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Featured Is the Church of Christ a cult?

Discussion in 'Other Christian Denominations' started by evangelist6589, Apr 14, 2016.

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  1. JonC

    JonC Moderator
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    Thanks for the clarification.

    Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G530A using Tapatalk
     
    #61 JonC, Apr 27, 2016
  2. evangelist6589

    evangelist6589 Well-Known Member
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    Never mind the Church of Christ, but Catholicism is another religion, as well as Unitarian Universalism, and Progressive Christianity. It sure sounds like you need to read a book on the essentials of the faith.

    Essential Doctrines on the Christian Faith by RC Sproul

    My review of it.

    This book is great for the new Christian, or for those wanting to sharpen up on understanding basic doctrines, or for those wanting to mature in their walk with Christ. The book is written from a Reformed point of view, but by no means does the author claim the book is only for Reformed, or that only Reformed know the essentials of the faith. Its a bit less detailed as the book "Everyone's a Theologian" but it covers many of the same topics. The book covers essential Christian doctrines such as:

    Divine Revelation
    The Nature and Attributes of God
    The Trinity
    The works and decrees of God
    Jesus Christ and his divinity, humanity, the virgin birth, etc.
    The Holy Spirit
    Human beings and the fall, original sin, Satan, demons, syncretism, etc.
    Salvation or soteriollogy
    The church and sacraments
    The end times
    Spirituality and living in this age (Christian living).

    You may want to read the book cover to cover, or just read the topics that you need to refresh on. As for me I love evangelism & apologetics, and books like this one are quite helpful because it defines what a Christian really is. I have spoken with many that claim the name of Christ, and claim the name of Christian, yet deny the Trinity, deny original sin, deny the virgin birth, deny the gospel, or some other vital doctrine. Can someone be a christian and yet deny these doctrines? Only God knows for sure but this book will help you grasp the fundamentals of the faith. My only gripe about this book is the lack of a topical index in the back, but besides that a book that every christian should have.
     
    #62 evangelist6589, Apr 27, 2016
  3. JonC

    JonC Moderator
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    What would you make of Erasmus (a 16th century Catholic priest)? Do you think he was beyond salvation because he was Catholic...or was his refusal to abandon the Catholic Church as he distanced himself from Luther a sign he had never been saved?

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    #63 JonC, Apr 27, 2016
  4. evangelist6589

    evangelist6589 Well-Known Member
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    I don't know in that case but Catholicism is another gospel.
     
    #64 evangelist6589, Apr 27, 2016
  5. JonC

    JonC Moderator
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    I would agree that Catholicism is not the Christian religion (or at least Catholic dogma overshadows and alters biblical doctrine). But sometimes the term "another gospel" is thrown about a bit carelessly. I'm not saying that you are wrong, but I am saying that I am not certain that you have shown many of these groups (the OP concerned CoC) to hold onto another gospel rather than to hold false teachings about the gospel.
     
    #65 JonC, Apr 27, 2016
  6. evangelist6589

    evangelist6589 Well-Known Member
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    Catholic theology has a different view on Justification. The bible teaches justification by faith alone. Unitarians deny Christ as being the only way to salvation and progressives deny the gospel.

    Once I mailed a gospel tract with the gospel to a progressive pastor. I spoke with him on the phone and he disliked the tract because he dislikes the gospel.
     
    #66 evangelist6589, Apr 27, 2016
  7. BobRyan

    BobRyan Well-Known Member

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    I have been listening to R.C. Sproul for a long time now - and never heard him argue that the Catholic faith is not a Christian religion - but is some other religion like Hindu or Buddhist.

    Have you???

    (Not that I take him as "pope" but I do find him to be correct on a great many topics)

    You keep pointing to doctrinal error and I keep agreeing that it is error. But your statement is that this is not enough - that more must be said about a given denomination not even being called a Christian denomination that teaches error - but "worse than error" I think is where you are trying to go.

    (BTW - this thread is title - Is the Church of Christ a Cult?-)
     
    #67 BobRyan, Apr 27, 2016
  8. evangelist6589

    evangelist6589 Well-Known Member
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    I never said the Catholic faith is another religion like Hindu or Buddhist, but it definitely commits significant error in its view of Justification and yes I have heard RC critique Catholicism.
     
