Grace, part two

For your reading, I present the Wikipeda article on Grace in Christianity. The church of christ stance would be considered arminian.

In protestant christianity, grace is often defined as unmerited favor. You get something good from god that you did not earn. Even more than that, you get something good that you didn't deserve. The implication being that you actually deserved something bad, but you got something good instead. What do you deserve? Condemnation. Death and destruction. No ifs ands or buts.

God's gracious act to the human race was supposed to be sending Jesus to die in your place, even though he didn't deserve to die, you did. You filthy trash. Wait a minute, that's quite offensive.  I wouldn't want to be called filthy trash even if it were true. Do unto others. Tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to spread a little of god's grace around and I'm not going to verbally condemn you, even if I believe you probably are going to hell. I'm going to be gracious because I feel sorry for you. There is no point in making you experience hell any sooner than necessary. We would be in the same sinking boat if I hadn't let Jesus save me.  "But for the grace of god, there go I." These kinds of christians are often labelled "liberal."

There are some christians who don't want to be gracious. They want to call a spade a spade and an unsaved sinner an unsaved sinner. They want to prophetically call out the sins that the people are committing. They fear for your immortal soul. So they give you a little taste of coming fire and brimstone, hoping you will learn to fear for your own soul, so they won't have to. No pain no gain. These are the people that the gracious christians call "legalistic."

What does Jesus have to say about grace in the gospels?  Nothing. Zip. Nada. I find that quite odd. However, the letters ascribed to Paul have a whopping 89 instances of the usage of the word grace.
The word grace  occurs in the gospels four times. This is the same exact greek word that Paul uses.
*Luke 2:40- (speaking of the child Jesus) "he was filled with wisdom and the grace of god was upon him." This is confusing. Would a christian say even Jesus did not merit gods favor? Are there different kinds of god's grace?
*John 1:14 (speaking of Jesus) "The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only who came from the father, full of grace and truth." Does it make sense here to call grace unmerited favor? Clearly it means something else, but what? Does it mean grace is a quantity of unmerited favor that Jesus can dispense?
*John 1:16 &17(speaking of Jesus). "From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." But what is grace? If Jesus gave/gives grace, how come he never talked about grace in the only accounts of his words and life?

Here is my take on christian grace: The greek word used in the New Testament is charis. This is defined as a blessing, favor, or kindness. It is where we get our word charity from. There is no implication of being undeserving in the original word at all. In the Luke passage, we might just say god blessed Jesus. (Though what constitutes a blessing isn't exactly clear either) However, christianity has taken Paul's statements in his letters, that we don't work for or earn god's grace through merit, and extended them to mean that noone deserves god's grace, which they have equated with salvation and eternal life. They have equated merit with deserving. Therefore, since noone can do anything to merit god's favor, christianity says everyone who receives salvation is undeserving. In Romans 1:18-32 there are those who are even more undeserving than others. They don't get salvation. According to this passage, they merit death. If you don't fall on the list of the condemned, you qualify for salvation, but don't forget you didn't earn it.

It doesn't seem right to me that you can earn hell but not earn heaven.

What is Grace? Part one.

Grace is a word that is often bandied about in Christianity today. It irritates the heck out of me. Why? Because there is no concrete definition. It is feel-good christianese. Whole books could be written about the various theological meanings of grace. Here is dictionary.com's definition of grace: ( link) Read every definition. In my mind, most of it is just word salad. Almost every definition of grace has a clearer synonym. Notice that grace is not something that can be pinned down. It is ephemeral, a purely subjective and invisible quality. Its presence is guessed at by 1. how well a person does life, and/or 2. how well life treats or has treated them, 3. their unearned, desireable qualities and advantages.

Wikipedia has a few explanations of the theology of grace. First look at what it says about Divine Grace. If you are more enlightened than you were a moment ago, I congratulate you. Each paragraph in that article differed on its explanation of what grace actually is. Sometimes even one sentence to the next differs in the explanation of grace.  Unsurprisingly, Catholics and Protestants disagree on the definition.

Very surprisingly, someone has quoted Bill Gothard's definition of grace in the Wikipedia article. Of all the quotable christians in the world and throughout history, in the nonexistent god's name, WHY? Many Christians claim grace to be the opposite of legalism. Mr. Gothard's organization has promoted some of the most virulent teachings of christian legalism over the last few decades.

