

The answer would be, when I was in the Church of Christ, that God is gracious.

Because the gospel of Christ that God revealed in His Word was not being taught. They were teaching another gospel(Galatians 1:8-9), another Jesus(2 Corinthians 11:4) - and we read what the apostle Paul wrote about folks who do that.

So God led me out of the Church of Christ and then 23 years later, He was pleased to place me under the hearing of the gospel of Christ, and regenerate me, and grant me the gifts of faith and repentance from dead works.

 

My exposure was limited to a single event at a single church, but it left an indelible impression. I went to a Birthday Party for an in-law and encountered a group of four men verbally beating up some nineteen year old kid about his “baptism” being incorrect and his going to hell because of it. I had no idea who they were and I had never heard of the CoC. My Evangelical Free Church Sunday School teacher held a MDiv from Moody (and an MBA and PhD in Math), so I had an above average “Sunday School” knowledge of scripture and being a former Atheist Gang Member turned Christian, I had read ALL of the Bible for myself to decide what I believed about what IT said.

Four mature Christians picking on a 4 month old “baby” (ticked) me off, so I jumped in. I found myself being tag-teamed with person after person as new members were called in. Ultimately, I learned that I had argued my way from a couple members through the “Elders” and was debating with the Pastor.

What I took away was a memorization of every verse that related to “baptism” that dwarfed mine, a pathological concern with having a correct baptism (including a correct baptism by someone that had been correctly baptized by someone that had been correctly baptized), and a legalistic spirit that put Pharisees to shame.

Granted, this was ONE LOCAL CONGREGATION … but that was the only experience that I had to draw from.

[So, yes, I have ALWAYS been a troublemaker. I am just God’s troublemaker, so don’t pick on new Christians in my presence.]

 

Well, like I said, I was "born and raised" in the Church of Christ and graduated from a Church of Christ college - Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas. And I had never heard what you describe.

Bear in mind, that there are splinter groups in the Church of Christ - such as no Sunday Schoolers and one cuppers.

1) No Sunday Schoolers think that the congregation should not be divided; therefore, there should be no separate Sunday School classes.

2) One cuppers think that only one cup should be used in the observance of the Lord's supper.

Of course, well over a hundred years ago there was division over the use of instrumental music in the worship service but that was basically resolved when those with instrumental music began being counted separately in denominational surveys around 1906, and known as Christian Churches instead of Churches of Christ.

Since every congregation is independent, you could have come upon an odd group in the Church of Christ, even the minister(they are not called pastors, unless they are also an elder, as the elders are the pastors. I never attended a congregation where the minister was an elder.)

 

Yes, generally considered to be around 12 years of age since Jesus was that age when He went into the temple. I was baptized on my 17th birthday.

They would say there is no way to know. In that case, they would say you just have to hope that God will be gracious.

 

The Church of Christ's idea of grace(false as it is) is that you hear the gospel(as they teach it), believe it, repent of your sins, confess publicly that you believe Jesus is the Son of God, be immersed, and then try your best to live an obedient life(attend church services regularly, stay away from any sin that would bring reproach upon the congregation, etc.), and just climb up that ladder to Heaven as best and as far as you can and when you die, whatever is lacking in your obedience, that God will graciously reach down His hand and make up the difference and pull you on up the rest of the way.

 

The general way that the Church of Christ would put it is: We don't claim to be the only Christians, just Christians only.