Apostolic Christian Church Doctrines

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=185 BGCOLOR="#003333" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="03fb9c00dduajq.jpg"> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="70" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 76 WIDTH="66"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="76" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="66" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Church Issues"><U><B>Church Issues</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id296.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Apostolic Christian Church"><U><B>Apostolic Christian Church</B></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFBF0" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Christian Debatorial Works</B></FONT>    |     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Christian Debatorial Works"><U>home</U></A></div> <div> <B>Apostolic Christian Church Doctrines</B></div> <div> Apostolic Christian Church Doctrines</div> <div> Typical of an  Amish- or Mennonite- style of  religion, the ACC has a long  (very long) list of do's and don'ts by which members are expected to follow, with strict enforcement. Although ACC members don't segregate themselves socially from the rest of the world, still, in very many ways, they are attempting to live according to the severest of legalisms one would have found in the Victorian era.</div> <div> In this way, they appear to have some things in common with groups such as the Churches of Christ, who also are engaged in a futile task of reconstructing the 1st century church in the 21st century, instead of making themselves relevant to the modern world.</div> <bR> <div> ACC doctrines are quite orthodox as far as the Trinity, the Virgin Birth, the Diety of Jesus, and the innerancy of the Bible are concerned. They promote sola scriptura as well as salvation only through Christ, and one would thus have no trouble in deciding that ACC members are indeed Christian. It is, however, their incapacity to distinguish between essential doctrines and matters of personal choice that defines them as distinctively legalistic.</div> <bR> <div> Such doctrinal issues are:</div> <bR> <div> 1. A closed communion service, whereby only members of the congregation may partake. Membership is limited to those water baptized in the church.</div> <bR> <div> 2. Women must wear lace headcoverings while praying. For an article on this practice, see <A HREF="id303.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Headcoverings"><U>Headcoverings</U></A></div> <bR> <div> 3. Men and women are seated on opposite sides of the room during worship services.</div> <bR> <div> 4. A-capella only music. For an article on this, see <A HREF="id68.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Other Errors of CofC"><U>Other Errors of CofC</U></A></div> <bR> <div> 5. Members may not bear arms, even in military duties.</div> <bR> <div> 6. Theaters are off-limits.</div> <bR> <div> 7. An emotional, born-again experience occurring at the point when one seriously commits their life to Christ that is a necessary sign that salvation has taken place. A peaceful 'feeling', given from the Holy Spirit at this time, is sought as proof of the conversion experience.</div> <bR> <div> 8. Stress is placed on the importance of regular discipline of erring members.</div> <bR> <div> 9. Ministers are not paid, and must support themselves with outside jobs.</div> <bR> <div> 10. Sermon messages are not prepared beforehand, but Bible passages are picked out at random and the message delivered on those passages based on the promptings of the Holy Spirit. </div> <bR> <div> 11. Members do not wear expensive clothes, nor do they wear jewelery or cosmetics of any kind. Wigs are not permitted. Elaborate hair styles are also not permitted. Men must have short hair while women must have long hair.</div> <bR> <div> 12. Members greet one another with the Holy Kiss.</div> <bR> <div> 13. All signs and wonders of the Holy Spirit such as tonguespeaking are considered to have been abolished as of the 1st century.</div> <bR> <div> 14. The King James is the only accepted Bible translation.</div> <bR> <div> Depending on current conditions, ACC members may also be forbidden to dance, listen to secular music, watch television, and consume alcohol or tobacco. Thus, a great deal of energy if spent on 'appearing Holy', but apparently without any realization that ascetism does not lead to Biblical Holiness. </div> <bR> <div> The real danger of such a focus on external issues is that it tends to cause people to forget the more important internal conditions. True Christianity distinguishes itself by a personal relationship with God, in Christ, and the regeneration of the heart of man to percieve the spiritual matters of God. It is out of this that good works are to emanate.</div> <bR> <div> Eventually, however, when too much focus is placed on external conditioning, matters of the heart can easily be overlooked.</div> <bR> <div> This is why, whenever one examines closely ultra-conservative practioners, one all too often discovers a great deal of judgementalism, pride, legalism, and, ultimately, spiritual decay.</div> <bR> <div> This is Biblically sound, as the very ones who focussed so heavily on external matters, i.e. The Pharisees, were found to have hearts filled with pride and a type of legalism which effectively shut out everyone who was not exactly the same as them. For this reason, Jesus called them a 'brood of vipers'.</div> <bR> <div> Now, this is not to say that every Christian or religious group that has such a heavy focus on external matters is a Pharisetical sect, but I am implying that, within such groups, it becomes all too easy to start believing themselves to be much better, or more Holy,  than other people. This then, in turn, leads such groups into an ideology which has everyone who is not maintaining the same standards of external holiness to be 'surely bound for damnation'.</div> <bR> <div> Our goal, as Christians, is to be Christlike. We do this, primarily, by a dependence upon God for daily living, and by loving others. Avoid the ones who listen just to hear something they can disagree with. Avoid the groups that investigate other groups just to find some percieved 'error'. And, most especially, avoid the ones who believe that, because they are doing everything right, everyone else who is different must, by default, be automatically wrong.</div> <bR> <div> One last point...</div> <bR> <div> The early church of the 1st century was known as the Apostolic Church for a very specific reason. This reason had nothing to do with doctrines, beliefs, or practices. The reason why the 1st century church was called the Apostolic Church is because <U>it had Apostles.</U></div> <bR> <div> Thus, unless this group claims to have modern Apostles, which I seriously doubt they will do, the name becomes a cause for concern.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>