Why is the Church of Christ a Cult?
Jul 25, 2020 22:35:23 GMT -5
Post by PrisonerOfHope on Jul 25, 2020 22:35:23 GMT -5
Why is the Church of Christ a Cult?
There are numerous reasons. Some dont apply to each church as they are autonomous or they vary on degrees of legalism.
1. First and foremost, they separate family and friends through a practice known as "disfellowship". All ties are cut with members that leave in hopes they will "return to the fold" to gain back the relationships that were lost. They are not allowed to eat with ex members, hang out, celebrate anniversaries, birthdays, weddings, holidays, etc... or maintain any kind of friendship. They are, however, allowed to preach hellfire and damnation at the ex member and tell them how much they miss them and "love" them and desire a relationship with them, not realizing that relationship is conditional, forced and very unloving. The level of adherence in this practice varies greatly depending on how legalistic each particular church is.
2. They encourage members not to friend "the world" and " not seek to be a part of the world" and seek only righteous relationships, alienating or limiting outside ties to friends and family. This includes not giving the "appearance of worldliness and living in sin".
They label "the world" as evil and scary and so vastly different from "us". They convince us we are "different, special" and "not like them" in order to create a barrier of fear you must not cross, and brainwash members into feeling arrogant and being elite people "chosen by god". This leads to numerous issues of pride, judgment, legalism, arrogance, hatred, fear, and self worth that permeate this culture in various forms. It creates an "Us vs. Them" mentality. Outsiders are labeled as scapegoats for every evil in the world and feared as sirens that lure them into sin.
3. They claim to be the ultimate scriptural authority on all issues.
They pride themselves on using the bible, and only the bible (particularly the KJV or NKJV versions "to be as accurate as possible") and dismiss all arguments that go outside of the bible, unless it suits them.
They are known for cherry picking verses and filling sermons, bible studies and arguments with numerous bible verses to appear "scripturally sound".
A common refutal tactic they engage in is: nearly every other sentence they write references scripture until it devolves into ad hominem attacks and dismissal, if the opponent doesnt meet their argument standards that they define. Sometimes the opponent meets or exceeds the standards they set for arguing and they still receive ad hominem attacks and dismissal. The coc member will never concede their argument because they are always right.
For proof of this, find any pro-coc/coc run Facebook page and challenge their arguments or read comments. Some get very nasty, very fast, most times without provocation. See how long it is before this occurs and you are blocked.
They are not seekers of truth, they are prideful boasters who love to hear themselves talk and prefer echo chambers. Woe to the person who challenges them, especially if that person is female. Females are always inferior, especially in matters of scripture interpretations and doctrines.
There are also numerous stories of preachers not being hired or being fired because they didn't use enough scripture in their sermon, despite having a good message or "sound teaching".
4. They punish members with threats of hell and losing membership, into compliance. They harrass the member until they either comply or leave the church membership. Sometimes they force the member to "go forward and confess their sins" to the entire church as part of their "repentance", or face punishment from them and god, because their heart is not right.
If the member leaves, the harrassment is exponentially worsened and their reputation is called into question from the pulpit. They attack the ex members character in order for other members to fear them and leave them alone except to harrass them back into compliance. They also use it as a threat to current members in order to control them or face the same treatment.
5. Attendance is mandatory no matter what and services are often.... At least three times a week and often there are other social activities to add to that. You have to give up other activities in your life to fulfill these duties and if you don't, you are punished or shamed and guilt tripped. The time commitment required means that you can't have many relationships or activities outside of the church.
Attendance equals godliness. If you miss services often you are accused of sinning or love sin more than god and dont prioritize god in your life. No excuses. Sickness, jobs, events, you have to come to church or get harrassed and accused...up to and including your membership being threatened.
6. They claim to be the only true church.
7. There are only coc answers to questions and if you disagree you are targeted and punished until you accept and repeat coc answers...up to and including public humiliation from the pulpit or loss of membership.
