From the Cobwebs: What do we call her?

I wrote this long ago and just ran across it in my Facebook memories

I wrote this note in response to a post on the churchofchristsingles.com...so just in case it seems a bit disjointed, you now understand.

We could also call ourselves "the Pillar and Ground of the truth." However, whatever we call ourselves, we DO need to call ourselves a biblically approved name. Additionally, we need to understand that the church is a group of people who a) belong to Christ and b) are obedient to Him and his rules and regulations.

Remember the old example of a new husband who was blindfolded and put into a room full of women? He was supposed to find a way to eliminate all of the women and find his new bride? Here is how he did it:

He called out things about her to the crowd. "If you weren't born in Rome, New York, please leave." He'd say. "If you don't have three sisters and two brothers, please leave." He'd request. "If you don't have hazel eyes, please leave." He'd command. "If you don't have lovely auburn hair, please leave." (a husband might say that, yeah?) And on and on and on until there were very few women left in that room that began with hundreds of them. Finally, he made his last request of the women in the room. "If you don't wear my name, please leave" And finally, every woman EXCEPT the one who could be called Mrs. John Smith (or whatever) left the room and he was left standing with only his bride.

The point is this: The name IS important. However, the characteristics are just as important.

-Does this church teach and practice that you must understand the truth, believe it, repent of your sins, confess that Christ is the Son of God, be baptized for the remission of your sins, and be faithful even up unto the face of death in order to enter Heaven?

-Does She observe all five aspects of worship and partake of the Lord's Supper on the first day of the week in order to remember the death of the Savior?

-Do they ( as a congregation) strive diligently to encourage and teach and uphold the members of that group?

There are many other "do theys", but perhaps you see my point already. The name is important. We could walk into a building that does not bear the name church of christ on the sign our front (as long as it is a scriptural name) and see the characteristics of that congregation AND we could recognize our brethren. WE COULD. However, since most of the world (and ourselves) recognizes us as "the church of christ", we call ourselves that name out of an expedient of sorts. It's a great name, really. Just as I might sometime (in the future) like to be introduced as "this is the wife of So and So" I don't mind the possessive/ownership name of Church of Christ since, as was pointed out in an earlier post, that just denotes ownership, belonging, etc. Christ owns the church. We belong to Him. Call me old fashioned, but I don't mind it. We should call ourselves a name that would make us recognizable to those who are looking for us, yeah? Those who know me in this world, know me as Emma-Knightly or Loralee Ford or Lolly or Fabulous. If someone walks into a place looking for me, they will ask for me using one of those names. If they didn't call me by one of those names, it would be harder to find me. So should we in regard to the church.

However, the characteristics are important, also. We must be able to walk into a building marked "church of christ" and recognize her just as the husband recognized his wife in that room full of hundreds of women. Both descriptors are important. If someone walked into the building and couldn't remember my name, they might be able to find me by describing me. "She never meets a stranger." or "She has lots of freckles" or "that girl who grew up in everywhere." or "She's about this tall." or "she has lovely auburn hair." (haha) See what I mean? Both kinds of descriptors are important to find the one for whom you are looking. You cannot rely on just one of them.

Just something to think about y'all.