    #68 evangelist6589, Apr 28, 2016
  9. BobRyan

    BobRyan Well-Known Member

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    Yes they have error - and yes RC does critique that error - but he never says "this is not a Christian denomination".

    Your arguments so far have been that simply pointing out doctrinal error is not enough. One must come up with some other term or category such as a new Hindu religion that is "cult" so it is not Christian. But that means nothing to most observers who admit that even in Islam there are slices/sects/groups - yet still they are dealing with the Quran and Mohammed - and so it is a discussion about some form of Islam.
     
    #69 BobRyan, Apr 28, 2016
  10. JonC

    JonC Moderator
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    Anabaptists and some Reformed Calvinists have a different view of Justification (NT Wright comes to mind). Come to think of it, free-will baptists and Nazarene's have different views of justification. Do they hold to a different gospel? In other words, while I agree that the object of one's faith must be Christ, is salvation itself dependent on how we understand justification?
     
    #70 JonC, Apr 28, 2016
  11. evangelist6589

    evangelist6589 Well-Known Member
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    He may be wrong on this one. Check out a book on the topic by James White or Ron Rhodes.

    What RC says:
    “The Roman Catholic view affirms that justification is by faith, but denies that it is by faith alone, adding good works as a necessary condition.”

    Excerpt From: R. C. Sproul. “Essential Truths of the Christian Faith.” Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2010-11-29. iBooks.
    This material may be protected by copyright.

    Check out this book on the iBooks Store: https://itun.es/us/bNaaC.l
     
    #71 evangelist6589, Apr 28, 2016
    Last edited: Apr 28, 2016
  12. evangelist6589

    evangelist6589 Well-Known Member
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    Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone. Christians agree on this one. Does NT Wright?
     
    #72 evangelist6589, Apr 28, 2016
  13. JonC

    JonC Moderator
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    Yes. But he differs from msny on the meaning of justification.

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    #73 JonC, Apr 28, 2016
  14. BobRyan

    BobRyan Well-Known Member

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    I would never doubt that RC believes that the RCC is wrong on some doctrines -- I have repeatedly said that I think he does have differences with the RCC on some doctrines. But does he say "this is not a Christian denomination"?
     
    #74 BobRyan, Apr 28, 2016
  15. evangelist6589

    evangelist6589 Well-Known Member
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    They can't be they are false. No he may not spell it out for you.
     
    #75 evangelist6589, Apr 28, 2016
  16. evangelist6589

    evangelist6589 Well-Known Member
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    Explain his meaning.
     
    #76 evangelist6589, Apr 28, 2016
  17. JonC

    JonC Moderator
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    Briefly, Wright believes that God's righteousness refers to His own covenant faithfulness (God's faithfulness to His promise to Abraham). The question, then, is not one of moral righteousness (which would be the 16th century Reformed understanding) but of identifying who is in the family of God (who is in that covenant relationship...which would be how the 1st century Christian understood justification).
     
    #77 JonC, Apr 28, 2016
  18. BobRyan

    BobRyan Well-Known Member

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    I see - so he says that this or that doctrine that they hold is in error - but does not come out with "so they are not a Christian church" or "they are not one of the Christian denominations"??

    No wonder I like to listen to his sermons.
     
    #78 BobRyan, Apr 28, 2016
  19. evangelist6589

    evangelist6589 Well-Known Member
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    Oh for the love of the rabbit! He may be wrong on his view of Catholicism if he does not label them as a false religion. In the meantime I suggest you do some reading.

    http://www.pro-gospel.org/site/cpage.asp?cpage_id=180066646&sec_id=180014816

    John MacArthur
    http://www.gty.org/resources/distinctives/DD09/roman-catholicism

    "It is a false and deceptive form of Christianity."

    "As long as the Roman Catholic Church continues to assert its own authority and bind its people to “another gospel,” it is the spiritual duty of all true Christians to oppose Roman Catholic doctrine with biblical truth and to call all Catholics to true salvation"
     
    #79 evangelist6589, Apr 28, 2016
    Last edited: Apr 28, 2016
  20. evangelist6589

    evangelist6589 Well-Known Member
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    Hmm interesting. Mac does not speak too well of NT Wright and I wonder if its for good reasons but yet I do not know. I have one of his books on the end times but I may need to buy another one of his books, perhaps on this topic. Can you name a title?
     
    #80 evangelist6589, Apr 28, 2016
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