The minister's wife - Church of Christ - cult?

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The minister's wife - Church of Christ - cult?

Postby starroute » Tue Mar 28, 2006 1:59 am

Just caught a couple of minutes on tv -- I don't know what channel -- apparently suggesting that the minister who was shot and his wife belonged to the Church of Christ, and that this could have something to do with the murder.<br><br>I know nothing about the truth of this assertion -- though I find that googling "Church of Christ" and "cult" brings up 247,000 hits -- but I can't say I haven't been expecting it.<br><br>Can anyone here illuminate this question? I'll check back after the Daily Show, and if nothing's been added to this thread I'll see what I can google up. But I'd love it if someone more knowledgeable could lay it all out. <p></p><i></i>
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Re: The minister's wife - Church of Christ - cult?

Postby starroute » Tue Mar 28, 2006 3:24 am

I've had the chance to check a little, and it seems that the Boston Church of Christ -- which was mentioned in the comments to Jeff's Markovian Parallax Denigrate post last month -- is definitely considered a cult which grew out of the International Church of Christ:<br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.carm.org/icc/icc_what_is.htm">www.carm.org/icc/icc_what_is.htm</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>The International Church of Christ (ICC) is a break-off of the Church of Christ denomination. The ICC is Christian in its basic theology but has some aberrant practices. <br><br> The ICC was influenced by the discipling movement on the 1950's. Its roots can be traced back to 1967 to the Crossroads Church of Christ, in Gainesville Florida. The crossroads Church had a program on discipling which became known as the Crossroads Movement. It is out of this Crossroads connection that the present leader of the ICC, Kip McKeen, received his start. He and Roger Lamb were fired from the Houston, Texas, Church of Christ. Kip McKeen then found a Church in Boston MA, was asked to come on board and began what has come to be known as the Boston movement.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br>A current news story on the minster-shooting says, "Churches of Christ do not consider themselves a denomination since every congregation is independently governed by a group of church elders." So I guess the question is what flavor of Church of Christ was involved.<br><br>On edit: As nearly as I can tell, the Church of Christ in general is considered extremely conservative and controlling -- in terms of what they do and do not allow -- but is not a cult in the sense that the offshoot International Church of Christ is. I'll leave it at that unless something new turns up. <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=starroute>starroute</A> at: 3/28/06 12:32 am<br></i>
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Re: The minister's wife - Church of Christ - cult?

Postby lady lib » Tue Mar 28, 2006 3:42 am

Everything you ever wanted to know about the International churches of Christ (ICC) can be found at <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.reveal.org/">www.reveal.org/</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>Go to the table of contents and click on "What is the ICC?" "What is a cult?" and "Theology of the ICC." The theology section also describes some of the differences between the ICC and "mainline" churches of Christ.<br><br>The criticisms of the mainline churches of Christ are mainly doctrinal:<br>--They require baptism by immersion as a symbolic watery death of the "old self" in order to have a new life in Christ with your sins washed away. The minimum age for baptism is about 10 years - old enough to understand the church's teachings. Any other form of baptism or "praying Christ into your life" are not accepted. People are therefore re-baptized in order to become members.<br>--They teach that the Bible is the literal word of God, so any Christian church that veers even slightly from New Testament teachings is not Christian and its members will not go to heaven according to church teachings. Therefore, the only church following God's word (and whose members are saved) is the church of Christ. <br>--All songs are sung a cappella. The church has no problem with instruments per se. It's just that none are mentioned as being part of worship in the new testament, so they don't use them. This is minor point that I probably could have skipped.<br><br>As opposed to the ICC and it's hierarchy, the mainline churches of Christ are all independent.<br><br>Basic beliefs and practices:<br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.oldpaths.net/Works/Missions/Workers/basics.html">www.oldpaths.net/Works/Mi...asics.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>How the ICC gets college students to join up:<br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://newmedia.colorado.edu/press/stories/edit/187.html">newmedia.colorado.edu/pre...t/187.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>Many years ago I attended both the mainline church of Christ and what would eventually become the ICC variety. At the time, the ICC churches were called the Crossroads Movement, then the Boston church became the model for what would eventually become the ICC. (Starroute's article is correct.)<br><br>I've never regretted leaving and was relieved to finally get out. My husband describes the experience as Bible boot camp. It's okay for a while, and you definitely learn a lot, but then it's just time to move on. So we moved on. I do have some very fond memories of my friends from that time period of my life. Unfortunately, once you leave you're considered to be "of the world" so former friends don't contact you unless it's to invite you to a Bible study. Nice eh? <br><br>If you want to know if I think it's a cult, I would have to say that the ICC definitely fits the definition because of it's control over its members. I'm not so sure that the mainline churches of Christ would qualify. <br><br>Heavy editing. <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=ladylib>lady lib</A> at: 3/28/06 2:14 am<br></i>
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