Monday, September 24, 2007

"You Do Not Believe"

It is very peculiar that we as a body of believers are often accused of not believing in certain things. Here is a list of ideas that from time to time people claim about us:

1. "You are the folks who don't believe in miracles." This of course is not true. We believe in every miraculous event recorded in the Bible. We believe that God can perform any miracle he wishes to perform whenever he wishes to perform it. If we did not believe in miracles, we would have no hope, because the resurrection of Christ is the greatest miracle of all (1 Cor. 15:1-20).

2. "You are the folks who don't believe in prophecy." This of course is not true. We believe in every Biblical prophecy recorded. We believe in the prophecies concering judgment and eternity yet to be fulfilled. We believe that the prophecies about Christ in the Old Testament were fulfilled in the incarnate God, who has accomplished His work (John 5:39; Luke 24:44).

3. "You are the folks who don't believe in music." This of course is not true. We believe in every example of musical worship displayed by the New Testament church. We believe that this is the pattern we are obligated to follow (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16; Heb. 2:12).

4. "You are the folks who don't believe others are saved." This of course is not true. We believe "He who believes and is baptized shall be saved" (Mk. 16:16). We believe "And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved" (Ac. 2:38). We believe "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Ac. 4:12). We believe that "the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" (1 Cor. 1:18)

It is not that we do not believe in these things. It is simply that concerning these we choose to believe God's commandments, rather than man's opinion.

"But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they." ~ Acts 15:11

2 comments:

  1. I ran a series in the local paper about myths about the churches of Christ. It was one of the most talked about series that I did.

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  2. This needs to be continued like an open forum. It is very much needed. We need you on the local radio station to answer questions.
    I would not recommend live call-in.
    One congregation in Columbia has a TV program where people send questions by US mail or email to be answered on the air. Thanks.
    Tom

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