If you still disagree you are ridiculed and insulted as a moron that can not understand and/or rejects gods clear instructions, causing division, twisting scripture, or any host of insults to force you to accept their answers. This is known as "ad hominem" attacks where they attack you instead of the argument. You are the problem, not them and/or their interpretation.
8. The brainwashing is intense with phrases like, "are you questioning god? The word is very clear. Youre twisting scripture to get to that conclusion! Youre not rightly dividing the word of truth. This is not me saying it, god is. They cant read their bible right. We speak where the bible speaks and are silent where the bible is silent. There is no salvation outside of gods true church. Trust the leadership. Trust the church at all times. We will always love you. We will always look out for your soul"...Etc... these messages are repeated ad nauseam to gain the members trust and devotion and discourage questioning authority, as well as establishing themselves as a supreme scriptural authority on all things scriptural.
9. corruption is easy in autonomous churches, and common. Most of their rules are manmade and enforced, twisted under the guise of being "scrpiturally sound" and sometimes outright not scriptural at all. Dare you offend a leader and become subject to their wrath, watch out.
10. Treatment of women is horrible (pregnancy before marriage, divorce, leadership roles, single parent, sexual abuse victim, physical abuse victim, etc...) women are 2nd class citizens often labeled as harlots, liars, and troublemakers that cause men to do the horrible things to them that they need to ask forgiveness for. Its always the womans/girls fault that men sin against them. Many cases are covered up by leaders, proper authorities are not involved, and the church reputation/man is regarded as more important.
Some women are forced to endure abuse (physical and or sexual) from spouses by brainwashed interpretations of scripture about divorce, and their spouses are rarely approached. (Divorce is only allowed if the spouse committed adultery)
Women are encouraged to be silent and submissive and meet the needs of men in authority, including spouses, at all times.
Women outnumber men as exers from the church of christ 3:1.
11. Treatment of LGBTQ persons is vile and they are automatically shunned and condemned.
12. Treatment of poor persons as "less than". Some are vilified as only desiring monetary help from the church and are pushed away if in need. The church is very stingy with collected funds being used to help members or the poor in their communities. Many coc churches have thousands or hundreds of thousands in the bank and deny members or people in need access to any of it.
13. They are respecter of persons/families. There are certain people/families that are untouchable when it comes to church discipline. There are definitely cliques and favored families.
14. Men could get away with anything if they are respected as a leader in some way, and even if they aren't (rape, pedophilia, physical abuse, theft, murder, etc) ive seen numerous victim blaming instances to cover for a man in the church, even as far as supporting them in court and making the victim apologize and forgive and or label the victim a liar.
15. They also cover a lot of truths in order to maintain the church reputation, so most of the members have no idea how it truly is most of the time. They see a facade.
16. The church is infallible. It is righteous and would never lie or mislead its members and is fully trusted at its word.
17. Shame, guilt and scare tactics from the pulpit are used often as a weapon. A member gets a divorce, there's a sermon about divorce. A member gets pregnant out of wedlock, a sermon about fornication. Etc...Many sermons are delivered to shame and guilt certain members into things. Sometimes the entire church is aware of the guilty party (public humiliation aka confession) sometimes they arent.
18. They try to control every aspect of people's lives. What college they go to, who they date, marry, have children, and raise children within the church since converting people (usually) doesn't work. "You must go to this coc college to find a mate." "Do not date/marry outside of the church...itll be harder for you in life to marry a non Christian" " the bible says to find a mate that keeps you holy or there will be much strife".
19. if you don't convert someone, you aren't doing anything for god or the group. You are encouraged to always tell people about "the one true church" and how to be "a real Christian". Often telling others that their church is wrong and theres no salvation in it because they dont actually follow the scriptures like the coc does.
20. They harrass, antagonize, condemn, patronize, threaten with scare tactics, shame, guilt trip and publicly humiliate members that leave, sin, or do not conform to their demands.
21. The brainwashing is so intense after one leaves that they feel a strong need to go back no matter what abuses occured. This is known as "Stockholm syndrome". They are convinced there is no salvation outside of the coc and fear eternal damnation in hell. This brainwashing scare tactic is used to keep members in line and unable to go to other denominations or leave for any reasons. It is achieved in numerous ways.
