Jesus' prayer that 'they may be ONE'

[ServingHim]

6 "I have manifested thy name to the men whom thou gavest me out of the world; thine they were, and thou gavest them to me, and they have kept thy word. 7 Now they know that everything that thou hast given me is from thee; 8 for I have given them the words which thou gavest me, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from thee; and they have believed that thou didst send me. 9 I am praying for them; I am not praying for the world but for those whom thou hast given me, for they are thine; 10 all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 And now I am no more in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name, which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in thy name, which thou hast given me; I have guarded them, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them thy word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I do not pray that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; thy word is truth. 18 As thou didst send me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth. John 17:6-19

Truth is one and it is a person, the person of Jesus Christ: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life." John 14:6

Just as there is only one Jesus Christ, there can be only one truth. This verse is true because He said it.

"I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, and one shepherd." John 10:14-16

Jesus said only one flock and one shepherd ...

One flock (one fold in some Bibles) and one shepherd simply means that there is only one Church which Jesus Christ founded.

"May then the GOD of patience and of comfort grant you to be of one mind towards one another according to Jesus Christ; that in one spirit, you may with one mouth glorify the GOD and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ." Romans 15:5-6

We are to be of one mind, of one spirit, and of one mouth. In other words, we are to think and to believe, and to speak with one mouth, and do it in according to the teachings of Jesus Christ. Do all Christians? Why? All think that their own private interpretation is Truth? But nowhere is this taught in scriptures ... something to ponder ...

"Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all say the same thing; and there be no dissensions among you, but that you be perfectly united in one mind and in one judgment." 1Corinthians 1:10

Again, we are to be of one mind, and we are to say the same things, and we are to be without any dissension, and to render only one judgment. Even amongst the differing denominations and branches of Christianity is this not found...

"For "who has known the mind of the Lord, that he might instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ." 1Corinthians 2:16

Christ is one. Christ is the one truth. If we have the mind of Christ, we have the one truth.

"I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all." Ephesians 4:1-6

SO MANY 'ones' in these few verses?

Saint Paul admonished us to have only one faith. Having one faith means having only one Church.

Saint Paul continues in the same chapter:

"And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ; so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles." Ephesians 4:11-15

There is only one GOD, one Father, one Jesus Christ, one Savior, one Shepherd, one Lord, one High Priest, one Holy Spirit to guide the one Church that Jesus Christ founded, which is the one Body of Christ. There is only one visible head of Christ's Church on earth, and there is only one authority which was given to that one Church. There is only one Word, one truth, one Scripture, one infallible interpretation of that one Scripture, one hope, one faith, and one Baptism. We are to be of one mind, be one in spirit, and speak with one mouth in unity. We are all to say the same things, are to have no dissensions between us, and are to render only one judgment.

Wow! That is a lot to remember, but then we can easily remember all of it if we would only remember one little three letter word, and what do you think that one word is? RIGHT.... ONE!!!!!

After all of this overwhelming oneness, demanded by GOD, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, Saint Paul, and others in Holy Scripture, will someone please explain to me why there are more than 37,000 different denomination/division, all teaching something different aside from the one truth, given by the one GOD, and with all of the tens of thousands of them using the same one Scripture?

Truth is ONE = Jesus Christ leading His One Church into the FULLNESS of Himself. :il:

[nebula]

Why did the Church split apart?

Was it rebellion on part of the splitters? Or sin on the part of the Church leaders?

Martin Luther never set out to split the church apart. He just wanted an end to abuse of power and oppression caused by the Church.

Something to think about.

[other one]

Because too many people spend thousands and thousands of hours reading the bible making things much more complex than did Paul and the other first century teachers. Instead of keeping it very simple so that the simple doctrine would agree with the whole word instead of two verses here and three there.

The Gospel of Christ is not complicated and you don't have to have a degree from some seminary school to understand it. Daily reading and studying can give you a deeper understanding of why things have happened, but the overall story is simple.

We have done the same thing to the Bible that the Pharisees did with the Torah, linked it to death with our daily doings until we have made most of it to none effect.

The other problem comes in with the transfer from one language to another and words don't have exact meanings that they did to the people of Paul's day. There are questions that may be thought of in different ways. So we nitpick it to death and fight over words that shouldn't make that much difference.

Some religions pick different books for the bible and from there you can take it to anywhere.

Still the problem in my opinion is making the whole thing too complicated.

Sam

My two bits

Sam

[ServingHim]

Why did the Church split apart?

Was it rebellion on part of the splitters? Or sin on the part of the Church leaders?

Martin Luther never set out to split the church apart. He just wanted an end to abuse of power and oppression caused by the Church.

Something to think about.

excellent...so true. There WAS need of reform WITHIN the Church...yet Martin Luther took it OUTSIDE and tried to 'start all over again'. So then you acknowledge then that the Catholic Church was indeed the Church that had existed for the 1500 years when Martin Luther broke away? Awesome!

Did you know that the very founder of the "Reformation", Martin Luther, was the "regrettable" one, as he surveyed the damage that his rebellion against authority had caused. His writings show that he lamented his deed when he penned the following powerful, repentent remarks...

"This one will not hear of Baptism, and that one denies the sacrament, another puts a world between this and the last day: some teach that Christ is not God, some say this, some say that: there are as many sects and creeds as there are heads. No yokel is so rude but when he has dreams and fancies, he thinks himself inspired by the Holy Ghost and must be a prophet." De Wette III, 61. quoted in O'Hare, THE FACTS ABOUT LUTHER, 208.

"Noblemen, townsmen, peasants, all classes understand the Evangelium better than I or St. Paul; they are now wise and think themselves more learned than all the ministers." Walch XIV, 1360. quoted in O'Hare, Ibid, 209.

