Hi Jeffery,<\/p>\n
In the article “Wasn’t Babel the city of Eridu?” you mentioned, “You will not find any claim that the churches of Christ are the only correct church on this site.” Do you no longer believe in the one true church?<\/p>\n
I understand that not every church with the name “church of Christ” is truly sound in teaching and truly the church belonging to Christ. However, it is incorrect to say “the churches of Christ and not <\/b>the only correct church.” Please explain what that statement meant.<\/p>\n\tAnswer:<\/h2>\n
The answer depends on the meaning you assign to terms in your question. If you mean you must attend a congregation with the name “Church of Christ” above its door, the answer is “no.” The Bible uses numerous descriptive names for the church, such as “churches of Christ” (Romans 16:16), “church of God” (I Corinthians 1:2), “body of Christ (Ephesians 4:12), “kingdom of God” (Acts 8:12), and many others. However, if you mean you have to be a part of the church Christ established to reach heaven, then the answer is “yes.” You can’t pick your own way of going to heaven. “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it<\/em>” (Matthew 7:13-14).<\/p>\n While it is true that most congregations dedicated to following Christ’s teachings in the Bible use the name “Church of Christ” to make the congregations easier to identify, not all of them have done so for one reason or another. It is also true that people have opened up their Bibles, realized what it was actually teaching, and started congregations. Those self-starting groups are less common, but they do exist and they might not choose the name “Church of Christ.” In other words, it is the teaching held by the congregation that is important. As you noted, just because a congregation uses the name “Church of Christ,” that doesn’t mean it is following the doctrine of Christ. For the same reason, just because a group chooses a different name from the Scriptures, it doesn’t mean they are not following the doctrine of Christ.<\/p>\n “Correctness” is based on how well a group’s teaching matches the one true teaching in the Bible, not upon the name chosen or the association of congregations. When people focus on the name, they stop looking at the source of truth. Thus, I direct people to look at what the Bible teaches.<\/p>\n People try to treat congregations with the name “Church of Christ” as if they are part of a denomination, as the person in the cited question wanted to do. They imagine that some central body dictates what the various churches teach. They can’t fathom that churches have common teachings simply because the members follow a single source (the Bible). The one true church is the one founded by Jesus (Matthew 16:18). It is composed of people who follow Christ. It is\u00a0not<\/strong> composed of congregations. Now, one of the commands of Christ is that Christians in a locale band together as a church to worship and do the work of the Lord, but it is not the congregation that makes a person a part of the church. Being a Christian puts a person in Christ’s one church, and faithful Christians are a part of a local church composed of like-minded individuals.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Hi Jeffery, In the article “Wasn’t Babel the city of Eridu?” you mentioned, “You will not find any claim that the churches of Christ are the only correct church on this site.” Do you no longer believe in the one true church? I understand that not every church with the name “church of Christ”…<\/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":[448],"class_list":["post-67110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-church"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":52393,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-a-church-right-because-it-calls-itself-a-church-of-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":67110,"position":0},"title":"Is a church right because it calls itself a church of Christ?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 14, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How do you know if a church is the right church? Is it because they bear the name \"church of Christ\"? Isn't it possible that a church might also be a Bible-believing church but might not have a \"church of Christ\" attached to their church? Or is the name\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":2327,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-do-the-churches-of-christ-insist-that-their-name-is-scriptural\/","url_meta":{"origin":67110,"position":1},"title":"Why do the churches of Christ insist that their name is scriptural?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 22, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why does the \"Church of Christ\" insist that their name is scriptural when it cannot be found anywhere in the Bible? The church is referred to as the \"church of God\" eight times in the Bible, but never is it called the \"church of Christ.\" The verse they use\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":25826,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/isnt-the-use-of-conservative-non-institutional-or-mainstream-to-describe-churches-wrong\/","url_meta":{"origin":67110,"position":2},"title":"Isn’t the use of “conservative,” “non-institutional,” or “mainstream” to describe churches wrong?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 27, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Since the \"Church of Christ\" is the only authorized name for the church, why do some take pride in calling it the \"conservative church\" or the \"non-institutional church\"? I also hear of the \"mainstream church.\" Is this not liberalism and denominationalism? Answer: First off, \"church of Christ\" is not\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":44695,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-church-of-god-the-one-true-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":67110,"position":3},"title":"Is the church of God the one true church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day brother Jeffrey, I need your help. Where does the church of Christ get the year 33 AD? What is the basis for this? Another question: Is it true that no religion can save? The Church of God said that the one true church is the Church of\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":70712,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-all-churches-of-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":67110,"position":4},"title":"Are ALL Churches OF Christ?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 31, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Perry Hall I belong to a local congregation called \"Millersville Church of Christ.\" When asked what church I belong to, I often add, \"But any other name in the Bible, we go by that one, too.\" That usually brings a smile. If speaking biblically, there is no official name\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":44197,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-does-it-seem-that-there-isnt-that-much-difference-between-the-christian-church-and-the-churches-of-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":67110,"position":5},"title":"Why does it seem that there isn’t that much difference between the Christian Church and the churches of Christ?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, When I was 15, I was baptized in a church of Christ. Originally the church had been non-instrumental but later used an organ and piano. The minister was also a professor of Greek at a nearby college. If the Christian Church has so many differences, as is indicated\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\/67110","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=67110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67110\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}