{"id":48876,"date":"2016-08-11T19:34:00","date_gmt":"2016-08-12T00:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=48876"},"modified":"2022-06-25T19:37:14","modified_gmt":"2022-06-26T00:37:14","slug":"does-the-restoration-movement-imply-that-the-church-was-destroyed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-the-restoration-movement-imply-that-the-church-was-destroyed\/","title":{"rendered":"Does the &#8220;restoration movement&#8221; imply that the church was destroyed?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<h2>Question:<\/h2>\n<p>I want to thank you guys once more for the Question and Answer section of your website. It is a great format!<\/p>\n<p>My question has to do with the &#8220;restoration movement.&#8221; I recently noticed that a local church of Christ referred to itself as a restored church of Christ on its website. I know that to restore something would give the idea that it at one time had to be destroyed, which in Scripture Jesus said that the gates of Hades would not overcome His church. My question is if a church of Christ that practices by Scripture, is organized by Scripture, and does everything that they&#8217;re commanded to do, but claims to be a restored church does this make it not a congregation of the Lord&#8217;s church?<\/p>\n\t<h2>Answer:<\/h2>\n<p>Restore means:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;bring back (a previous right, practice, custom, or situation); reinstate&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;return (someone or something) to a former condition, place, or position.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;repair or renovate (a building, work of art, vehicle, etc.) so as to return it to its original condition.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>[Google&#8217;s Dictionary]<\/p>\n<p>You used the third definition, but just because it can refer to repairing something that has been damaged, it doesn&#8217;t mean that the word carries that meaning in every usage.<\/p>\n<p>A second problem is that when Jesus said, &#8220;<em>And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it<\/em>&#8221; (Matthew 16:18), you missed an important point. Gates are for defensive action. It is Hades that is on the defensive. Hades represents the world and those caught up in worldliness. In other words, Satan and the world are unable to stop the church from raiding its people and bringing the slaves to sin out to the freedom found in Christ. However, this doesn&#8217;t mean that the church at times doesn&#8217;t take damage from the world. In Revelation 2 and 3 we read of seven churches, five of which are heavily damaged and are warned to straighten up or they would lose their position as a church. &#8220;Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place &#8212; unless you repent&#8221; (Revelation 2:5). When a church does turn back, is this not a restoration to its former position?<\/p>\n<p>The period known as the &#8220;restoration movement&#8221; was a time when many people in a variety of denominations all realized that they had moved too far from the truth. There was a call to return to the simple teachings of God. These people, sometimes whole congregations, were restored to the ways of Christ.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: I want to thank you guys once more for the Question and Answer section of your website. It is a great format! My question has to do with the &#8220;restoration movement.&#8221; I recently noticed that a local church of Christ referred to itself as a restored church of Christ on its website. I know&hellip;<\/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,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[726],"class_list":["post-48876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-church-history"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17978,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-happened-before-the-restoration-movement\/","url_meta":{"origin":48876,"position":0},"title":"What happened before the Restoration movement?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 25, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have been discussing with a lady about the importance of worshiping God in \"spirit and in truth.\" I told her that the seed was planted in America according to the biblical pattern.\u00a0\u00a0Her question is \"what happened to all the people between the time of the early church and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7494,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-to-use-a-slogan\/","url_meta":{"origin":48876,"position":1},"title":"Is it wrong to use a slogan?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 25, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am a member of the Lord's Church assembling with the saints. The sign out front reads \"Church of Christ.\" I find your website very refreshing in that you say very little about the Restoration Movement, nor do I see you using the slogan \"Speak where the Bible speaks,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49739,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/your-website-led-me-back-to-christ-after-twenty-years\/","url_meta":{"origin":48876,"position":2},"title":"Your website led me back to Christ after twenty years","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I wanted to send a personal email and thank you for your teachings on your website.\u00a0 I was a member of the church of Christ my entire life.\u00a0 In my middle 20s, I was briefly married and divorced with the cause not being adultery.\u00a0 My ex-spouse went to prison\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17984,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-alexander-campbell-establish-the-church-of-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":48876,"position":3},"title":"Did Alexander Campbell Establish the Church of Christ?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 7, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bill J. Humble via The Preceptor, Vol. 1, No. 8, June 1952. A Preceptor reader from Texas has submitted a list of questions that request a statement of what Alexander Campbell actually did. Since members of the church are often asked such questions as \"The church of Christ began\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/Alexander-Campbell-200x300.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":82749,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/division-in-the-restoration-movement\/","url_meta":{"origin":48876,"position":4},"title":"Division in the Restoration Movement","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 1, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Andy Sochor via Unmasking Sophistry, Vol. 5, No. 1, January-March, 2025 As a reminder, when we talk about the Restoration Movement, we refer to the religious movement that began around the start of the nineteenth century in the United States and endeavored to restore the doctrines and practices of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30900,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-a-person-leaving-the-christian-church-need-to-be-baptized-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":48876,"position":5},"title":"Does a person leaving the Christian Church need to be baptized again?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 11, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What is your thinking (based on Scripture) on a situation where someone has been baptized in the Christian Church but says they were baptized for the remission of sins and they want to place membership in the church of Christ? Do they need to be baptized again? The argument\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","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\/48876","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=48876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48876\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}