"We concede -- as we must -- that so much of what they (the Catholic Church) say is true: that the papacy has God's word and the office of the apostles, and that we have received Holy Scriptures, Baptism, the Sacrament, and the pulpit from them. What would we know of these if it were not for them?" Sermon on the gospel of St. John, chaps. 14 - 16 (1537), in vol. 24 of LUTHER'S WORKS,

St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia, 1961, 304.

All of this and much more was written by the founder of the Reformation, just a short time after, when he noted the chaos he had created. By this time, Munzer had run in this direction (in 1521, the same year that Luther broke away), Zwingli, had run in that direction, Calvin in yet another direction, all of them scattering the sheep and taking their flocks with them. Luther had let the cat out of the bag and he was helpless to put it back in. He had started something that he was powerless to stop.

Regretful, he certainly was as: "Once you open the door to error, you cannot close it." How true! Luther had become the victim by not heeding the consequences of this simple proverb. "Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build it." Psalms 127:1

Something to think about!

[ServingHim]

What happened since Martin Luther . . .

1521, Martin Luther started the Lutherans when he broke away from the one true Church that had already existed for 15 centuries. Prior to this time, the false doctrine of "Sola Scriptura", or "Bible only", had not existed, and neither had the false man made doctrine of "Individual Interpretation" of Holy Scripture.

1521, Thomas Munzer started Anabaptists by breaking from Lutheranism in the same year.

1534, King Henry VIII started the Church of England. (Anglican)

1536, John Calvin, teaching predestination, formed the Calvinists.

1560, John Knox, who studied under Luther, started Presbyterians.

1582, Congregationalists started by Rob Brown, as a branch from Puritanism.

1609, John Smyth formed the Baptists. They have severely splintered since then.

1739, John Wesley started the Methodists, in a split from Anglicanism.

1774, Theophilus Lindley started Unitarians.

1789, Samuel Seabury started Episcopalians.

1793-1809, Churches of Christ had four separate founders.

1830, Joseph Smith founded the Mormons in Palmyra New York.

1860, William Miller, a farmer, started the Adventists.

1863, Ellen Gould White started the Seventh-Day Adventists.

1865, William Booth started the Salvation Army.

1875, New Age was started by Helena Blavatsky. *COL 2:8

1879, Mary Baker Eddy started Christian Scientists.

1879, Charles Russell started the Jehovah's Witnesses.

1895, French Abbe, Alfred Loisy and English Jesuit, George Tyrrell started Modernism.

1900-1920, conservative Episcopalians, Lutherans, Presbyterians, and Methodists,

formed a consortium, and started Fundamentalism.

1901, Pentecostalism was started in the United States. It has since split into many independents.

1914, Felix Manalo started Iglesia ni Cristo.

1930, Independent Churches of America (IFCA), was formed by a consortium of churches.

1952, L. Ron Hubbard started the Church of Scientology.

1965, Chuck Smith began Calvary Chapel.

1968, Disciples of Christ, started as a splinter of Churches of Christ.

1974, Ken Gullickson started the Vineyard Christian Fellowship.

20th century. Assemblies of GOD, and other splinter Pentecostal groups, are some of hundreds of new sects founded by mere men.

Did GOD examine and approve the plans for all, or for even one, of these splits in His Body?

"You shall not do as we are now doing; here, everyone does what seems right to himself..." Deuteronomy 12:8, Judges 17:6, Judges 21:25

Isn't this the mindset of a lot of people today?

"I will do my own thing."

"Read the bible for yourself and you will know truth".

"What 'feels good' for me is right for me."

"It does not matter which Church I belong to."

A persons personal opinion has no bearing whatsoever on doctrinal truth.

"Has Christ been divided up?" 1Corinthians 1:13

If there were only one Church then Christ would not be divided, right?

"He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters." Matthew 12:30

Something to think about!

[ServingHim]

The Tower of Babel...

"The whole earth used the same language and the same speech."

Genesis 11:1

Man in his arrogance wanted to build a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, in order to be closer to GOD.

Genesis 11:2-4

The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which men had built. And the Lord said, "Truly, they are one people and they all have the same language. This is the beginning of what they will do. Hereafter they will not be restrained from anything which they are determined to do."

Genesis 11:5-6

"Let US go down, and there confuse their language so that they will not understand one another's speech."

Genesis 11:7

So the Lord scattered them from that place all over the earth;and they stopped building the city.

Genesis 11:8

hmmmm...this resembles what happened when Martin Luther broke away from the Chruch in which he lamented that he broke away from...

[stevehut]

Was it rebellion on part of the splitters? Or sin on the part of the Church leaders?

From my study of church history, I would say both.

And yes, it's true that Luther never attempted or desired to split the church.

But in retrospect, maybe he was a little naive to think that his little protest could really bring about wholesale change without a schism.

[stevehut]

1521, Martin Luther started the Lutherans

Nope. Not true.

It was after his death, and against his wishes, that some of his admirers collected his writings and began to call themselves by his name.

[stevehut]

1536, John Calvin, teaching predestination, formed the Calvinists.

Nope. The movement of Calvin was called Reformed.

The term "Calvinist" came along much later, because the Reformed movement spawned many more schisms and this term was used as a general term for all of them.

[stevehut]

1739, John Wesley started the Methodists, in a split from Anglicanism.

Nope.

Wesley was an Anglican priest, and he had a reform movement called the "Holy Club", a student ministry at Oxford. He remained in fellowship with the Church of England, and required all of his students to remain so. When any of his students sought to be ordained, he sent them to an Anglican bishop to be ordained.

Methodists did not become a separate denomination until they came to the New World.