Let's look at the defining first paragraph of the Wikipedia article. First, grace is said to be "the divine influence which operates in humans to regenerate and sanctify, to inspire virtuous impulses, and to impart strength to resist trial and endure temptation." To boil it down, grace is that quality that keeps some people from acting like jerks when everyone around them is. This is said to have a divine source. Baloney. Some people have been lucky enough to get the right combination of genes, family background, and life circumstances, to engender patience, tolerance, and mercy in their attitudes. They are said to be "gracious." Other people learn those qualities through experience. Other people deliberately set out to cultivate those qualities in themselves. No gods required.

The second part of Wikipedia's definition  of grace is "an individual virtue or excellence of divine origin." This could refer to innate desireable personality traits, unique talents, or  personal beauty, in an individual.  A person who has these things is often considered favored by god, or the gods. These "graces"  are bestowed upon them from on high. They didn't do anything to deserve them, they are arbitrary divine gifts. People thus favored could still be jerks. Do you think the idea that beautiful, talented, or wealthy people are favored by god/the gods has died out? It's been around a long time. Just read about the ancient minor goddesses called the graces. Some of the ancient graces include: splendor, mirth, good cheer, blossoms, happiness, banquet, night festivities, sound, light, growth, leader, persuasion, hallucination (? Maybe that means dreams and visions) and beauty. It appears that the visual representation of the graces has evolved into one of three naked young women.

Scroll down the Wikipedia article on Divine Grace till you get to the section on grace in scripture. There you will see that the New Testament word in Greek is Karis. It is generally translated as graciousness of manner or act. The Old Testament Hebrew word is chen. That is defined as favor, charm, and the moral quality of kindness.

Do we know exactly what grace is yet? At the moment, It seems safe to say that grace is an unmeasurable quality that is desirable but not universally available. So, there must be reasons some people have got it and others don't,  right? Well, someone somewhere decided that that certain something must be a gift from a god or gods.

More to come.

Is the church of christ a cult?

It depends on your definition of cult, the particular shade of church of Christ you are involved in, how long you have been a member, how many family members are in it, and how involved you have been, and how controlling a particular congregation is. I believe churches of Christ can be conducive to cult like attitudes and effects, which vary from family to family, congregation to congregation, and region to region. However, for the most part, churches of Christ do not appear to qualify as cults.

In the Wikipedia article on cults, we see that New Religious Movements (NRM) are often, but not always,  considered cults. An NRM is said to be a religious or spiritual group that has come into existence since about the mid 1800's. The restoration movement churches, which include churches of Christ,  would seem to qualify as NRMs based on that criteria,  but they are not listed in Wikipedia's articles on them (link and link) It appears that they were not unique (strange) enough. Churches of Christ would NOT be classified as destructive cults, doomsday cults, political cults, polygamy cults, racist cults, or terrorist cults.

If we read the Wikipedia article on the sociological classification of religious movements, it seems that Churches of Christ are more institutionalized sects than anything else, halfway between sects and denominations. They have numbers  1,3,5, 7 of the characteristics of denominations. They are not religious pluralists (2). They do not "accept the principle of at least modestly changing doctrine and practice and tolerate some theological diversity and dispute." (4) They do not always insist on formal certification requirements for professional clergy (6). Their membership does not contain many members of the upper classes (8). They are not mystically oriented and not particularly service oriented either, as this article says cults are.

