ABOUT THE AUTHOR www.insidethecoc.com

After being ostracized by his mother for changing his church affiliation from Church of Christ to Baptist, author Charles Simpson undertook a serious review of the church in which he had spent fifty plus years in an effort to discover why his mother would condemn a loving son simply for changing church affiliation.

From the time he was a small child Charles had been a spiritual person. However, many statements, practices and traditions of the Church of Christ did not conform to his own spiritual beliefs. It was that spiritual conflict in his life, along with his mother’s rejection, that caused him to undertake a six year long study that resulted in the writing of Inside the Churches of Christ. Enlightenment, not fame or fortune, was his motivation for writing this book.

ABOUT THE BOOK

This book is a documentary containing many dozens of quotes from Church of Christ practitioners from all over the USA, and it accurately reflects the theological philosophy prevalent within this faith. It discusses fundamental differences between the theology of the Churches of Christ and that of other protestant denominations. Written by a fifty-year member of the Churches of Christ, it offers an opportunity for self-examination rarely available to members of this brotherhood.

website: www.insidethecoc.com or call 888-280-7715 at authorhouse.com to order ..also available through your local bookseller or preferred on -line retailer.

Dozens of quotes from Church of Christ practitioners from all over the USA validate the legalisms prevalent within this group. Church of Christ readers will come away with a new perspective on the actual theology of their own brethren and the potential impact of that theology on other believers. All Christian readers will have a better view of the non-denomination denomination and gain much insight into the Church of Christ claim of being Christ’s “one true church”.

It is important to recognize that the CoC is a tightly closed society. I did not realize this during my years as an active member, and very few of their most devout members would admit that this condition still exists today. It continues to exist because they strongly condemn most of the worship practices of mainstream Protestantism, thereby preventing the openness for
their membership to make honest Scriptural comparisons and evaluations of differing religious practices. Their leadership by deacons and elders, who are
appointed or elected to lifetime positions, creates tunnel vision and virtually eliminates any opportunity of diverse theological discussion. This condition
has a ripple effect throughout their society.

My eighty-year-old mother with adult children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren had seen a lot of disappointment. Death, divorce, prison, drug and alcohol addiction, miscarriages, child abuse, suicide, mental illness, adultery, homosexuality, and bankruptcy are just a few occurrences within my mother’s extended family to which I can personally attest. Firsthand knowledge of all those disappointments in her life only served to sharpen the sting of my mother’s opinion of my desire to fill a spiritual void left in me by the doctrinal teachings of the CoC. A driving force in my life has been to understand why she would express such disappointment in a son whose biggest sin was in worshipping God a little bit different than how she had been taught. After all, I wasn’t a dishonest businessman, and I was not on drugs or alcohol. I wasn’t a thief, and I had not raped or murdered anyone.