Why Are There So Many Denominations In The Church

[Neighbor]

8 hours ago, warrior12 said:

My preference is a simple formality. 

I lived in a suit near 24/7 for the first half of my adult life.  I was one snappy looking funeral director. Now I do not own one. Today formality  for me is having  my T shirt on right side out.

[Tristen]

12 hours ago, Charlie1988 said:

The fact that denominations exist, proves that the majority of professing believers have departed from the Church which Christ established and continues to build it to this day.

There is no indication in your response that you have considered what I wrote. You are simply reiterating your own position. I'd suggest it is that kind of intractability that seeds most disunity in the church; both between and within "denominations".

 

12 hours ago, Charlie1988 said:

There is only One Lord an One true Church, which is made up of those who Jesus purchased and redeemed. Those who are not joined to His body are not members of His body. He only has One Body, and not many separate bodies doing their own thing. So diversity in that sense is a bad thing.

A body composed exclusively of elbow joints would be a much worse "thing".

 

12 hours ago, Charlie1988 said:

There is only one gospel message and only one correct understanding of what it means

And your personal "understanding" is entirely, unquestionably correct - and can in no sense be corrupted, nor improved by the knowledge of others?

And by unity, you mean everyone should agree with you, or else be deprived of Christian fellowship.

I would again suggest that this type of intransigent attitude is a primary source of conflict in the church.

 

[Michael37]

11 hours ago, Charlie1988 said:

but our Pastor warned us to be weary of people who claim that God spoke to them, or that they received some new revelation from God.

I know it's just a typo, but this verse comes to mind

Isaiah 40:31 

“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” ¹

This beautiful passage speaks of the strength and endurance that comes from trusting in the Lord. It encourages us to patiently wait on Him, knowing that He will empower us to soar like eagles and run without weariness. May it bring you comfort and inspiration! [Copilot]

[Know Jah]

if there are 45,000 christian churches that means 44,999 are in error because the bible states at Ephesians 4:5.6 - one Lord,k one faith, one baptism; ⁶  one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Therefore if there is only ONE faith then all the other beliefs are in error or ALL are in error. 

[Vine Abider]

17 hours ago, Charlie1988 said:

Just wondering if your Church sings Hymns from the old Christian Hymn Book or do the musicians write their own modern songs.  

We sing from a hymn book that's a compilation from various sources, and also from a more modern songbook. We freely call songs from either book, and there's usually a pretty good mix between the older and the newer.  The new one contains things from more contemporary "Christian music" and also some that local people have written - I often find some of the songs locals have written as the most touching.

[Vine Abider]

1 hour ago, Know Jah said:

if there are 45,000 christian churches that means 44,999 are in error because the bible states at Ephesians 4:5.6 - one Lord,k one faith, one baptism; ⁶  one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Therefore if there is only ONE faith then all the other beliefs are in error or ALL are in error. 

I see it as we all have seen a piece of the full truth - therefore we need all the members of the body to grasp the vast dimensions of Christ!

[Vine Abider]

9 hours ago, Neighbor said:

I lived in a suit near 24/7 for the first half of my adult life.  I was one snappy looking funeral director. Now I do not own one. Today formality  for me is having  my T shirt on right side out.

Ha!  A definite candidate for the funny post of the day!  

[Charlie1988]

21 hours ago, other one said:

I would disagree.  Without the Holy Spirit, we have no authority or power in the spiritual world.   Just look at the world, and you should see who is really in control in the world today.  And it will remain that way until Jesus comes back and violently rids us of them.

People who are totally possessed today are almost always in agreement with the dark ones.

We still don't have any power over the spiritual realm, even with the Holy Spirit in us. It's still God alone who has all power over them, if His Holy Spirit is in us, then He protects so we never need to get involved in the battle.

I'm not sure how we distinguish between a Demon possessed person and one who is totally depraved. When God hands a person over to serve sin and Satan, they are in effect possessed. 

As a believer in the absolute sovereignty of God over all things, I must conclude that God does hand people over to Satan. So that excludes to possibility that Demons can posses someone, unless God allows them to. 

God originally created the lake of ire for Satan and His Fallen Angels, but when man sinned he became equally condemned as they are so they will suffer the same fate. There's no difference between the rebellion of the fallen Angels and mans rebellion. Both are equally guilty before God.

    

[Charlie1988]

18 hours ago, Neighbor said:

We, eh? Got a lot of we don'ts going on there.  Question: Do you know, were drums and or guitars allowed  at "your church" prior to Rock music bands using them?  

I suppose a saxaphone would be out of the question. 

 

 

 

I can assume that they were never ever used in the Church. From my understanding drums were used by barbaric tribes to announce a war, so I can't see them having any place in the Church. 

As for the electric 6 string, that's a definite symbol of rock music which we consider to be Satanic. I would consider a saxophone to be noise pollution in the Church.   

[Charlie1988]

15 hours ago, Tristen said:

There is no indication in your response that you have considered what I wrote. You are simply reiterating your own position. I'd suggest it is that kind of intractability that seeds most disunity in the church; both between and within "denominations".

 

A body composed exclusively of elbow joints would be a much worse "thing".

 

And your personal "understanding" is entirely, unquestionably correct - and can in no sense be corrupted, nor improved by the knowledge of others?

And by unity, you mean everyone should agree with you, or else be deprived of Christian fellowship.

I would again suggest that this type of intransigent attitude is a primary source of conflict in the church.

 

The Church Fathers have had 2000 years to figure out what the gospel message is. If the greatest theologians in history failed to interpret the gospel correctly, then we must conclude that God is the author of confusion and we can blame Him for the 45,000 opposing denominations.

The worlds greatest theologians have had 2000 years to figure out what the Bible says constitutes a valid Church. Are you suggesting that God made it impossible to interpret what He said, I accept that those who are not indwelt by the Holy Spirit will never interpret the Bible correctly. God only reveals the truth to His Elect, His Word is foolishness to everyone else. 

Most denominations claim the diversity is a good thing, and it is if it doesn't come at the cost o watering down the gospel message. The vast majority of Denominations were formed upon the "seeker friendly" platform. That means they are man centered and not God centered.