If we look at a second definition/explanation of cults, the ICSA (International Cultic Studies Association) has different criteria for judging if an organization is a cult. Let's see if the church of Christ applies. 
(1)" Excessively zealous and unquestioning commitment to its leader and (wether he is alive or dead) regards his belief system, ideology, and practices as the Truth, as law."- Yes, if Jesus and/or the god of the bible counts. This would also apply to a great deal of Christianity in general.
(2) "Questioning, doubt, dissent are discouraged, even punished." -Yes. Though not usually vicious, the church of christ, while often claiming it accepts questioning, does discourage public dissent. After you question, you are expected to accept the standard answers.
(3)" Leadership is dictatorial and controlling." This varies greatly across congregations. The more conservative the congregation, the more controlling. This is a distinct advantage to the autonomous congregation model. Elders of more liberal congregations may get chastised for not being strict enough.
(4)"The group may be elitist, claiming a special exalted status for itself (yes), its leaders (Jesus as the messiah or avatar of god), its members (yes)." Also the group may claim to be on a special mission to save humanity.  Can't this be said to be true of much of Christianity?
(5)"The group may have a polarized us vs. them mentality (yes) which may cause conflict (no, but sometimes withdrawal from socialization.)
(6) "The leader is not accountable to any authorities." No. Churches of christ are big on following the law. Jesus and god, however, are not expected to conform to the laws of the land.
(7) "Exalted ends justify whatever means necessary." No, which is surprising when you think about it.   It makes you wonder if they actually believe all the stuff they claim to believe.
(8) "Leadership uses shame and guilt to control and influence members." Not as a general rule, but again, each congregation is different. Also the shaming and guilting are more likely to be used by parents in the private homes of members. That does happen.
(9) "Subservience to the leader or group requires members to cut ties with family and friends and radically alter personal goals and activities they once had." It depends. There is no firm requirement to cut ties, but members are often encouraged to discontinue previous amounts of socializing with those who might pull them away from the church and its teachings. Very seldom is it insisted upon. 
(10) "The group is preoccupied with bringing in new member." Yes. See: mission to save the world.
(11) "The group is is preoccupied with making money." Not as a general rule. In fact, they are not fond of ostentatious wealth.
(12) "Members are expected to devote inordinate amounts of time to the group and group related activities." Kind of. The more active and involved you are, the higher standing you have in the community. You are expected to want to attend most worship services, but most other activities are considered voluntary.
(13) "The most loyal members (true believers) feel there can be no life outside the context of the group. They often fear reprisals to themselves and others if they leave." As a former true believer, I can say that those who leave membership in the church are often mourned as possibly lost to eternal damnation. I am certain that if/when I leave, there will be those who are certain I am doomed. Reprisals may or may not happen, depending. on individual convictions and congregational practice. 

The International Churches of Christ have been called a cult. They are often extremely controlling and psychologically abusive. They are in the list of NRMs. The so-called non institutional churches of christ, or "anti" churches, are usually quite small and are generally very strict and somewhat controlling. I consider them somewhat cult like. Mainstream churches of christ are what I have been affiliated with. They are middle of the road, accused of being too conservative/legalistic by some and too liberal by others. Some who have left churches of Christ would still consider them cults. Indeed, many would consider all of christianity a cult. 

The  things  that cross  the line for me are shunning, manipulation, and coercion. Shunning is number one. The threat of shunning, even implied rather than stated,  is used to manipulate. I would say that if a person is formally shunned by friends and family members for leaving the group for any non-criminal reason, that group is acting like the popular definition of a cult. Shunning and fear of shunning show that something is definitely wrong. Get out if you can. 

About the church of Christ part three

How do the churches of Christ stack up when it comes to modern issues?

The churches of Christ are traditionally patriarchal and  lean toward complementarianism, which is just a modern form of patriarchy. Very few congregations attempt to put women in any public roles. However, women are generally respected, as long as they don't try to "usurp" a man's authority. It's delicate dance of social conventions.  Many women wield power through their husband's position, gossip, or complaining to the elders. Others gain respect through benevolence, teaching, and wisdom, but there is a limit to what is allowed. There are no women leading singing or prayers, public preaching, serving communion, or teaching mixed adult bible classes. All but the strictest congregations allow women to contribute to discussions in a bible class setting. Otherwise, women
are relegated to cooking, cleaning, children's bible classes, and childcare. However, they often have special female only functions where they fill all the roles available. These are usually called "ladies' days" and happen on rare Saturdays, when husbands can watch the kids.  Women will often travel from regional congregations to attend another congregation's ladies' day.

I have never seen an openly gay couple in a church of Christ, and I can't imagine I ever will.  I saw instances when two different teenagers, in different years, announced their non hetero leanings in social media. They did not stick  around. Toleration of homosexuality is not taught, though violence and aggression toward anyone is not condoned. It is the love the sinner, hate the sin, kind of Christianity. I do know of members whose relatives are in same sex relationships. It is not discussed, and I'm not sure how many other people know. There was a highly publicized suicide of a gay young woman from a  church of Christ,  a few years back.

I rarely hear of divorce in the church any more. Divorce rates in the CoC are low. I think most struggling couples leave before their marriages reach that point. Divorced women are more likely to be found in Churches of Christ than divorced men. Divorced men usually lose all possible positions of privilege,  leadership, and service.  Living together before marriage, or pregnancy out of  wedlock, is not condoned, but presently not condemned as nastily as in years past. These "sins" are more quickly forgiven than they used to be. A fair amount CoC Christians have as many problems with obesity issues as the general American public.  I know there have been cases of physical abuse, mental abuse, addiction, alcoholism, mental health problems, and even a case of a preacher's wife murdering her husband. To be fair, these problems are found everywhere.

