The Bible Is a Cosmic Puzzle, and Only the Church of Christ Has the Answers

-
People in the church of Christ believe that one's salvation depends on correctly interpreting scripture. If you don't interpret it correctly, then you won't know which pattern of worship is correct and which rules to follow. The COC believes that there is only one correct interpretation and that it is the only church in possession of that correct interpretation. However, the COC in any form didn't exist before 1801, the year of the Cane Ridge revival, which marked the beginning of the Restoration Movement headed by Alexander Campbell and Barton Stone. No one who came before them, save for the apostles and their immediate successors, had the correct interpretation of scripture. Thus, nearly 2000 years of Christian history and tradition count for nothing and everyone who lived and died during that period died in sin.

If there is only one correct interpretation of scripture, how do we know which is correct? Why didn't God explicitly tell us which one is the correct one? Why did God let humanity live in error and sin for almost 2000 years without revealing the correct interpretation of the Bible? If there's no way to know for certain which interpretation of the Bible is correct, then how can god judge us for misunderstanding it?

This insistence on correct interpretation and perfect knowledge negates faith and God's grace. It also negates god's mercy. It makes the Bible a cosmic puzzle with no discernible answers and it makes God a cosmic trickster, who is setting us up for certain failure. I don't believe in such a god. I believe in a God of mercy and grace who loves us as we are and forgives us for our inherently imperfect and incomplete knowledge.

Comments

Sarah said…
You nailed it.
August 23, 2008
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Discrepancies and Contradictions in the Bible

-
One of the primary doctrines of the church of Christ is that the Bible is perfect, with no contradictions or discrepancies, and that every word of the Bible is literally true and able to be proven scientifically. I believed this when I was young. But when I started reading the Bible for myself, word for word and not just the passages I needed to read to fill out the workbook for my Bible class, I saw that there are indeed discrepancies in the Bible. Here are a few examples. 1. Job 26:7 says that the earth hangs upon nothing. Psalm 104:5 says that the earth sits on a foundation (some translations say "pillar") that can't be moved. If we must view these verses literally, instead of poetically or metaphorically, then one of them must be wrong because their assertions contradict each other. 2. There are a few discrepancies in the accounts of Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus. Acts 9:7 says that Paul's companions could hear the voice that was talking to him bu
Read more

The Church of Christ and Its Top 5 Sermons

-
 I had a long chat with a friend who is a Catholic priest the other day, and he said one of the hardest parts of his job is coming up with a homily every week. He said that there are basically only 3 homily templates: God loves you, you should love God, and we should love each other. I laughed and told him that many years ago, my sister and I came up with a list of the top 5 sermon topics for COC preachers. 1. Everything Fun Is Sinful      It's pretty self-explanatory: no drinking, dancing, smoking, gambling, wearing of shorts or swimsuits, cursing, or sex allowed. They would also prefer it if you didn't play card games, watch movies or TV, or listen to secular music. If it's enjoyable, it's wrong. Life is supposed to be a vale of tears and suffering until we get to go home to be with Jesus. 2. Here's Why We Are Right and Every Other Church Is Wrong and They Are All Going to Hell     I truly wish I had a dollar for every sermon I endured on why the Baptists are wron
Read more

The Church of Christ and Rush Limbaugh

-
 I've been debating all day about whether to put that hateful man's name on my blog, but since I really first heard of him through the Church of Christ, it seems appropriate to discuss him here. I've never been a fan of talk radio. The idea of starting my day by listening to two drive-time knuckleheads or some shouting shock-jock yammer on and on about something stupid is my idea of hell. Thus, I never listened to his show and wasn't even aware of him until he had been on the air for quite some time already.  But I knew a LOT of CoC people who were his fans, and boy did they not shut up about it. At one point in the mid-1990s, it seemed like everyone at the church of my childhood was avidly listening to his radio show. I knew a few people in the CoC who were just as turned off by him as I was, but naturally it was his followers who were the loudest and most obnoxious about inflicting their beliefs on everyone else. So it seemed like after every church service the topic
Read more