With the unfortunate events of the last week, the Church of Christ churches have received some press. I can't even describe what kind of press. Check out this transcript from Nancy Grace on CNN:
GRACE: I want to go to pastor Tom Rukala, joining us tonight, a special guest, a Baptist minister. I`ve been researching the Church of Christ. I don`t know that much about it. What can you tell me?
PASTOR TOM RUKALA, BAPTIST PASTOR: Well, the Church of Christ is a relatively new church. It was started about 150 years ago by Alexander Campbell (ph). And it`s, unfortunately, a very legalistic sect, and they tend to use methods of intimidation and pressure tactics. They claim that they are the only ones going to heaven, and all other people are condemned to hell. So in case...
GRACE: Uh-oh, I`m in trouble. But I already knew that.
(LAUGHTER)
GRACE: Now, wait a minute. What more can you tell me?
RUKALA: Well, they claim that if you`re not baptized by one of their ministers, that you`re doomed to hell, even if you`re a believer in Jesus Christ, which, of course, breaks completely from the traditional Christian view that all those who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved because we`re saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and rose again. For the Church of Christ folks, that`s not enough. You have to be a member of their narrow sect. It`s a very exclusive group. And if you`re not a member of their sect, you`re condemned.
GRACE: You know, Pastor, you keep saying "sect." "Sect." You make it sound like a cult.
RUKALA: It kind of is a borderline cult, unfortunately. I don`t want to make it out to be some kind of Hare Krishna group, but it has cult-like characteristics and...
GRACE: In what sense?
RUKALA: Well, in the sense of the exclusivism, the attitude that they are the only ones who know the truth. The tactics that they use are sometimes just -- not only un-biblical but unethical, and they can be very ungracious, unfortunately.
The sad part is that in certain places that view of the local Church of Christ is right on the money. What makes me very angry is that Reverend Rukala presumes to speak for me.
Oh, and feel free to contact Nancy Grace while remembering 1 Peter 4:11:
"If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God."
15 comments:
I am sad to say I grew up in a church very similar to this, so I know that they do exsist. By lumping all churches of christ together he is guilty of the same crime as these very narrow churches. Christians should all stand together, no speak hashly of other christian.
Very sad.
I find it interesting that she went to a Baptist minister to find out about the churches of Christ rather than a minister of the church of Christ. I e-mailed her--I just stated that no one was more shocked and prayerful about the events that had occurred in Tennessee than members of the Churches of Christ.
I remember very clearly during the whole Clinton/Kenneth Star thing a very negative interview by Diane Sawyer. She kept talking about the "evangelical Churches of Christ" as though the word "evangelical" was dirty.
I have been very overcome by the events in Tennessee. . .wondering what went wrong.
R--
I pray that I am not sending this message to the world, and not contributing to the terrible stereotype you speak of. This definitely gives us something to think about when we are dealing with others.
Wow. We in the CoC are really getting it thrown back in our face this week. Is this really how the world sees us as a bunch of half-witted, narrow minded, wife beating, Bible thumping intolerants? If so, I need to change churches. Uh, I mean cults. :(
Interesting.
Well, it's just one bappy minister. Maybe he will see his words in print and see how small they made him appear...
Anyway, one thing I know for sure - take what you hear/ read in the press very lightly.
I've got a take on the PR angle.
As a member of the Church of Christ, I have seen a very wide variety of beliefs in the church. Sometimes this description matches some of the churches I have seen, but many times it does not. It saddens and embarasses me that our family is being portrayed in this way. It is interesting that this Baptist minister who is accusing the C of C of being narrow-minded and unloving is actually being pretty narrow-minded himself by lumping everyone together the way he has.
I have several thoughts about this, some of which might be difficult to swallow.
First, why would this Baptist preacher say these things? What would be his motivation? Unfortunately, I have a clue. As I read the transcript, I can't say that I see anything that is entirely false. His experience is very similar to mine, and I grew up in the Churches of Christ.
Let's look at what he said.
> Well, the Church of Christ is a relatively new church. It was
> started about 150 years ago by Alexander Campbell (ph).
He's off by ~50 years. It's closer to 200 years now. A decade here and a decade there...what difference does that really make in the overall scheme of 2000 years of history?
> And it’s, unfortunately, a very legalistic sect, and they
> tend to use methods of intimidation and pressure tactics.
This is what I grew up in. I was very unethically pressured into baptism at 11 years old by the preacher in my church as were the rest of my classmates. Without going into many details, he placed a vulnerable child in an impossible situation. One only has to pick up a copy of "The Firm Foundation" or "Contending for the Faith" to read one brother bludgeon another brother repeatedly because they don't agree on how the Bible is supposed to be interpreted. I have friends who have been disinherited from their parents and shunned by their extended family because they don't attend a Church of Christ anymore. Some members of my own family won't have anything to do anymore with the Church of Christ because a minister in my hometown challenged the minister at their Baptist church to a fight to settle the issue of instrumental music. My wife's great-something uncle, the sort-of famous Joe Sale Warlick, was known as one of the "fighting preachers" because of his unusually bombastic style of preaching.
