Church of Christ

Dr. Couch, what is the Church of Christ? ANSWER:  While they deny they are a denomination, they are a denomination! They used to be called the Campbell-ites, from the founder Alexander Campbell (1788-1866). Each Church of Christ may have different doctrinal ideas but generally, they hold to five points for salvation. (1) You must believe in Christ, (2) Be baptized in the Church of Christ, (3) Repent, (4) Confess, and (5) Join their church.    Their creed is: "Where the Scriptures speak we speak, and where the Scriptures are silent we are silent." While this may sound good, they really do not hold to that. And too, they can be very wooden-headed. For example, since the NT does not speak of music in the church, they do not believe in using musical instruments. One could argue, the NT does not speak of using electricity in the church, so therefore, we should not use electricity.    The Church of Christ are famous for splits and counter-splits. They pick on each other. They push doctrines up against the wall and fight and fuss over minor points.    My main complaints are about their un-biblical view of salvation, and their un-biblical view of the return of Christ. They are amillennial in prophecy and "almost" do not believe in studying the OT, though that may be a bit unfair. Because of their "tight" view on salvation they would say that those who are not Church of Christ are not saved.    They are unable to discuss doctrine because they believe that such is un-biblical. Because of their false view of baptism, they can easily be defeated in a discussion by taking them to 1 Corinthians 1:12-17. Some years ago, I took a Church of Christ guy to this passage and after he read the verses, he got literally physically sick and just walked out of the room. They cannot answer what Paul is saying in these verses.    Thanks for asking.    Dr. Mal Couch (11/10)