After seeing Keith Morrison through Dateline on NBC characterize and slanderous implicate the churches of Christ in supporting abuse and murder on November 5, 2010, I thought it necessary to write a quick and informative defense and clarification. Morrison presented that the churches of Christ believed that wives are to be forced to submit to their husbands.
Do the churches of Christ believe that men are to be the head of the house and are therefore to force their wives to submit to everything the husband say? No. The churches of Christ do not and have never taught that men are to force their wives to submit. Do the churches of Christ believe that wives are to submit by their own free-will to their husbands as heads of the house? Yes and they’ve been saying this since the 1st century. See what Jesus’ Spirit said through the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 5:22-23, “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body.” Whose decision and choice is it for a wife to submit? The wife chooses and not the husband. Just as Jesus lets man choose to submit to Him See, Christ is the head of the Church, which is Christ’s body who submit to Him. This revelation of Christ and the Church is parallel to the marriage relationship. When a wife submits, she is submitting to a husband who is commanded by Christ to love her by cherishing her and nourishing her (Eph. 5:28-29). Husbands have no right to abuse or neglect in anyway. Why must a husband love his wife in this way? Because Christ’s Spirit instructed them to do this. Is the wife to enforce this? No and she couldn’t if she wanted. Add to all of this that as Christians everyone is to submit to one another (Eph. 5:21). The Christian Faith is a submitting faith. This is the basis of humility embodied in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.
Those who have a problem with this, first have a problem with Jesus Christ. To call Jesus’ instructions for the family “sexist”, is to revile Christ as “sexist”. To the skeptics, atheist, and agnostics who serve their cause by belief in origins by evolution, would evolution not be a sexist belief since only women can naturally conceive in their womb, bear children, birth children, and nurse them? To serve the cause of moral standards derived by people who believe themselves to have evolved from primitive apes into a higher apes is to establish a standard that is bias to the embedded lusts from the flesh of apes and prejudice toward an image far greater than beasts.
Let it be known that we realize that there are imperfect people in the churches of Christ just as their are among all those who profess faith in Jesus. There have been abusive women who have dominated families as well as men. Despite this exception, I bear witness and God also that the most loving and forgiving people in the world are in the churches of Christ. Yes, there have been people connected the church who have sinned like all the Christian fellowships in the world. I think it is safe to say that we are weak people who are only strong in Christ. Almost every fault that a man can commit has been associated with some person connected with the Church of Jesus Christ, which would actually make those no longer members since the Lord made them members. In fact, because we are imperfect people in the churches of Christ, this is exactly why we became joined Christ’s Church and strive to be just Christians. Christ was the only perfect man and we can only be purified with spot and blemish through Him (Eph. 5:26-27).
We believe in every word that He spoke and every word that He taught through His Apostles and prophets in the Scriptures. This is where we stand. We will not move nor compromise our convictions upon Christ’s words even when His instruction for the management of the family is frowned upon by a self-righteous society. Let me add that self-righteousness is not trying to live to a higher standard that is greater than others, but rather self-righteousness is to live according to one’s own standard (stricter or not) and therefore try to make oneself righteous and even obligate their entry into eternal paradise.
As for Dateline, may God bless with all the opportunities of providence to repent from slandering Christ, His Word, and His Church. Second Thessalonians 1:6, “it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you”. Romans 12:19, “Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord.”
Seeing God's Breath 
How can you speak for a fractured group? There is no convention in the Churches of Christ therefore any maniac can say anything he thinks has authority from the scriptures regardless if he is correct or not. Ive witnessed so much hypocrisy within the Church of Christ, some saying that im going to hell because im a different denomination, some asserting that men are the heads of family. There will always be dissent among you because you have decided not to follow Acts 15. No denominaton is perfect because we are human but the conceited self centered views that I have encountered while attending a Church of Christ college are a clear sign that many of the Churches of Christ have been tricked off of the narrow way.
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In fact, least fractured if you consider erring churches as “divisions” will smacks of prejudice. For you would have to have concluded that the divisions of non-institutional churches are of the whole and you know they are not, or you could from bias include the “international” denomination and the “progressive” divisions. I’d like to hear of any divisions among the mainstream. The denominations have dozens of divisions among themselves unless they make no stand regarding Christ’s words to which they differ in every direction and most importantly away from Christ. Yet, the first century churches of Christ also struggled with divisions among themselves and still did not establish denominations. Denominations are erring groups who many times and are comfortable originating from a man or a movement.
Yes, a “convention” can bring unity in truth and even unity in error. Acts 15 is an excellent passage for the unity of Christians locally. Yet, this is not for the whole Church. Here in Jacksonville, the churches of Christ meet regularly in discussion.
We all know that divisions and religious parties are wrong. Those who practice them will not inherit the kingdom of heaven (Gal. 5:19-21). It would be hypocrisy if we do not stand against denominations and seek to unite in Christ and in His words revealed by His Spirit. The Church can only strive for unity in the words and doctrine of Christ. This does not have much to do with the imperfections of denominations and the churches of Christ, but rather disrespect toward words of the Spirit of Christ against denominationalism. To say that churches are not perfect therefore any would be heretical and contrary to Christ, and to say that people can be perfect and that there is a perfect congregation is too. I have an article on this, “No Perfect Church, So Any Will Do?“.
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