The American Restoration Movement is classified by those who deem to classify such things as a sect. I think at last count, we now have about 20 sub-sects that bicker over worship, musical instruments, number of cups, support for orphanages, kitchens in the meeting place of the saints, etc. We could write our Talmud on the various rabbinical interpretations we have made and split the church over.
> They claim that they are the only ones going to heaven,
> and all other people are condemned to hell.
I heard this practically every Sunday as a kid. I used to have several tracts here in my office that said as much, if not more. I threw them out because they sickened me.
I realize that not everyone in the Churches of Christ behave and believe this way, and I have ample reason to hope and believe that we are leaving behind what has been legalism, pressure tactics, and sectarian divisive behavior. Unfortunately, not all of our Christian brethren outside of our movement are aware of this. All they have to judge by are their own experiences. They may not be universally right in their assessment, but their experience is what it is. We can't deny that. Whose responsibility is it to correct the faulty impression? How often have we committed the same mistake, even publicly, in regard to other Christian groups? As far as I'm concerned, this preacher commits the sin of over generalizing, not being vicious.
What does bother me about this preacher's comments, though, is that I see no logical connection to our historically boorish behavior and this tragic murder. He is assuming that correlation is causation. Unless he knows the family, specifically the wife, he has absolutely no insight into the motivation for this murder. I don't think this is so much motivated by sectarian hatred and enmity as much as it is typical sloppy thinking that I see running amok everywhere.
I also don't understand why Nancy Grace interviewed a Baptist minister unless no representatives from the Churches of Christ would respond.
I am sure, though, that Nancy Grace's blog or response site is NOT the place to air out this matter. I don't know whether Nancy Grace is a Christian or not, but her forum is not a venue for Christians to resolve their differences. The informal, world court of opinion is not the place to resolve differences among Christians. Jesus taught us that the appropriate approach is brother to brother.
What I recommend is the following. Anyone who truly has a beef with Tom Rukala should contact him directly (that can't be hard in this Google age) and ask to speak to him about this issue. Do not start off making accusations, but make an honest attempt to listen at what motivated him to say the things he said.
Wow -- great thoughts, Rob. Thanks.
This is the first time I have visited this website. What bothers me about this whole Church of Christ issue is that they would bring in a Baptist preacher to get insight on a Church of Christ life. One: What even qualifies him to do so? Two: Why would one Christian believer even take part in discrediting another church publically without using text from the Bible? (We are not all the same) Three: I know for a fact that many Baptist churches hold themselves exclusive (I've been to many) and that they are very firm in the "wife shall submit"and most do not allow womenn to do more then prepare sacrament and teach in the children's ministries...but I didn't hear any of that come out of his mouth. Four: He may have only tried to imply that CofC is a cult but he still implied it...so the fact that he did not outright say it is of no justification what-so-ever.
Our minister tells us all the time (Argyle CofC in Jacksonville,Fl) that we are not exclusive and that anyone who hears the word, belives the word, confesses the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal savior and is Baptized for the remission of their sins, can inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. However, you can fall from grace which is also biblical.
I just wish that the Christians of this world would realize that God did not create relgions...people did and since people are not perfect then obviously there will be some kinks in any and all systems. The bottom line is that the Bible is the Holy Word and the only words which to live by. I personally give more credit to those words in red. Thank you and and have a blessed day.
Could it be that this is the price of being in the world but not of it?
While yes our hearts are saddened by the fact that the media and to a degree society has chosen to view us as backwards and not intouch with todays world. Is this not a great complement to the church?
It is my hope that while there may be differences among us, we would all use this oprotunity to sharpen our sowards of truth, being minful that what makes the COC truly a nondinomination is the fact that we impose no man made creeds nor sociatal correctness upon our faith nor our worship, and that we do not rest our faith in man or find our origins some 150 years ago, but rather base our faith, our worship, and our religion upon the teachings from some 2000 years ago uddered by the Christ and given to us through the Spirit by the Aposles.
Titus 2:8
No one can question the truth. So teach what is true. Then those who oppose you will be ashamed. That's because they will have nothing bad to say about us.
One of the real tragedies of such narrow, exclusivistic sectarianism is that, although these people are truly in the minority in the Churches of Christ, they are nevertheless extremely vocal. Therefore, their religious antics have caused those in this faith-heritage, who do not share their narrow-mindedness, to be the recipients of some very negative publicity from others in Christendom, and also from unbelievers. Good, decent, devoted, rational Christian men and women within this movement are too frequently slandered and libeled because of the irrational excesses and attitudes of those on the extremist fringes of our movement. It is the Waddeys of the world, and, believe me, he is tame compared to some, who have made the efforts of evangelistic, ecumenical disciples of Christ, who work and worship with Churches of Christ, far more difficult.