22. Abandonment after leaving is cruel and evil and used as a weapon not only in this world, but in terms of eternity as well. It is hailed as "loving and righteous" by members to save the "lost sheep". They are convinced they are "warriors for christ" and have unconditional love for the exer, but are deluded. Their love is conditional upon the exers membership status in the church and "relationship to sin" or righting their wrongs. Christ sought to save the lost and ate with the sinners rather than the saved. It is definitely not christ like.
23. They are a denomination of christianity that has convinced its members they are not a denomination through false claims. They claim that because they are autonomous, without an organized head they qualify as "non demoninational". Yet fail to recognize that all churches under the coc name teach similar creeds and doctrines. They claim the coc has no creeds or doctrines, but it most definitely does. Churches that go outside of the accepted creeds and doctrines are labeled as imposters that carry the same name but are not truly coc. These imposter chuches are simply various branches of the church of christ that do not recognize each other as "the true church" because they either are too legalistic, or not legalistic enough. They have twisted the word "denomination" to mean something evil and unscriptural as well as a way to set themselves apart from other denominations of christianity. They get highly offended to be labeled a denomination because of how they have demonized its meaning with false claims. They seek to special most of all, separate from all of Christianity. Being called a denomination would equate them with Catholics or Baptists or all other denominations and therefore lessen their uniqueness as "the only true church".
24. The church of christ did not exist before the restoration movement in north America. Most coc's even claim they are "restoring the church of the 1st century" by "following only the bible". They get most of their legalistic interpretations wrong because they are just guessing it is how the 1st century church operated. Nothing was handed down as church tradition through centuries for their modern day worship. Lots of practices were borrowed from other denominations (such as the "collection of the saints") and not a true act of worship from scripture or passed down since they 1st century. (The collection is considered 1 of the 5 acts of worship every coc must do on sunday). The coc was not hiding from the 1st century until the 18th century, or needing to be resurrected because it was lost to the world. It was invented by men, not founded by christ in 33 A.D. on the day of pentecost and enduring through the centuries, hidden because of its "truth"
link
There are numerous reasons. Some dont apply to each church as they are autonomous or they vary on degrees of legalism.
1. First and foremost, they separate family and friends through a practice known as "disfellowship". All ties are cut with members that leave in hopes they will "return to the fold" to gain back the relationships that were lost. They are not allowed to eat with ex members, hang out, celebrate anniversaries, birthdays, weddings, holidays, etc... or maintain any kind of friendship. They are, however, allowed to preach hellfire and damnation at the ex member and tell them how much they miss them and "love" them and desire a relationship with them, not realizing that relationship is conditional, forced and very unloving. The level of adherence in this practice varies greatly depending on how legalistic each particular church is.
2. They encourage members not to friend "the world" and " not seek to be a part of the world" and seek only righteous relationships, alienating or limiting outside ties to friends and family. This includes not giving the "appearance of worldliness and living in sin".
They label "the world" as evil and scary and so vastly different from "us". They convince us we are "different, special" and "not like them" in order to create a barrier of fear you must not cross, and brainwash members into feeling arrogant and being elite people "chosen by god". This leads to numerous issues of pride, judgment, legalism, arrogance, hatred, fear, and self worth that permeate this culture in various forms. It creates an "Us vs. Them" mentality. Outsiders are labeled as scapegoats for every evil in the world and feared as sirens that lure them into sin.
3. They claim to be the ultimate scriptural authority on all issues.
They pride themselves on using the bible, and only the bible (particularly the KJV or NKJV versions "to be as accurate as possible") and dismiss all arguments that go outside of the bible, unless it suits them.
They are known for cherry picking verses and filling sermons, bible studies and arguments with numerous bible verses to appear "scripturally sound".
A common refutal tactic they engage in is: nearly every other sentence they write references scripture until it devolves into ad hominem attacks and dismissal, if the opponent doesnt meet their argument standards that they define. Sometimes the opponent meets or exceeds the standards they set for arguing and they still receive ad hominem attacks and dismissal. The coc member will never concede their argument because they are always right.
