How many Christian Denominations are there?

[Assisi]

PAX,

horizoneast are you holding on to this notion of Sola Scriptora?

all authority rests with

[Assisi]

Assisi,

No i learned the truth the hard way while on other boards like this one. When my faith was challenged i search the early Church and found that all Catholic beliefs were in place within a generation of the Apostle John. Protestants have helped me confirm my faith.

Is that

[Pax]

horizoneast: I would love to answer all your questions about the Catholic Church, but for now we are on Sola Scriptora. The problem with being boxed into this notion of Sola Scriptora is that it doesn't exist. And there is no place in the Bible that teaches Sola Scriptora. I would love to answer all you questions about the Catholic Church. You are trying to compare the Catholic Church to the Morman Church. This is like comparing apples to oranges. When does the Catholic Church trace its root back to. Let's see here how about to the time of Jesus. Peter, who walked with Jesus is recognized as the first Pope. When did the Morman Church start? How about around 1830 by Joseph Smith. So we have the Catholic Church with 2,000 years of tradition going back to the time of Jesus and then we have the Morman Church going back 170 years.

Yod: The two Verses I stated were from the New Testament and I will give you one more. Look Up: 2 Thessalonians 3:6 "But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us." All of these scriptures were taken from the New Testament.

[Pax]

I must agree with Assisi it is getting way to late and I am going to bed. I love to talk about Theology, and I have respect for all the people who read what I have written and also to the ones who have responded. I do not judge any person, especially based on their denomination. We are all trying to get to the same place so lets not only try to get ourselves there, but help as many people as we can in the process. Good night and God Bless to all. See you on the boards tomorrow.

[Pax]

I forgot to make one other point for all who believe in Solar Scriptora....where in the Bible is the word Trinity mentioned? It isn't mentioned in the Bible, so if you believe in the Tinity, which I think most Christians do, than you learned this from Tradition. Something to think about. Peace be with you!

[Guest yod]

I forgot to make one other point for all who believe in Solar Scriptora....where in the Bible is the word Trinity mentioned?  It isn't mentioned in the Bible, so if you believe in the Tinity, which I think most Christians do, than you learned this from Tradition.  Something to think about.  Peace be with you!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

....and the Tri-unity of God is a good example of jewish tradition!

The Apostles all preached this! Even the hebrew word for their God is "Elohim" which is a plural form of the word for a singular God, "Elohay".

and yet "Hear O Israel.. the Lord is One" are the most sacred words on jewish lips.

But in later centuries this dogma of the Trinity was encoded as law or "tradition" (because we are supposedly free from law) at the Council of Nicea to oppose some weirded out gnosticism. The intent might have been honorable but it wasn't properly balanced because no jewish bishops were invited to the Council.

[btw...Gnostics have been explained to me as comparable to charismaniacs because they would base their beliefs of God on experiential phenomenon. Kinda like faith healers and some televangelists we all know.]

I digress.

The semantics are wrong to call Elohim a "trinity" and that is an example of bad tradition.

The proper usage of the word "trinity" would literally mean that He is 3 different gods. I don't think that is what the christian intent is yet they have let this bad tradition endure for millennia now.

To the point of blood in some cases, I'd bet....

[Guest yod]

When does the Catholic Church trace its root back to. Let's see here how about to the time of Jesus. Peter, who walked with Jesus is recognized as the first Pope.

It is kinda silly to compare that little start-up religion of Mormonism to the RCC.

And it is almost as silly to think that the RCC has any ties to the church of Jerusalem. Ever. Kefa was killed in Rome, maybe. That's about it.

Your big leap of faith is that some kind of power from Kefa and Shaul were passed to men who hated the jews. That's a ridiculous assumption that can not be proven...only assumed because of "tradition". It can't be proven true because it doesn't appear anywhere in the Bible.

But it's crazy to argue with someone who been indoctrinated into the RCC circular reasoning. "The Catholic Church was first because the Catholic Church says so and we were first to say it"

C'mon man. Look outside that box.

Yod: The two Verses I stated were from the New Testament and I will give you one more. Look Up: 2 Thessalonians 3:6 "But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us." All of these scriptures were taken from the New Testament.

Oh I'm not saying that some traditions weren't passed down.

Almost everything that Shaul taught these new churches of gentiles was from the traditions he learned under Gamaliel in Jerusalem about how to plant a synagogue.

Again I ask you to prove that Shaul is speaking of anything else.

[Guest bastion]

Yod-

And it is almost as silly to think that the RCC has any ties to the church of Jerusalem.

Well, is there a Christian Church which can be traced back to the apostolic day?

[Christ's Free Servant]

My husband and I have chosen to remain non-denominational because we just want to be "Christ's free servants." We don't want a denomination dictating what we should believe or follow. We want our only allegiance to be to Christ, our Savior and Lord. We believe in the local church body and the necessity of leadership and line of authority, but we also believe that denominationalism has done much to harm the church and to keep people from being free to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit with their lives.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sue, how do you actually do that. Attend and fellowship somewhere yet still remain apart? I really am asking???? I have the same problem with the church I am attending. I finally just quit going because I felt so torn about some things???

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Actually, we have a group that meets in our home and that has become our church. We were in a church several years ago when our children were in college and our children began to express concern to us over the lack of solid spiritual teaching, lack of fellowship, etc. for them in the church. They also expressed how their friends would not attend any churches locally, because they had nothing for college-age adults. We volunteered two years in a row at our church to help with the college ministry and two years in a row were turned down and asked instead to work with the elderly. But, God kept giving us a burden for college-age adults.

So, after much prayer, we began a Bible study in our home for college-age adults. We have probably ministered to over 200 young adults over the past six years. God has blessed us much!! Our family went church hunting to try to find a church that would meet the needs of these young adults, but alas, we found that many of our churches are now following the teachings of man instead of listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit. It was very discouraging. God had given us a vision for a ministry that would be grounded in his word, whose focus would be Jesus Christ and the cross of Christ instead of our own human efforts, a place where people could find Christ and could worship in freedom and could use their gifts and talents for the Lord w/o prejudice based upon looks, stage presence or level of talent.

We have had many college students graduate and decide they want to stay with this ministry, so we began praying about developing it into a church, though Biblically speaking it was already a church. Other than the basics of the Christian faith that most non-denominational ministries can agree upon, we don't make strong statements about those controversial issues. We present what the Bible teaches on those subjects (all sides of the issue) and then we let the people decide between them and the Lord what they believe on the issues. We have lots of group interaction and discussion and although we maintain the essentials of the Christian faith, there is much liberty within the essentials to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.

[Christ's Free Servant]

i agree CFS!! Denominations don't matter all that matter is to be Christ's Free Servant 

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Yes, we need to be free to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. We need to return to the essentials of the church as discussed in the book of Acts. So many churches have gotten far away from what the church is really supposed to be.