A perfect example of this was seen recently on a CNN broadcast in connection with the Matthew Winkler murder. On Monday evening, March 27, on the Nancy Grace show (and I would encourage readers to examine the Transcript of that particular broadcast), she, in the course of her discussion of this tragedy that occurred in Tennessee, briefly conducted an interview with a Baptist pastor named Tom Rukala. Nancy Grace said, "I want to go to pastor Tom Rukala, joining us tonight, a special guest, a Baptist minister. I've been researching the Church of Christ. I don't know that much about it. What can you tell me?" First, I found it rather interesting that she sought insight from a Baptist pastor as to the beliefs and practices of those in the Churches of Christ. But, the pastor was there and she tossed the question his way. His answer was fascinating, and it has caused quite an uproar among members of the Churches of Christ, some of whom are even calling for a boycott of CNN (personally, I stopped watching them years ago!).
Pastor Rukala (some have suggested his name was not spelled correctly in the transcript, and that it should be "Ruhkala") replied, "Well, the Church of Christ is a relatively new church. It was started about 150 years ago by Alexander Campbell. And it's, unfortunately, a very legalistic sect, and they tend to use methods of intimidation and pressure tactics. They claim that they are the only ones going to heaven, and all other people are condemned to hell." Nancy Grace said, "What more can you tell me?" The pastor continued, "Well, they claim that if you're not baptized by one of their ministers, that you're doomed to hell, even if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, which, of course, breaks completely from the traditional Christian view that all those who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved because we're saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and rose again. For the Church of Christ folks, that's not enough. You have to be a member of their narrow sect. It's a very exclusive group. And if you're not a member of their sect, you're condemned."
Nancy Grace responded, "You know, Pastor, you keep saying 'sect.' You make it sound like a cult." He then replied to her, "It kind of is a borderline cult, unfortunately. I don't want to make it out to be some kind of Hare Krishna group, but it has cult-like characteristics." Nancy asked, "In what sense?" He responded, "Well, in the sense of the exclusivism, the attitude that they are the only ones who know the truth. The tactics that they use are sometimes not only unbiblical, but unethical, and they can be very ungracious, unfortunately." At this point, Nancy Grace turned to another guest. However, in just a few seconds, millions received a very negative view of the Churches of Christ. The temptation, of course, is to vilify the Baptist pastor for his harsh remarks, or to question the journalistic approach of Nancy Grace. I will do neither. Sadly, I think some within our faith-heritage have invited such a view by their religious arrogance. Was the characterization of Tom Rukala accurate? Well, yes and no. It is most certainly NOT accurate of the vast majority of Churches of Christ, or those within them. But, sadly, it is very accurate of the extremists among us ... and they tend to be the most vocal, unfortunately. Thus, Pastor Rukala may simply have been reporting what he had personally observed and experienced.
Brethren, let's face it: there are some among us -- the legalistic patternists -- who are doing great harm to the One Body of our Lord Jesus Christ. Frankly, there has always been such an element among the people of God ... even among the early Jews. They were called the Pharisees. Paul gave a quote from the prophet Ezekiel when describing such rigid religionists, saying, "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you!" (Rom. 2:24). I fear that today the good name of many within our faith-heritage in Churches of Christ is being tarnished by the excesses of exclusivists among us. They need to be exposed and opposed, otherwise they shall continue to divide the Body of Christ, shun the extended family of God, and shame the fair name of our Savior before the lost of this world. May our Father help more of us to be bold in our stand against this sectarian mindset. If we allow this cancer to remain in the Body unchecked, it could well consume us ... it has already sickened us. Dear God, be merciful to Your people and help us to be ONE, and, Lord, forever silence those who have positioned themselves as obstacles in the pathway that leads to genuine unity among Your sons and daughters!
I don't know much on the doctrines of the Church of Christ, but according to the Word, we all err in some ways. The danger comes in that if you are "teaching incorrectly or leading someone astray from any truth of the Word, then you are to be held "more accountable" ( Open ridicule of any Bible based, or "Christian" church is only giving the lost an excuse to stay away from all churches. They don't won't to be a part of a "faith" that cannot come together in their beliefs and differances without "browbeating" one another, and on public secular tv at that. Any Prayer Warriors out there? Then please be praying for ALL the churches. Especially that they would be led by the Holy Spirit and not man made doctrines! And most of all we must, even when we disagree, leave the judgement to God, and not openly bring one another to such shame. God Bless--Triva
Condemnation to hell is not something that just C of C does, it is in fact the way of all christianity. Baptists and Catholics also think that all budhists, pagans, and general non believers will be eternally damned in hell fire. Is our afterlife truly determined by who's feet we choose to kiss? According to most sects of Christianity I can't just worship God and go to heaven, I would have to specifically accept Jesus as my savior. A perfectly virtous man would be condemned if he chose to be agnostic, where as a child rapist would be able to be forgiven as long as he did it in the correct diety's name.
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