Mike Mclees Posted June 12, 2019 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 5 Topic Count: 158 Topics Per Day: 0.07 Content Count: 1,915 Content Per Day: 0.80 Reputation: 910 Days Won: 0 Joined: 10/15/2017 Status: Offline Share Posted June 12, 2019 The question is, Is denominationalism biblical? Does God have a preferred and true church amongst denominations? Are there denominations in Gods kingdom? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missmuffet Posted June 12, 2019 Group: Royal Member Followers: 34 Topic Count: 1,991 Topics Per Day: 0.48 Content Count: 48,689 Content Per Day: 11.81 Reputation: 30,343 Days Won: 226 Joined: 01/11/2013 Status: Offline Share Posted June 12, 2019 (edited) 11 hours ago, Mike Mclees said: The question is, Is denominationalism biblical? Does God have a preferred and true church amongst denominations? Are there denominations in Gods kingdom? Being a denomination is not important. Some people give their denomination more importance than Christ. Christ did not recognize denominations when He was on this earth. Man has created denominations. Being a nondenominational Christian is ok. Edited June 13, 2019 by missmuffet 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeauJangles Posted June 12, 2019 Group: Royal Member Followers: 44 Topic Count: 229 Topics Per Day: 0.06 Content Count: 10,900 Content Per Day: 2.93 Reputation: 12,145 Days Won: 68 Joined: 02/13/2014 Status: Offline Birthday: 08/14/1954 Share Posted June 12, 2019 54 minutes ago, Mike Mclees said: The question is, Is denominationalism biblical? Does God have a preferred and true church amongst denominations? Are there denominations in Gods kingdom? I don't think so, Mike. But from the early beginnings of the first century church, differences and disagreements made causes for separations from groups of believers within their own followings. I'm sure what our Lord desired was unity and not divisions for His people. This would also be applicable for Jews and Gentiles. Just my two shekels worth. God bless. Shalom, David/BeauJangles 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnthebaptist Posted June 12, 2019 Group: Non-Conformist Theology Followers: 6 Topic Count: 118 Topics Per Day: 0.06 Content Count: 4,361 Content Per Day: 2.31 Reputation: 2,109 Days Won: 0 Joined: 02/25/2019 Status: Offline Birthday: 02/03/1953 Share Posted June 12, 2019 1 hour ago, Mike Mclees said: The question is, Is denominationalism biblical? Does God have a preferred and true church amongst denominations? Are there denominations in Gods kingdom? There used to be just the one denomination, I think, the Roman Catholic Church. I'm old and forgetful, but for some reason I think the eastern church split from the western church, and later other people were dissatisfied with the Catholic Church (the western church), so they split. And then there were more splits. And other churches were born. So who's to say? Lots of people think their church is the best. I don't think a perfect church exists. People aren't perfect. I think the Lord looks down and has everything under control. I am happy in my church, even though I consider it imperfect. I try to follow the Lord, and perhaps I am setting a good example for others in my church. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simplejeff Posted June 12, 2019 Group: Mars Hill Followers: 12 Topic Count: 12 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 7,689 Content Per Day: 2.39 Reputation: 2 Days Won: 20 Joined: 06/30/2015 Status: Offline Share Posted June 12, 2019 2 hours ago, Mike Mclees said: The question is, Is denominationalism biblical? Does God have a preferred and true church amongst denominations? Are there denominations in Gods kingdom? It is possible that there is not even one "-ism" that is Biblical, even so-called "Biblical-ism" ? of men. God hates religion, but He loves people, so He calls His people out of babylon. (not many people, but a few compared to the many on the wide road to destruction) God's Kingdom is not of this world, so no, there is nothing of this world, nothing of the flesh (no group) "in His Kingdom" . When there was only a Catholic group, God called everyone seeking the truth out of that, and saved them from that deception, as He promised for everyone who seeks His Kingdom. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deborah_ Posted June 12, 2019 Group: Senior Member Followers: 6 Topic Count: 13 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 790 Content Per Day: 0.25 Reputation: 878 Days Won: 0 Joined: 07/07/2015 Status: Offline Share Posted June 12, 2019 3 hours ago, Mike Mclees said: The question is, Is denominationalism biblical? No 3 hours ago, Mike Mclees said: Does God have a preferred and true church amongst denominations? Not that I know of 3 hours ago, Mike Mclees said: Are there denominations in Gods kingdom? There is no longer 'one' true church; whether we like it or not, we are split into groups that are called denominations (whether we agree with that term or not). Everyone who is a member of God's Kingdom is also a member of one of these sub-groups (even if it calls itself "non-denominational", or even if they are a "denomination of one" i.e. a lone Christian who doesn't belong to any church). What does this question mean? If you're asking, "Is God's Kingdom divided into denominations?" the answer is "No." But if you're effectively asking, "Are different denominations to be found in God's Kingdom?" then the answer is "Yes." 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Mclees Posted June 12, 2019 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 5 Topic Count: 158 Topics Per Day: 0.07 Content Count: 1,915 Content Per Day: 0.80 Reputation: 910 Days Won: 0 Joined: 10/15/2017 Status: Offline Author Share Posted June 12, 2019 28 minutes ago, Deborah_ said: No Not that I know of There is no longer 'one' true church; whether we like it or not, we are split into groups that are called denominations (whether we agree with that term or not). Everyone who is a member of God's Kingdom is also a member of one of these sub-groups (even if it calls itself "non-denominational", or even if they are a "denomination of one" i.e. a lone Christian who doesn't belong to any church). What does this question mean? If you're asking, "Is God's Kingdom divided into denominations?" the answer is "No." But if you're effectively asking, "Are different denominations to be found in God's Kingdom?" then the answer is "Yes." On you last comment could you explain why your answer was yes. Gods kingdom is heavenly and spiritual. When the church was born at Pentecost there was not even a name given to it. Every time a group differs with another they give it a name like Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran. These names then become as dividing walls. Drop the names and you go back to Pentecost when no name was given it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tristen