Re: General Denominational (Dis)Information -- Mamusz' Restoration Forum

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Date Posted: 22:44:31 09/07/11 Wed
Author: George
Subject: Re: General Denominational (Dis)Information
In reply to: Lois 's message, "Re: General Denominational (Dis)Information" on 10:27:52 09/01/11 Thu

>I will bold the words of the website for clarity. The
>website of the Community of Christ is the public face
>that they present. It reminds me exactly of the few
>LDS cottage meetings I attended as a teenager. Sounds
>good but is not what they really are.
>
> >href="http://www.cofchrist.org/news/GeneralInfo.asp#off
>icials">http://www.cofchrist.org/news/GeneralInfo.asp#o
>fficials
>Community of Christ
>
>General Denominational Information
>
>SCRIPTURE
>
>Community of Christ recognizes three books of
>scripture:
>
>The Bible
>
>
>In other places this is what they say. . .
>
> >href="http://www.cofchrist.org/ourfaith/faith-beliefs.a
>sp">http://www.cofchrist.org/ourfaith/faith-beliefs.asp
>
>
>When responsibly interpreted and faithfully applied,
>scripture provides divine guidance and inspired
>insight for our discipleship.
>
>(Lois) �Responsibly interpret� is a euphemism for
>�throw it out if you don�t like it�. Currently the
>Community of Christ does not any scripture which
>prohibits their favorite agenda, the Gay Lesbian
>Bisexual and Transgendered agenda.
>
>Examples:
>
>Leviticus chapter 18
>
>�Go and sin no more� one Community of Christ elder
>proclaimed that in the story of the woman taken in
>adultery, that Jesus never said �go and sin no more�.
>He claimed that was �tacked on later�
>
>Romans
>Revelations
>
>Book of Mormon
>
>In other places this is what they say. . .
>
> >href="http://www.ncccusa.org/witnesses2010/ga-merc-repo
>rt-community-of-christ.pdf">http://www.ncccusa.org/witn
>esses2010/ga-merc-report-community-of-christ.pdf
>
>November 3, 2010
>
>To: 2010 General Assembly of the National Council of
>the Churches of Christ in the USA and Church World
>Service
>From: Michael Kinnamon and John L. McCullough
>
>Page 3
>"While the Book of Mormon is sometimes used in
>worship, there are parts of the COC that seldom
>refer to it."
>
>THE BOOK OF MORMON
>A Study Paper Prepared for the Curriculum Consultation
>Committee Prepared by the Department of Religious
>Education
>December, 1967
>
>Page 10
>In many instances this stance will manifest itself in
>terms of a discreet silence in areas where
>hitherto Book of Mormon teachings have been invoked.
>However, since in the Book there can be found various
>passages that may serve to illustrate or illuminate a
>persistent life need of the students, such passages
>may very well be utilized in the development of a
>lesson for any age level.
>
>Doctrine and Covenants
>
>(Lois)And then this is what they turn around and
>say in order to gain admittance into the National
>Council of Churches:
>
> >href="http://www.ncccusa.org/witnesses2010/ga-merc-repo
>rt-community-of-christ.pdf">http://www.ncccusa.org/witn
>esses2010/ga-merc-report-community-of-christ.pdf
>
>page 2
>
>The Membership and Ecclesial Relations Committee
>(MERC) of the General Assembly of the National Council
>of the Churches of Christ in the USA and Church World
>Service recommends to the 2010 General Assembly that
>the membership application of the Community of Christ
>(COC) be approved. This recommendation is based on a
>careful review of written materials provided by the
>COC,
>
>page 3
>
>It is always important at the onset of any discussion
>of the spiritual roots of Community of Christ to note
>that its founder is not [Joseph Smith] of the
>Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
>Saints (LDS), but his son, Joseph Smith III,
>
>(An observation from George) " This is all about
>same-sex marriage. Section 111 of the Doctrine and
>Covenants states that marriage is between a man and a
>woman. Since past RLDS conferences have voted that
>this revelation is still binding on the post 1860
>church, the only way to get rid of it is to claim that
>the RLDS church never existed before 1860. That allows
>them to discard Joseph Smith, Jr.'s doctrines and
>practices entirely, from rebaptism to heterosexual
>marriage. That renders all revelations from Joseph,
>Jr. as quaint and obsolete as Wycliff's Bible
>translation."
>
>(Lois's note, approximately the first 113 sections of
>the Doctrine and Covenants came through the presidency
>of Joseph Smith Jr. Sections 156 through 164 came
>through Wallace B. Smith, Grant McMurray and Steve
>Veasey. Those sections are totally bogus.)
>
>. . . at the general assembly of August 17, 1835. It
>was adopted unanimously by that assembly as part of
>the Book of Doctrine and Covenants.
>
>[Sec 111:2a] Marriage should be celebrated with prayer
>and thanksgiving; and at the solemnization, the
>persons to be married, standing together, the man on
>the right, and the woman on the left, shall be
>addressed, by the person officiating, as he shall be
>directed by the Holy Spirit; and if there be no legal
>objections, he shall say, calling each by their names:
>[Sec 111:2b] "You both mutually agree to be each
>other's companion, husband and wife, observing the
>legal rights belonging to this condition; that is,
>keeping yourselves wholly for each other, and from all
>others, during your lives?"
>[Sec 111:4b] Inasmuch as this Church of Christ has
>been reproached with the crime of fornication, and
>polygamy: we declare that we believe that one man
>should have one wife; and one woman but one husband,
>except in case of death, when either is at liberty to
>marry again.
>
>The scriptures provide divine guidance and inspired
>insight for life when responsibly interpreted and
>faithfully applied. With other Christians, we affirm
>the Bible as the foundational scripture for the
>church. In our tradition, the Book of Mormon and the
>Doctrine and Covenants are additional scriptural
>witnesses of God�s love and Christ�s ministry.
>------
>
>Submitted by Lois

Lois, the language is very artfully devised. I "recognize" the Rig Veda and the Koran as "scripture," giving them due reverence as the object of some other person's belief in ancient tradition. However, I don't believe anything in them that can't be proven by simple human faculties. By using this language, the CofC is attempting (like Evel Kneivel) to leap over the vast gulf between the canonicity of the Three Standard Works of the CofC and "the Bible" as a central focus of the Christian faith. (None of the Three Standards qualifies as "the Bible" as understood by Protestants and Roman Catholics, or Orthodox, or Coptics, and so on ad infinitum.) A Protestant will grudgingly acknowledge the NAB as "the Bible," and a Roman Catholic will grudgingly acknowledge the NEB as "the Bible," but neither will give the time of day to anybody offering the Inspired Version of the Holy Scriptures as "the Bible."

Jesus can change water into wine, but all of the Quorums and all the king's men can't change the Restoration Scriptures into "the Bible."

George

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