Church of Christ: Gentlemen, I maintain that the Elders of the Mormon Church are not elders. Titus
1:5-6 proves that an Elder has to be married. The husbands of one wife and have faithful
children. Timothy, writing to Titus, said, "For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest
set in order the things that are wanting and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee;
if any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or
unruly." Since the two young men represented here are not married, they cannot be elders.
Missionaries: Sir, I challenge your interpretation of that scripture, and will show you and prove that
you do not have Elders in the Church of Christ and that we do. In answer to Titus 1:5-6 our
friend did not ever bother to go on and read verse 7. This proves plainly that this passage was
talking about presiding elders, or bishops. I refer you to the first four words in verse 6, and the
first six in verse 7. Notice that the Elder (verse 5) had to be blameless (verse 6) to be a
Bishop (verse 7) which was blameless. 1 Tim. 3:2 reaffirms this claim. Sir, was Paul the
Apostle married? How many bishops are married? Based on this chapter alone the Catholic
Church is false because their Bishops are not married nor are their elders.
Church of Christ: Absolutely not! 1 Cor. 7 is a direct indication that Paul was single. He was not an
elder, either.
Missionaries: By your own admission, Paul was single. We read in 1 Tim. 4:14 Paul's advise to his
former companion in the ministry, Timothy. He tells him not to neglect the gift that is in him,
which was given him by prophecy, by the laying on of hands of the Presbytery. Any Bible
dictionary will tell you that Elder and Presbytery are the same. We read in 2 Tim. 1:16 where
Paul tells Timothy "Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God,
which is in thee by THE PUTTING ON OF MY HANDS." There it is in black and white. The
Presbytery gave Timothy this gift of God, and Paul was one of the Presbytery or Elders, and
since Paul was not married, by your own admission, Elders can be single. If you question this
scripture, look at the little Bible aids of reference and you will find that 2 Tim. 1:6 refers you to
1 Tim. 4:14. These scriptures answer your question, and prove that Titus 1:5-6 was referring
to presiding elders, or bishops. It also establishes that elders can be single or married but
bishops must be married. Now, sir, I promised you that I would prove you do not have elders
in the Church of Christ. I refer you to James 5:15 which reads "is any sick among you. Let
him call for the Elders of the Church and let them pray over him, ANNOINTING HIM WITH OIL
IN THE NAME OF THE LORD. AND THE PRAYER OF FAITH WILL SAVE THE SICK, AND THE LORD WILL RAISE HIM UP, AND IF HE HATH COMMITTED SIN, THEY SHALL BE
FORGIVEN HIM." First of all, your elders do not anoint sick. Second, you do not have the
spiritual gifts in your church, and neither do these associates of yours from the other
denominations. It was Alexander Campbell, founder of the Church of Christ, that stated,
"Where the Bible speaks, we speak, where the Bible is silent, we are silent." I ask you why
don't you have elders in your church that can heal the sick? Before you answer the question, I
might point out by way of interest that Mark 6:12-13 establishes that the apostles were also
Elders. We read, "And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick
and healed them." We go on to read in John 20:23, "Whosoever sins ye remit they are
remitted unto them; and whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained." Compared with James
5:14 we find identical qualifications in the elders and apostles, 1: Anointing the sick, and 2:
Remitting sins through inspiration of the Lord. How do you answer James 5:1-7?
Church of Christ: Our elders do not heal the sick, because when the perfect work of God came in, the
miracles ceased.
Missionaries: Please show me in writing where the scriptures say they were to cease? No I guess
you can’t which is why what you have just said is ridiculous! Jesus clearly taught that greater
works would be done by the apostles after He left them. There are No scriptures to support
your stand, and in view of Mark 16:17-18, the spiritual gifts were TO FOLLOW. Since you
don't have them you don't even resemble in the least the original Church of Christ, of which
you can't trace your authority within 1800 years. I am sure we will discuss the authority later in
our discussion.