For proof of this, find any pro-coc/coc run Facebook page and challenge their arguments or read comments. Some get very nasty, very fast, most times without provocation. See how long it is before this occurs and you are blocked.
They are not seekers of truth, they are prideful boasters who love to hear themselves talk and prefer echo chambers. Woe to the person who challenges them, especially if that person is female. Females are always inferior, especially in matters of scripture interpretations and doctrines.
There are also numerous stories of preachers not being hired or being fired because they didn't use enough scripture in their sermon, despite having a good message or "sound teaching".
4. They punish members with threats of hell and losing membership, into compliance. They harrass the member until they either comply or leave the church membership. Sometimes they force the member to "go forward and confess their sins" to the entire church as part of their "repentance", or face punishment from them and god, because their heart is not right.
If the member leaves, the harrassment is exponentially worsened and their reputation is called into question from the pulpit. They attack the ex members character in order for other members to fear them and leave them alone except to harrass them back into compliance. They also use it as a threat to current members in order to control them or face the same treatment.
5. Attendance is mandatory no matter what and services are often.... At least three times a week and often there are other social activities to add to that. You have to give up other activities in your life to fulfill these duties and if you don't, you are punished or shamed and guilt tripped. The time commitment required means that you can't have many relationships or activities outside of the church.
Attendance equals godliness. If you miss services often you are accused of sinning or love sin more than god and dont prioritize god in your life. No excuses. Sickness, jobs, events, you have to come to church or get harrassed and accused...up to and including your membership being threatened.
6. They claim to be the only true church.
7. There are only coc answers to questions and if you disagree you are targeted and punished until you accept and repeat coc answers...up to and including public humiliation from the pulpit or loss of membership.
If you still disagree you are ridiculed and insulted as a moron that can not understand and/or rejects gods clear instructions, causing division, twisting scripture, or any host of insults to force you to accept their answers. This is known as "ad hominem" attacks where they attack you instead of the argument. You are the problem, not them and/or their interpretation.
8. The brainwashing is intense with phrases like, "are you questioning god? The word is very clear. Youre twisting scripture to get to that conclusion! Youre not rightly dividing the word of truth. This is not me saying it, god is. They cant read their bible right. We speak where the bible speaks and are silent where the bible is silent. There is no salvation outside of gods true church. Trust the leadership. Trust the church at all times. We will always love you. We will always look out for your soul"...Etc... these messages are repeated ad nauseam to gain the members trust and devotion and discourage questioning authority, as well as establishing themselves as a supreme scriptural authority on all things scriptural.
9. corruption is easy in autonomous churches, and common. Most of their rules are manmade and enforced, twisted under the guise of being "scrpiturally sound" and sometimes outright not scriptural at all. Dare you offend a leader and become subject to their wrath, watch out.
10. Treatment of women is horrible (pregnancy before marriage, divorce, leadership roles, single parent, sexual abuse victim, physical abuse victim, etc...) women are 2nd class citizens often labeled as harlots, liars, and troublemakers that cause men to do the horrible things to them that they need to ask forgiveness for. Its always the womans/girls fault that men sin against them. Many cases are covered up by leaders, proper authorities are not involved, and the church reputation/man is regarded as more important.
Some women are forced to endure abuse (physical and or sexual) from spouses by brainwashed interpretations of scripture about divorce, and their spouses are rarely approached. (Divorce is only allowed if the spouse committed adultery)
Women are encouraged to be silent and submissive and meet the needs of men in authority, including spouses, at all times.
Women outnumber men as exers from the church of christ 3:1.
11. Treatment of LGBTQ persons is vile and they are automatically shunned and condemned.
12. Treatment of poor persons as "less than". Some are vilified as only desiring monetary help from the church and are pushed away if in need. The church is very stingy with collected funds being used to help members or the poor in their communities. Many coc churches have thousands or hundreds of thousands in the bank and deny members or people in need access to any of it.
