A place to snark and vent about CoC doctrine and/or our experiences in the CoC. This is a place for SUPPORT and AGREEMENT only, not a place to tell someone their experience and feelings are wrong, or why we disagree with them.
OneStrike_ur_out wrote:People that I knew used to look at me like I had two heads whenever I would stop what I was doing on a Sunday afternoon so that I could be back at the building I just left a few hours earlier for an evening service. I had that ingrained in me that I must be front and center for every service, every time, or else. Then sometime later, the cOC that I was a part of at the time actually voted (in a men's business meeting) to do away with Sunday evening services. I was SO relived and happy when that happened. Yet, the people I knew could not understand why I was so relieved. I told them it was because for SO long, there were 3 services a week, 2 of which were on the same day. And now, there are only 2 that I have to make it to, and that once I leave church on Sunday morning, I am done until Wednesday night. I said "Now, I can make it to services AND have a life! No more having to stop what I am doing on Sunday afternoon so that I can hurry back for an evening service". They still did not get my excitement and told me that I would still be expected to make it to the other two services every single time, without fail. I nodded and said "yes, but it's only two now!". By the way, it did help me tremendously when they cut out that Sunday evening service. But, the attendance police still slapped your wrist if you missed one of the others. I see now why people looked at me the way they did. It was like I was saying that I had to have their permission to no longer have to be there on Sunday evening. The cOC's attendance policy is stringent and unnatural. Good people who do their best are met with harshness and anger when they miss a service, regardless of the reason. That is, of course unless you are a preacher, deacon, elder, or are related to one. Then you get a pass.
I am so glad I don't have to go on Sunday night & Wednesday night anymore. I never liked it & I am sorry my kids were dragged to church for all that.
It's nice not having to be in a rush to meet the three services a week quota, isn't it? These days, church is Sunday morning and Sunday morning ONLY for me. That makes my former cOC acquaintances recoil in horror. But the truth of it is, their three service a week quota is NOT scriptural. Nowhere in the Bible is anyone commanded to meet on Sunday evening or Wednesday night. And they honestly can not tell you where the other services came from. It's just something they grew up with and never questioned. It is a....gasp....TRADITION! They would NEVER admit it, but deep down they know it's true. They are following a man made tradition.
agricola wrote:No me neither. But I think the laughter was just surprise and incredulity, and not 'making fun' laughter. Some of the coc doctrines seemed so strange to other people, that they laughed from the 'surprise' of it. Laughing was actually rare - mostly people look very sorry for me. I'd just as soon make it funny...
Sorry Agri, but I was responding to what was actually posted in the source text.
the professor brought up the coc. He laughed as he said "they think they're the only ones going to heaven!"
...doesn't sound like "surprise" plus the prof was experienced and very intelligent..."surprised" would not seem likely.
all he could do is laugh at the coc because of their views
specifically stated to be "laugh at"
Sometimes the best ways to deal with something so wrong and in error is to simply laugh at it. It's not like the majority in the CoC would have listened to any rational arguments the professor would have offered. Sometimes mockery and laughter is the best weapon when dealing with such people.
The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it.----Karl Marx
agricola wrote:Practically everyone in our social circle was in the church too. As a little kid, I felt sorry for all those lost folks. A little older, and I was amazed at how little even the grownups 'knew' about 'being a Christian' and 'the Bible' (because they didn't drop verses at the drop of a hat).
By early to mid-teens, it was lonely, because I couldn't do the things all the other kids did. AFAIK, they probably felt sorry for me, but I don't remember noticing that. I don't remember being NOTICED, which suited me fine.
I was in grad school before I met people who didn't go to church on Sunday, AND not only did they NOT GO (sin!!), they didn't even belong to a church they were staying home FROM! It was a revelation..
I had met kids who didn't go to church regularly, and I was jealous of them. They seemed far more normal and well adjusted.
My nephew was horrified to learn that my husband and I weren't members of a church. He'd never met anyone like us. He even asked his mom why we didn't go to church. He comes from a community of fundamentalist Christians and everyone goes to church - everyone.
They would NEVER admit it, but deep down they know it's true. They are following a man made tradition.