Posted June 13, 2019 Group: Worthy Ministers Followers: 9 Topic Count: 3 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 2,367 Content Per Day: 0.63 Reputation: 1,337 Days Won: 1 Joined: 01/26/2014 Status: Offline Share Posted June 13, 2019 Hi Mike, You asked, “Is denominationalism biblical?” I think humans like to label things. It sometimes makes communication more efficient if we can refer to labels. I don't think there is anything intrinsically harmful to such labelling. But as with all things, denominations can be used errantly – i.e. to divide rather than unify. “Does God have a preferred and true church amongst denominations?” I think God is probably inclined to see denominations as different parts of the same body. Only God has the whole truth. He gives to each of us the truth we need to fulfil our role in His plan. Most denominations, in my experience, believe pretty-much the same things. Some are simply called “denominations” because they were seeded by different groups. In many cases, differences of opinion within denominations is greater than differences between denominations. Obviously there are some distinctions, and some denominations arise from strife (usually over non-essential doctrines or personality issues). Nevertheless, I think overwhelmingly, most Christian denominations consider other Christian denominations to be equally Christian. “Are there denominations in Gods kingdom?” I suspect not. The main reason denominations exist is because we each have limited access to God's truth. When we all have access to all of God's truth, we will know each other to be fellow siblings in the family of God. The concept of denominations will be irrelevant. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deborah_ Posted June 13, 2019 Group: Senior Member Followers: 6 Topic Count: 13 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 790 Content Per Day: 0.25 Reputation: 878 Days Won: 0 Joined: 07/07/2015 Status: Offline Share Posted June 13, 2019 9 hours ago, Mike Mclees said: On you last comment could you explain why your answer was yes. Gods kingdom is heavenly and spiritual. When the church was born at Pentecost there was not even a name given to it. Every time a group differs with another they give it a name like Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran. These names then become as dividing walls. Drop the names and you go back to Pentecost when no name was given it Our denominational labels are just that: labels. God's Kingdom consists of those who believe in His Son, so it includes Christians from all denominations (and none). Shortly after becoming a Christian I went off to university and joined the Christian Union there. Its members came from all kinds of denominational background, but we never used our denominational labels - we were all 'Christians' first and Baptist/Anglican/Methodist/Pentecostal/Catholic second. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GandalfTheWise Posted June 13, 2019 Group: Royal Member Followers: 24 Topic Count: 40 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 1,459 Content Per Day: 0.60 Reputation: 2,377 Days Won: 2 Joined: 08/23/2017 Status: Offline Share Posted June 13, 2019 19 hours ago, Mike Mclees said: The question is, Is denominationalism biblical? Does God have a preferred and true church amongst denominations? Are there denominations in Gods kingdom? Fair questions which many people ask. In one sense, denominations are monuments to moves of God in the past. To the extent that any particular church within a denomination or a denomination as a whole primarily lives in the past on spiritual memories, it starts to dry up and die spiritually speaking. At any time individuals or churches within any denomination start to live in the present spiritually speaking with their own walk with God, they come alive. Often new denominations form when individuals and churches within existing denominations prefer to live in the past and kick out those who want to live in the present. It's pretty much the old and new wineskins parable. It think it fair to say that at different times and different places individual Christians, churches, and denominations have experienced more fruit and spiritual life than other ones. However, that is completely dependent on how much they were walking with God at particular times and places. I've seen outliers where individual churches of a particular denomination might be spiritually very different than most other churches of that denomination. It's not a question of which denomination is correct or best, but the extent which individual Christians and groups are walking with God at a particular time. With regard to doctrinal differences, I think one big contributing factor is that few Christians make a distinction between a particular belief being proven by scripture versus being consistent with scripture. Beliefs that are proven by scripture are those things so clearly taught in many places that all Christians believe them and agree. For example, God exists, God created the world, Jesus Christ died and was resurrected. All Christians hold firmly to those things. In contrast, beliefs which are consistent with but not proven by scripture are not generally agreed on. For example, should Christians use musical instruments in worship? Most denominations point to OT examples of use of musical instruments. However, there are a few denominations that point to the NT never mentioning musical instruments in the church. Both sides are consistent with scripture, but barring direct examples or commands in the NT with specific regard to the church, neither side can prove the other side is wrong. Another example is debate over how God created the world. Some Christians are convinced the Bible contains a literal account and others are convinced the Bible contains a symbolic account. All completely agree that God did create the world. I dare say that the majority of debates and arguments between Christians are due to not differentiating between what beliefs are clearly proven by scripture and which are preferences and conjectures which are consistent with scripture but not proven. Most denominations and ministries seem to love to emphasize their distinctive doctrines and practices which are consistent with scripture but not proven by scripture. Sadly, it seems many churches and Christians tend to treat their distinctive practices as if they are directly proven and command by scripture on all Christians. Also, it often sadly seems that such distinctive practices are viewed as marks of honor which prove why one group is a better set of Christians than another group. My observation is that when individual Christians get together and form strong relationships and friendships with each other is that the denominational differences tend to vanish. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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