13. They are respecter of persons/families. There are certain people/families that are untouchable when it comes to church discipline. There are definitely cliques and favored families.
14. Men could get away with anything if they are respected as a leader in some way, and even if they aren't (rape, pedophilia, physical abuse, theft, murder, etc) ive seen numerous victim blaming instances to cover for a man in the church, even as far as supporting them in court and making the victim apologize and forgive and or label the victim a liar.
15. They also cover a lot of truths in order to maintain the church reputation, so most of the members have no idea how it truly is most of the time. They see a facade.
16. The church is infallible. It is righteous and would never lie or mislead its members and is fully trusted at its word.
17. Shame, guilt and scare tactics from the pulpit are used often as a weapon. A member gets a divorce, there's a sermon about divorce. A member gets pregnant out of wedlock, a sermon about fornication. Etc...Many sermons are delivered to shame and guilt certain members into things. Sometimes the entire church is aware of the guilty party (public humiliation aka confession) sometimes they arent.
18. They try to control every aspect of people's lives. What college they go to, who they date, marry, have children, and raise children within the church since converting people (usually) doesn't work. "You must go to this coc college to find a mate." "Do not date/marry outside of the church...itll be harder for you in life to marry a non Christian" " the bible says to find a mate that keeps you holy or there will be much strife".
19. if you don't convert someone, you aren't doing anything for god or the group. You are encouraged to always tell people about "the one true church" and how to be "a real Christian". Often telling others that their church is wrong and theres no salvation in it because they dont actually follow the scriptures like the coc does.
20. They harrass, antagonize, condemn, patronize, threaten with scare tactics, shame, guilt trip and publicly humiliate members that leave, sin, or do not conform to their demands.
21. The brainwashing is so intense after one leaves that they feel a strong need to go back no matter what abuses occured. This is known as "Stockholm syndrome". They are convinced there is no salvation outside of the coc and fear eternal damnation in hell. This brainwashing scare tactic is used to keep members in line and unable to go to other denominations or leave for any reasons. It is achieved in numerous ways.
22. Abandonment after leaving is cruel and evil and used as a weapon not only in this world, but in terms of eternity as well. It is hailed as "loving and righteous" by members to save the "lost sheep". They are convinced they are "warriors for christ" and have unconditional love for the exer, but are deluded. Their love is conditional upon the exers membership status in the church and "relationship to sin" or righting their wrongs. Christ sought to save the lost and ate with the sinners rather than the saved. It is definitely not christ like.
23. They are a denomination of christianity that has convinced its members they are not a denomination through false claims. They claim that because they are autonomous, without an organized head they qualify as "non demoninational". Yet fail to recognize that all churches under the coc name teach similar creeds and doctrines. They claim the coc has no creeds or doctrines, but it most definitely does. Churches that go outside of the accepted creeds and doctrines are labeled as imposters that carry the same name but are not truly coc. These imposter chuches are simply various branches of the church of christ that do not recognize each other as "the true church" because they either are too legalistic, or not legalistic enough. They have twisted the word "denomination" to mean something evil and unscriptural as well as a way to set themselves apart from other denominations of christianity. They get highly offended to be labeled a denomination because of how they have demonized its meaning with false claims. They seek to special most of all, separate from all of Christianity. Being called a denomination would equate them with Catholics or Baptists or all other denominations and therefore lessen their uniqueness as "the only true church".
24. The church of christ did not exist before the restoration movement in north America. Most coc's even claim they are "restoring the church of the 1st century" by "following only the bible". They get most of their legalistic interpretations wrong because they are just guessing it is how the 1st century church operated. Nothing was handed down as church tradition through centuries for their modern day worship. Lots of practices were borrowed from other denominations (such as the "collection of the saints") and not a true act of worship from scripture or passed down since they 1st century. (The collection is considered 1 of the 5 acts of worship every coc must do on sunday). The coc was not hiding from the 1st century until the 18th century, or needing to be resurrected because it was lost to the world. It was invented by men, not founded by christ in 33 A.D. on the day of pentecost and enduring through the centuries, hidden because of its "truth"
link
