LEAVING THE CHURCH OF CHRIST
(Note: The following was posted on my FB page on September 12, 2019. I have expanded it and send it forth to a wider reading audience as this week’s edition of “Hugh’s News & Views.” It speaks to an extremely important issue, and is somewhat of a sequel to last week’s essay on “Why Do The Liberals Among Us Stay?” Read closely, carefully, prayerfully, and reflectively the following and let it sink in).
When a member of the church of Christ leaves it for a denominational body such as the Disciples of Christ, the Baptist Church, the Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church, the Catholic Church, etc., in their mind they are not abandoning the body (church) of Christ as they view it, nor or they abandoning Christianity. Rather, in their mind they are simply switching from one denomination to another. They see themselves as moving to another church—one that is more in keeping with their changed and/or changing religious views. But such a move on their part reflects that they had a fundamentally flawed concept of the church of Christ to begin with. They started out viewing it simply as a denomination—one of many—one from which they could switch and go to another if they so chose. They never viewed the church of Christ from its New Testament perspective as the exclusive body of Christ, composed of all who have obeyed the gospel of Christ by following the New Testament plan of salvation, and only those who have done so! They never understood it as being the one and only body of Christ to which the Lord adds all the saved (Ephesians 1:22-23; Ephesians 4:4; Acts 2:47). Continue reading