A lot of church members lead lives that they don't discuss with other members. They drink alcohol, they smoke, they cuss, they watch any movies they want, play violent video games, listen to any music they want, and read anything they want. Social media lets you see everybody's business now, so it's more obvious. There are also a few CoC members who are uber religious and straight-laced on social media. Their posts are often ignored, except by those of like mind. It doesn't seem to matter a whole lot any more, which  is better than calling people out and shaming/shunning them for non criminal acts.

Churches of Christ usually practice political nuetrality from the pulpit, in my experience. The members have been allowed to follow their conscience with regard to voting. There always seemed to be a polite avoidance of divisive political discussions in the past. Today, however, social media has become a platform for the political grandstanding, even among members in the church. This has definitely caused some drama. There are those on both ends of the spectrum who think that their way of voting is the only godly way. Usually, those on the right are the ones to leave in a huff for more conservative congregations.

Abortion is hardly ever discussed, but if it is, it will be in opposition. Anyone who has had one is not talking. In my experience, racism is not condoned at all. There are many racially diverse congregations. However, there are traditionally black churches of Christ, and ones that are majority white, often depending on location. Also, many white members use their social media to rant against BLM and immigration. There are very few rich or intellectual elites in the CoC, most are in university towns. A majority of the members are solidly middle class. Blue collar and white collar workers mingle freely. White collar workers are slightly more likely to end up as elders. There is a
large percentage of members in the US military. Most congregations do not have the resources to handle those with addictions, mental health issues, or extreme poverty. Most preachers are not trained professional counselors. People with real, tough problems tend to fade out of church participation.

In short, members have many of the same problems that are found throughout Christianity and in the
broader culture. They also have many of the admired qualities of other good human beings. However, the church of Christ culture is definitely an insulated bubble. Most members seem to like it that way. All this and much more has been my experience of churches of Christ over the last four decades.

About the church of Christ, part two

The one thing most visitors to churches of christ notice right away is the acapella singing in four part harmony. No instruments are used in worship services. The most strict congregations will sing only approved hymns out of a hymnal. Others allow projectors that put the music up on a screen. Some congregations sing a mixture of hymns and modern praise songs. There is usually only one song leader, not necessarily trained. The members may or may not have experience with music education, usually from public school or private lessons. It is generally not taught in church classes. The singing quality ranges from cringeworthy to sublime, depending on the singing abilities of each congregation.  The most liberal congregations may have rhythmic clapping during certain songs, and worship teams (sometimes with women!). There are instrumental churches of Christ, but they are not usually  part of the mainstream network, and most traditionalists avoid them like the plague. Many churches of Christ will not allow any kind of instrument in the church building for any reason, including weddings. I no longer sing church songs because I can not say the words in good conscience.  No one  has commented.

Another feature of churches of christ is weekly communion, also called "the lord's supper." This consists of either homemade "unleavened bread", which is much like pie crust, or store bought matzoh crackers, to *symbolically* represent the body of christ. No transubstantiation here. There is also grape juice (fruit of the vine) to represent the blood of Jesus. Welch's grape juice is an American take on the fruit of the vine. Many churches overseas have no compunction using wine. In the US, there is an almost morbid fear that wine in communion, indeed,  any consumption of alcohol at all,  borders on irredeemably sinful. It could lead to an  alcoholic downfall. Weekly observance of communion is insisted on. All baptized believers are expected to "partake." Many feel guilty if they miss a Sunday. Visitors are given allowances for ignorance, but set straight as soon as politely possible. I still participate in the Lord's Supper because it is just a piece of cracker and grape juice. I don't feel as though I'm compromising myself. Plus, I don't want to be a fodder for gossip. Someone  would definitely notice that.

There are no religious calendars, no written creeds, or prescribed prayers in the churches of christ. Though the phrase "guide, guard, and direct us" is ubiquitous enough to be cliche. Churches of christ claim to have no other guide but the bible. However, they are not above using concordances, bible dictionaries, and study guides or literature that is written by members of the church, or that is sufficiently generic christian. The bible is usually interpreted literally, unless the language is obviously metaphorical. The most conservative congregations stick to the KJV. The NIV is very common in mainstream churches. The whole bible is usually considered historically accurate. If anyone disagrees, they keep it to themselves. Historical or textual criticism is practically nonexistent. Discussions of science, politics, and the end of the world, are generally avoided. Generally, with some exceptions, American members lean creationist (old earth and young earth), republican, and amillenial. Churches of Christ are technically Christian fundamentalists. They believe in the divinity of Jesus and the inspiration of the scriptures. They are trinitarians. They believe in heaven and hell in an eternal afterlife. However, they also believe that the age of miracles, healings, and speaking in tongues, ended with the death of the apostles.

