Asked a question of previous Williams Road Church of Christ why they removed the “church of Christ” and now just refer to themselves as the Williams Road Church. The short answer referred me to Cecil Hook and his book Free in Christ. What would the explanation be without me reading and how far off base are they by referring to this for an answer to this and other issues. Thanks for any quick explanation you can give to help me out. I am, in near future, going to come up with a copy of this book and do other personal research.<\/p>\n\t
Cecil Hook is the most recent spokesman for a false set of concepts that date back to my grandfather’s day. It started with Carl Ketcherside and was picked by Leroy Garrett. Charles Holt promoted it in the 1980s and now it is Cecil Hook. By the way, you don’t have to buy his book, the texts (and there are several of them) are all online.<\/p>\n
The ideas are promoted by asking a lot of questions while initially giving very few answers. The questions target dissatisfaction with the way churches are being operated. Any mistakes done by leaders in the church are harped on and insinuated to be caused by misapplication of the Scripture (not proven, just implied). Thus, they build on a foundation of complaints.<\/p>\n
From that basis, the reader is then told there are no laws in Christ. What are called laws by everyone else are merely suggestions for implementing basic principles, such as love, peace, justice, etc. Therefore, anything goes so long as you have “love.” It doesn’t matter if instrumental music is used or not. It doesn’t matter what day of the week the Lord’s Supper is partaken. Elders are only older people (men and women) in a congregation. There are no preachers supported to teach the gospel, preachers are just whoever is teaching a lesson that week. In fact, this belief teaches that it doesn’t matter what church you attend.<\/p>\n
To the adherents of this flawed thinking, every person is saved until they learn something from the Gospel and then reject it. Thus, if a person was only taught that salvation comes from faith alone, then that is all they are responsible for until someone teaches them differently. If you think about it, the Gospel becomes teaching that causes people to be lost and not saved.<\/p>\n
The idea of establishing authority for our actions through commands, examples, and necessary inference is totally rejected. It is mocked and made fun of; yet, its adherents never realize that by their own illogic they cannot establish that they are right because they reject the ways people communicate.<\/p>\n
Since it is seductive teaching to the disgruntled, it spreads. Yet, over time every group that follows this teaching disappears. The reason is simple. If I’m saved in my current beliefs and my current church, then why join a small group? I can get everything that makes me happy elsewhere. Thus, the churches die rapidly. Unfortunately, there are always people who are unhappy with things as they are. They want to leave their “mark” and many turn to this set of beliefs.<\/p>\n
The best description of this group is found in the words of Peter:<\/p>\n
“For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved<\/em>” (II Peter 2:18-19).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Asked a question of previous Williams Road Church of Christ why they removed the “church of Christ” and now just refer to themselves as the Williams Road Church. The short answer referred me to Cecil Hook and his book Free in Christ. What would the explanation be without me reading and how far off…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[478,34,801],"class_list":["post-45784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-false-teachers","tag-false-teaching","tag-freedoms-ring-false-teaching"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":46225,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/different-doctrines\/","url_meta":{"origin":45784,"position":0},"title":"Different Doctrines","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 4, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: I Timothy 1:3-11 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0All of us have friends and family who have vastly different beliefs from our own. It is hard to think of them possibly not reaching heaven. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0This desire is exploited by false teachers who have no desire to be bound by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46072,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-history-behind-freedoms-ring\/","url_meta":{"origin":45784,"position":1},"title":"The History Behind \u201cFreedom\u2019s Ring\u201d","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 26, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton \"While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage\" (II Peter 2:19). My first encounter with the doctrine promoted by\u00a0Freedom's Ring\u00a0was when the congregation where my wife and I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41690,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/we-have-a-new-preacher-teaching-unity-in-a-diversity-of-beliefs\/","url_meta":{"origin":45784,"position":2},"title":"We have a new preacher teaching unity in a diversity of beliefs","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Our congregation recently has a new preacher. He is related to half the church members and is well-known in the community. But he is very liberal and has admitted to me that he wants to change things at our congregation. He told me, \"he is about a relationship with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":60485,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/tradition-versus-scripture\/","url_meta":{"origin":45784,"position":3},"title":"Tradition Versus Scripture","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 27, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Wayne Jackson When the report of the Savior's miracles spread abroad, Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem made their way north to Gennesaret to confront Jesus. They charged that the Lord's disciples neglected to keep the \"traditions\" of the elders because they did not ceremonially wash their hands (to purify\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5950,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-jesus-say-not-to-forbid-the-non-follower-from-casting-out-demons\/","url_meta":{"origin":45784,"position":4},"title":"Why did Jesus say not to forbid the non-follower from casting out demons?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 11, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was wondering what Jesus meant in Mark 9:38-40 where John told Him of a man who was casting out devils in Jesus' name but forbade the man from doing so because he didn't follow with them. How does the verse \"For he that is not against us is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20501,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/belief-in-the-book-of-enoch-and-constantines-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":45784,"position":5},"title":"Belief in the book of Enoch and Constantine’s church","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 16, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was scanning through web sites and ran into your comments on gen 6;5 and Enoch book Jesus said as in the days of Noah so it will be in the end ,did we miss that Satin was thrown out of Heaven ,that he saw God clone Adam and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45784\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}