WHY CAN'T WE PLAY NICE?

I was reading my blogs this morning and I am distressed now.

Reading Mike Cope's blog, I understand where he is coming from and appreciate his concerns. However, it brings up more distress in me and why we can't all get along nicely.

Mike mentioned in his blog that “This Message is From Churches of Christ” was said by a well known radio/TV presenter. Mike's contention is that this person seems to be speaking for all Churches of Christ and in most cases he is not. Especially in this case since it has to do with women in the church.

What got me was some of the responses to that post. It has become a most silent shouting match.

I have not responded there, but will respond here. My problem is the mindset by many in the Churches of Christ. {We are "The Church" -- just like the church in the first century and if you are not doing it just like we are, then you are wrong.} The biggest problem with this mindset is that if they looked closely at the scriptures and compared tit for tat, they would find they are no more like the first century than the man in the moon! How can they? Lifestyles are different, the world is a different place. God's word is the same as always, I know that.

The other problem is where you draw the line on Gospel and scripture. All Gospel is scripture, but not all scripture is Gospel.

Now don't crucify me for that last sentence. Not every word in the Bible is Gospel. The Gospel is a person, not scripture and not words in a book. Gospel is the truth of Jesus and him crucified. It is the person of Jesus Christ. When we bank what we do in the two hours we meet on Sunday morning on this concept, then it all falls into place and it doesn't matter that I worship differently than you do. It doesn't matter that I have classrooms for Sunday School in my building. It doesn't matter that I allow all races and colors of people to attend my worship service. It doesn't matter that a woman is reading a scripture or playing a keyboard while I worship! Just that I worship Jesus!

Well, I did respond there. I even added this paragraph.

I have heard it said "The Church of Christ" is not a denomination. That is so far from the truth. We may not have a board of directors or pope to dictate rules, but we certainly seem to have a set of rules many think we should follow!