During the week leading up to the observance of the government’s Martin Luther King Day, the local paper heralded the formation of a new group called Churches Uniting in Christ. Nine denominations joined to campaign against racism.<\/p>\n
The very development of these organizations which tie denominations together is fascinating, especially when we compare the complexity of man’s religion in the name of Christ to the simple organization of Christ’s church. In Christ’s church, we have Christians joining together in local congregations. There is no higher organization. Each congregation is autonomous and answerable to Jesus Christ himself. Yet modern man’s denominations are composed of hierarchies of local and regional bodies which answer in turn to national and worldwide bodies. These bodies are now, in turn, organizing into supra-denominations as they search for unifying themes among their fractured beliefs.<\/p>\n
The members of Churches Uniting in Christ “seek forgiveness for the sin of division.” [I wonder if these denominations ever notice what the word “denomination” means.] Historically, these denominations had race as a dividing issue, but now they are making efforts to coordinate opposition to racial injustice. The combined effort will not require the various member denominations to teach the same thing. The agreement declares them united in embracing people of all races while remaining different. “We discovered a broader identity, and it doesn’t need to be that we always speak the same word at the same time,” said George Worcester of the United Church of Christ. Of course, this directly conflicts with Paul’s statement in I Corinthians 1:10, “Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment<\/em>.”<\/p>\n The goal of eliminating racism appears to be noble. Rhymes Moncure, a United Methodist Church bishop declared, “You have to almost lift [racism] up as a sin, and obviously it is, but that’s one of the sins all the denominations can understand, and it’s a beginning place.” On the surface, it appears to be in harmony with Paul’s declaration in Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.<\/em>” Yet dig a little deeper to find out what is considered sinful racism. Full members of this organization committed to “oppose all marginalization and exclusion in church and society on the basis of such things as race, age, gender, forms of disability, sexual orientation and class.”<\/p>\n Oops! Notice what was slipped as a sin: excluding someone because of their sexual orientation. We have denominations not only accepting homosexuality but now we also have some declaring that the opposition to homosexuality is a sin. Obviously, the words of Paul make no difference to them. “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God<\/em>” ( I Corinthians 6:9-10). Here is a classic case where evil is defined as good and good is defined as evil (Isaiah 5:20).<\/p>\n These misguided denominations declare the Bible as “the rule and ultimate standard of faith,” but they don’t believe it. They have no shame in taking stands against the teachings of God. The world is rapidly losing all concepts of right and wrong and it brings tears to my eyes to see it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Jeffrey W. Hamilton During the week leading up to the observance of the government’s Martin Luther King Day, the local paper heralded the formation of a new group called Churches Uniting in Christ. Nine denominations joined to campaign against racism. The very development of these organizations which tie denominations together is fascinating, especially when…<\/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":[27],"tags":[214],"class_list":["post-7262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-racism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9463,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-you-a-part-of-the-church-of-christ-denomination\/","url_meta":{"origin":7262,"position":0},"title":"Are you a part of the “Church of Christ” denomination?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 13, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I just found your site on the web. Very interesting information you have compiled. I am curious, are you, in fact, affiliated with what we know as the denomination Church of Christ? Or is it that you just align yourself with the Christ? Answer: As far as I know,\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":31789,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-be-saved-and-in-a-denomination\/","url_meta":{"origin":7262,"position":1},"title":"Can you be saved and in a denomination?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I understand that the word \"church,\" as used in scripture, has two meanings: (1) the universal church - consisting of all redeemed souls that have obeyed the authorized steps of hearing the Word of God, believing (that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and our Savior), repenting (change\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":7259,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/arent-you-dancing-around-the-issue-of-racism\/","url_meta":{"origin":7262,"position":2},"title":"Aren’t you dancing around the issue of racism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 4, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: You surely did a huge dance around the \"racism\" issue. [See \"The Broadening Definition of Racism.\"] Since you condemned all of the other sins in other articles, why didn't you condemn racism as a sin as well? Instead, you linked a religious body's (the United Church of Christ's) condoning\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":33635,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-a-congregationalist\/","url_meta":{"origin":7262,"position":3},"title":"What is a Congregationalist?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 3, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I stumbled across a site that listed the signers of the Declaration of Independence and their respective denominations. I noted quite a number of the signers as Congregationalists. What is a congregationalist and what are their beliefs? Answer: Congregationalism has its roots in the days of Queen Elizabeth the\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":7262,"position":4},"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":19293,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-makes-the-church-of-christ-different\/","url_meta":{"origin":7262,"position":5},"title":"What Makes the Church of Christ Different?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 30, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Billy Moore Question: \"You say the Church of Christ is not a Protestant denomina\u00adtion, but I know you protest the Catholic religion for I have read a lot of your writings, so what makes you different from the other churches. You look like one of many churches to me.\"\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7262","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=7262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7262\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}