Church Of Christ question

B_Lightkeeper

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In watching Jeremiah Wright's (I can't justify calling him Reverend or Minister) pulpit venom preaching, I noticed what looks like bongo drums and guitars in the background. I thought the Church Of Christ didn't believe in musical instruments in their services?

I once dated a girl (yes...can't you believe that! :tongue: ) whose family was Church Of Christ members) and attended services a few times with her. I couldn't get over the fact that they did not use pianos, organs or musical instruments, yet they had a piano in their house.
 

visualalert

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Don't know about their musical instrument practices but that "Reverend" is a piece of work, isn't he? Obama just threw him under the bus (dumped him from his African American Religious Leadership Committee). Let's see, Wright, Goolsbee (the NAFTA skullduggery), Rezko (still brewing) - and it's only March! Remember all that hype about the Republican attack machine? :tongue:
 

DC_DEEP

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Some of the instrumental questions could possibly be answered by knowing which Church of Christ he's associated with - Church of Christ (United) or Church of Christ (Disciples), also known simply as Christian Church. He is actually associated with the "United" group, which oddly enough, is the group that generally opposes the use of musical instruments in worship (also known as the a capella group).

When I was teaching music, a couple of my students were members of the CoCU, and during our Christmas concert, they refused to play some of the music (they played the secular ones, like Jingle Bells or Sleigh Ride, but refused to play the ones with a less-secular theme, like O Holy Night or Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring.) I was really curious about how they made the distinction, so I carefully crafted a question, and asked it. One of them said, "I'm not really sure about the answer, I'll ask my Dad and tell you tomorrow."

The answer? "The Bible speaks, we listen. Where the Bible is silent, we are silent. The New Testament does not mention the use of instruments in worship, so we don't do it. It's not up to us to invent the worship service."

Which makes a little bit of sense, but I kept my mouth shut and didn't pursue the discrepancies with that explanation. I was there to teach music, after all, not debate church dogma.

Why Wright would be using instruments in his services, I cannot imagine.
 

WaSwimmer

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For the unmitigated scoop on the UCC (of which I am a member, and no, there is no prohibition on use of musical instruments) google UCC.org. Take the time to look around the site, I think you'll find it refreshing.
 

B_leap247

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Some of the instrumental questions could possibly be answered by knowing which Church of Christ he's associated with - Church of Christ (United) or Church of Christ (Disciples), also known simply as Christian Church. He is actually associated with the "United" group, which oddly enough, is the group that generally opposes the use of musical instruments in worship (also known as the a capella group).

When I was teaching music, a couple of my students were members of the CoCU, and during our Christmas concert, they refused to play some of the music (they played the secular ones, like Jingle Bells or Sleigh Ride, but refused to play the ones with a less-secular theme, like O Holy Night or Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring.) I was really curious about how they made the distinction, so I carefully crafted a question, and asked it. One of them said, "I'm not really sure about the answer, I'll ask my Dad and tell you tomorrow."

The answer? "The Bible speaks, we listen. Where the Bible is silent, we are silent. The New Testament does not mention the use of instruments in worship, so we don't do it. It's not up to us to invent the worship service."

Which makes a little bit of sense, but I kept my mouth shut and didn't pursue the discrepancies with that explanation. I was there to teach music, after all, not debate church dogma.

Why Wright would be using instruments in his services, I cannot imagine.


There is also the Non-Denominational Church Of Christ. No insturmunts and some do not observe man made holidays that are not in the bible such as Christmas and Easter. Very popular in the Southern and Western regions.

There are lots of variants in names of churches and practices. There are so many it's hard to figure out if one isn't being confused with another.
 

B_leap247

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In watching Jeremiah Wright's (I can't justify calling him Reverend or Minister) pulpit venom preaching, I noticed what looks like bongo drums and guitars in the background. I thought the Church Of Christ didn't believe in musical instruments in their services?

I once dated a girl (yes...can't you believe that! :tongue: ) whose family was Church Of Christ members) and attended services a few times with her. I couldn't get over the fact that they did not use pianos, organs or musical instruments, yet they had a piano in their house.


The piano in the house is fine. They just don't belive in using in with reguards to Worship of God when gathered together in his name (at church)
 

JustAsking

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For the unmitigated scoop on the UCC (of which I am a member, and no, there is no prohibition on use of musical instruments) google UCC.org. Take the time to look around the site, I think you'll find it refreshing.
The UCC is the United Church of Christ. In New England, they are sometimes known by their older name as The Congregational Church. I attended church in that demonination in New England. There was nothing fundamentalist about them, nor are they known as Biblical literalists or innerantists. In fact, it was difficult for me to tell the difference between them and the United Methodist Church.

By their website, it looks like Obama's church is the more well known mainstream United Church of Christ (Congregationalist Church) with a strong emphasis on social Gospel issues that relate to African Americans.

The group with the musical instruments edict is variously called, "The Church of Christ", "The Disciples of Christ", or "Christian Church". It is important to note that they are similar to the Congregational church in that the authority for doctrine lies directly in each congregation. So it would not be surprising if one Church of Christ congregation had instruments and another didn't.

Church of Christ is probably one of the least well known denominations of the mainstream Protestant denominations.

It seems that some famous people have been C of C members, including Edgar Cayce, John Fulbright, President James Garfield, LBJ, Frances McDormand, President Reagan, Colonel Sanders, and John Stamos. (Google is a wonderful thing, isn't it?)