Seminaries...

[Don]

Alright, I just had a conversation with my Church of Christ friend. He informed me that they did not have seminaries because it was not instituted in the New Testament. Believers were to learn doctrine "in the assembly" and in the home. Yet he went to a Methodist school and now a Baptist school both of whom he heartily disagrees with doctrinally. His justification for going is that he is not learning "doctrine".

What do you guys think of this?

 

[Me Died Blue]

Ask him how he defines "doctrine."

 

[luvroftheWord]

Ask him if he goes to church inside a building, and if he does, then ask him where church buildings are instituted in the NT.

 

[Don]

Chris,

Where are going with the definition of doctrine?


Good point Craig, I didn't think of that.

[Edited on 6-18-2004 by Don]

 

[Me Died Blue]

If he went to Methodist and Baptist colleges, even if they were undergraduate, they still almost always make all their students take at least [i:05d7bbce22]some[/i:05d7bbce22] courses dealing with the faith. So if he took any such classes, even if they were mandatory, but he doesn't consider them to be teachnig him "doctrine," he has way too narrow a definition of doctrine. True doctrine includes anything we are directly learning about God and His ways, which I would definitely think he would have been exposed to at a Methodist and Baptist school.

 

[blhowes]

[b:ed65d29dba]Don wrote:[/b:ed65d29dba]
He informed me that they did not have seminaries because it was not instituted in the New Testament. Believers were to learn doctrine "in the assembly" and in the home.

The church I used to attend had the same philosophy, but not because it wasn't instituted in the NT. They felt that it was the job of the local church to educate and ordain pastors from within their ranks. They established their own school at the church and the pastor taught at first, then he was joined by those who eventually graduated. It seemed very good, though I don't know how the education would compare with a regular Bible school or seminary (since I've never been).

Bob