"Restoration" movement

[Blake Reas]

I need anyone who is part of the Restoration movement or anyone who knows anything about it to discuss it. From what I have read they say that all Churches besides the Independent Christian , Church of Christ, and Church of God are Apostate Churches.

On of the founders denied the Trinity and the Deity of Christ, there is more but I would like to know if anyone knows if they are a heretical group. There is an article on them at www.equip.org

In Christ,
Blake Reas

Soli Deo Gloria THe Reformation ROCKS!!!!

[Spiritus Naturae]

I need anyone who is part of the Restoration movement or anyone who knows anything about it to discuss it. From what I have read they say that all Churches besides the Independent Christian , Church of Christ, and Church of God are Apostate Churches.

On of the founders denied the Trinity and the Deity of Christ, there is more but I would like to know if anyone knows if they are a heretical group. There is an article on them at www.equip.org

In Christ,
Blake Reas

Soli Deo Gloria THe Reformation ROCKS!!!!

I am not sure if they would qualify as heretical, but they do have a different take on the Gospel.

Here are some threads of interest:
http://www.theologyweb.com/campus/showthread.php?t=7301

http://www.theologyweb.com/campus/showthread.php?t=11028

http://www.theologyweb.com/campus/showthread.php?t=9945

http://www.theologyweb.com/campus/showthread.php?t=45894

Links of interest:
http://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/index.html

Hope these help. :yes:

[John Reece]

I need anyone who is part of the Restoration movement or anyone who knows anything about it to discuss it. From what I have read they say that all Churches besides the Independent Christian , Church of Christ, and Church of God are Apostate Churches.

On of the founders denied the Trinity and the Deity of Christ, there is more but I would like to know if anyone knows if they are a heretical group. There is an article on them at www.equip.org

In Christ,
Blake Reas

Soli Deo Gloria THe Reformation ROCKS!!!!

"Restoration Movement" is too broad a term to apply without distinguishing between the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) (http://www.disciples.org/) (on the one hand), and (on the other hand) other denominations that have roots in the nineteenth-century unity and restitution effort led by Barton W. Stone and Thomas and Alexander Campbell.

The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is included in the ‘Restoration Movement’ led by Stone and Campbell. However, the CC (DoC) most definitely does NOT “say that all Churches besides the Independent Christian , Church of Christ, and Church of God are Apostate Churches.”

The CC (DoC) has been involved in ecumenical efforts in cooperation with Presbyterian denominations for many decades. I was a pastor in both traditions in the early 1970s — first as pastor of a Presbyterian church, then as pastor of a CC (DoC) church. The very conservative and orthodox southern Presbytery in which I served as a pastor did not regard the CC (DoC) as heretical, and the CC (DoC) did not regard the Presbyterian Church (US) — the southern branch that later united with the northern branch — as apostate.

[Spiritus Naturae]

"Restoration Movement" is too broad a term to apply without distinguishing between the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) (http://www.disciples.org/) (on the one hand), and (on the other hand) other denominations that have roots in the nineteenth-century unity and restitution effort led by Barton W. Stone and Thomas and Alexander Campbell.

The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is included in the ‘Restoration Movement’ led by Stone and Campbell. However, the CC (DoC) most definitely does NOT “say that all Churches besides the Independent Christian , Church of Christ, and Church of God are Apostate Churches.”

The CC (DoC) has been involved in ecumenical efforts in cooperation with Presbyterian denominations for many decades. I was a pastor in both traditions in the early 1970s — first as pastor of a Presbyterian church, then as pastor of a CC (DoC) church. The very conservative and orthodox southern Presbytery in which I served as a pastor did not regard the CC (DoC) as heretical, and the CC (DoC) did not regard the Presbyterian Church (US) — the southern branch that later united with the northern branch — as apostate.

My only interaction with the tradition/movement in question has been with the non-instrumental church of Christ folk. They definitely believe that anyone outside of said tradition is indeed lost. I have only read of the other 'off-shoots' of the Restoration Movement.

[SixLiteralDays]

[QUOTE=Blake Reas]I need anyone who is part of the Restoration movement or anyone who knows anything about it to discuss it. From what I have read they say that all Churches besides the Independent Christian , Church of Christ, and Church of God are Apostate Churches.