There are no Pastors, Fathers, priests, or Reverends, in churches of christ. They are called ministers or preachers, and that is their main function. College educations are not always required. It is possible for a member of the congregation, even a woman,  to have as much or more knowledge of the bible than the preacher. Preachers are usually hired for their speaking abilities. They are also expected to not rock the boat, if they want to keep their jobs. They tend to stay away from divisive issues. The preaching all begins to sound the same after a while. The authorities of each congregation  are the elected elders, at least two. They are usually senior members with many years in the church of christ. Elders hold a kind of supervisory position. They are usually the final authority on church matters. There are also any number of deacons who serve under the elders and do the grunt work. If there are no elders, all the men of the congregation may be invited to participate in "business meetings." It's a man's world.

More to come.

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About the "church of Christ", part one

The church of Christ teaches that it is non-denominational, but that is actually not true. It  is a distinct, separate, and recognizable brand of Christianity. It has a unique combination of characteristics that are not found in other christian groups in quite the same way. Its history is found in the restoration movement, the teachings of Alexander Campbell and Barton Stone. It has a common history with the Christian Church and the Disciples of Christ. You could probably attend a church of  Christ for years and not know or hear about this history. I did not learn about it till I had been a member for over ten years. I've been attending churches of Christ regularly for about 42 years. I've visited, or been a member of, over 20 congregations in the US and Europe.

You can find a picture of a "Basic Bible References" card online. It is a condensed version of the scriptures deemed the most important to support the doctrines and practices of the churches of Christ. These cards can often be found in racks at the entry ways of church buildings. I am not going to cover the scriptural justifications used for the practices that I talk about in these posts. It would take too long.

The one non-negotiable taught in all churches of Christ is voluntary, immersion baptism, for the remission of sins, after the age of accountability. Without it, you are not saved, period.  Individual members may hold differing private opinions on this topic, but they do not speak of them publicly. In fact, keeping dissenting opinions to oneself, in order to avoid division, is a feature of this group. Don't rock the boat. See link for religion survey of churches of christ. 

The second, most unique feature is that this denomination is a "brotherhood." It is truly a glorified social club and community organization. There is also a popular brotherhood newspaper and online news site, The Christian Chronicle. Even though each congregation is supposed to be autonomous and self policing, they are globally connected through social bonds, relationships, and church of christ literature. If you are a longstanding member and travel, visiting another congregation in another  state or country, you are bound to find a member of the church whom you either know, know about, or who is connected to someone you know in some way. Most churches are friendly and welcoming on the surface. The members do extensive networking and generally help each other out in many areas of life. If you have been in the church for decades and have family, friends,  and acquaintances in multiple congregations, like I do, leaving could be problematic. It could mean severing important, life long ties and access to resources. News of my defection could potentially spread from Florida to Pennsylvania and from West Virginia to Texas. 

The churches of Christ are actually a small blip among all those who call themselves Christians as far as numbers go, but they think big. Most consider themselves the true continuation of the original church started in Jerusalem, oblivious of the fact that other groups teach the same thing and believe it just as fervently. They have trouble understanding why others cannot see the truth about Christianity the way they can, and most of them do not know much about other religious doctrines besides what they hear discussed and denigrated in bible classes. There are dozens of church of christ missionaries throughout the world, sponsored by individual congregations, even in countries that are historically christian. This has caused offense in some cases. There are also several church of christ preaching schools, private christian schools, colleges and universities. These vary in flavor from very strictly fundamentalist to flaming liberal (Pepperdine). 

Many members of churches of christ like to do a bit of name dropping, associating themselves with any well known personage who had/has the slightest connection to the church of Christ or the broader restoration movement, even if they are no longer members in good standing. These include Presidents Harding and Reagan; singers Loretta Lynn, Pat Boone, Glen Campbell, Wierd Al Yankovic, and Randy Travis; basketball player David Robinson; author Max Lucado; and olympic figure skater Scott Hamilton.

More to come