Hi Blake,

I hope I can provide some insight for you on this subject. I grew up in the Christian Church / Church of Christ, graduated from one of their Bible colleges and even pastored one for a few years. Let me first say that I believe there are many true believers in the so-called Restoration Movement (I say so-called because I do not believe they "restored" the NT church or the "ancient gospel" - their term).
These churches are quite strange in regard to other churches. The movement began as an effort to unite all the churches and they still vehemently deny being a "denomination" (aaahhh I used the "d" word). :lol: I have left these churches on two occasions. First, about five years ago when I could no longer tolerate the differences that I had with them. Many of the folks at this church viewed my entire family as apostates simply because we left. They didn't care that we started attending an evangelical church. God works in mysterious ways and brought me back into one of these churches as a pastor a few years ago even though I had vowed to never go back. He used us powerfully there but when we left - the same thing, we were shunned as apostates, although there are probably other reasons for this (we didn't leave on the best of terms - I made it clear where I stood on key doctrines before being hired. They said they were okay with that and hired me anyways. Later, they were upset that I held these beliefs).
It was always strange to me that they want to unite all the churches and yet tend to shun those groups that disagree with them. I would say that certain branches of this movement are stronger in this regard than others. It has been my experience that the "Christian churches" are somewhat open to working with other denominations. Meanwhile the "Church of Christ" (especially non-instrumental) are not fond of other groups. The Disciples of Christ are typically quite liberal and don't take much of a stand on anything.
With that being said, I think we should turn the question around. Is the Restoration Movement heretical? I believe there are a couple of key doctrinal differences between this movement and evangelicalism. I'll describe the differences and you can decide whether or not you believe they are apostate. Fair enough?
There is a difficulty in doing this because these churches generally despise creeds and/or statements of faith. So I will be forced to speak in generalities about the movement - although it is probably safe to say that all their colleges and seminaries would teach the points that I will discuss.
The churches in this movement teach that a person is not "saved" until they are baptized in water. I probably could not count the number of times I have heard Acts 2: 38 quoted as if this is the only passage that teaches how a person can come to Christ and that there is no other way to interpret it. In these churches you have a couple of groups: the hardliners do not budge on this issue. I have debated several of them and asked them the following hypothetical question: "What would happen if a man came forward after the sermon and professed belief in Christ, repented of his sins, and wanted to be baptized but on the way to the baptistry he fell down some steps, broke his neck and died?" Where would he go? Heaven or Hell? This is a dilemma for these people because they know that God would allow them into Heaven but they can't say that because it contradicts there theology. Their inevitable response is (and I hear this ALL the time) "Well, I'm just glad I'm not the judge."
Besides the hardliners, you've got people who will say that a person is not saved until baptism but they mean something different than the hardliner. With these people it's more of a semantic argument. They mean that baptism is the way in which a person expresses his/her faith in Christ. They would be willing to admit that the person in the hypothetical situation above would go to heaven. I believe that most of the people with this view actually trust in Christ for their salvation and we'll see them in heaven. I'm not so sure about the hardliners because it seems like "works" salvation.
Speaking of that, the second major doctrinal difference is that the Restoration Movement (RM) typically teaches that a person can lose his/her salvation. While I realize this is often controversial, it is really quite simple from a biblical perspective. John 5:24 and Romans 8:38-39 end the debate. We cannot lose our salvation because it is not based on what we do. It is based on what Christ already did. However, since the RMer believes salvation can be lost, he must work to keep it. This sounds like "works salvation" to me.
They have some other differences. They believe that God is absolutely finished with the Jewish people - the church is now Israel in God's eyes. Also, they generally deny that everyone inherits Adam's sinful nature (I don't have any idea how they get around Romans 5: 12 - 21). It's quite funny how they arrive at their denial of original sin. Since they object to infant baptism and believe that a person is not saved until water baptism (when they are old enough to make an informed decision) they reason that there can be no sinful nature in the child. They believe (as I do) that a child who dies will go to heaven. However, they believe that this child does not have a sinful nature because if he did then he would need to be baptized but we can't have infant baptism so... :sigh: My head would explode if I actually believed all of their teachings.
I hope this helps with your understanding of this group. My experience has been primarily with the Church of Christ (instrumental) and Christian Churches. These are probably the two most "sane" of the movement. The non-instrumentalist are almost completely hardliners. My grandmother attends one of these churches and was told by a guest speaker that the only people that would be in heaven were the ones in her particular congregation and those in his church back in Texas. I guess I'm in trouble.
I'm not sure if one of their founders actually denied the Trinity. I know that he questioned it and was not sure of it. My books are packed up for a move so I don't have access to my "Stone Campbell Movement" history book. It's actually quite interesting.