Denominations

[jmldn2]

Perhaps the personality seeks that which suits itself to avoid further seeking or change. It's like clothing. Instead of being comfortable in our own skin, we seek whatever pleases us to cover up who we really are. The world is an illusion backwards to the Kingdom, and religion seems to be built upon bolstering that illusion rather than what Jesus taught about the Kingdom. He showed the way to remove the blinders from our minds, but even the religion went back to aligning itself with the world rather than the Kingdom. We keep reverting back to self.

Me thinks you are correct in this assessment. Mankind always believe it can "make better" what the Creator has already established.

 

[Beth77]

If your church rejects the idea that Jesus Christ is God Incarnate

I'm looking at churches, their doctrines, and how they line up with scriptures. I presently don't belong to any church or denomination.

 

[Beth77]

Are denominations just a way to worship God according to what that denomination believes is the correct way? Does the Lord not tell us how to worship God?

It seems that one group of Christians created a new denomination when they decided that they must attend church on Saturday rather than Sunday.

 

[RileyG]

It seems that one group of Christians created a new denomination when they decided that they must attend church on Saturday rather than Sunday.

The Seventh Day Adventists are the most popular who celebrate their sabbath on Saturday. There are a (small number) of seventh day Baptists.

Regarding, Saturday as the Sabbath, this thread might be helpful:

A Partial List of 7th Day Assemblies

1st Chronicles of the Living God Ministries Inc 11th Hour Apostolic Sabbatarian Church 7th Day Bible Church 7th Day Church of God A Church of God Ministry A Congregation in St. Louis Aaronic Order (House of Aharon) Abiding Faith In Truth Church Inc. Abunda Life Church Active Bible Church of God...

www.christianforums.com

 

[RileyG]

I'm looking at churches, their doctrines, and how they line up with scriptures. I presently don't belong to any church or denomination.

Were you raised in any particular Church?

 

[RileyG]

First off, I read, study and try to practice the Word of our Lord written by those whom the HS guided. Mankind shall live by God's Words. Denominations and their practices will not give us access to heaven.

Are you part of the United Methodist Church or Global Methodist Church at this moment? I'm just curious?

 

[Beth77]

The Seventh Day Adventists are the most popular who celebrate their sabbath on Saturday. There are a (small number) of seventh day Baptists.

Regarding, Saturday as the Sabbath, this thread might be helpful:

A Partial List of 7th Day Assemblies

1st Chronicles of the Living God Ministries Inc 11th Hour Apostolic Sabbatarian Church 7th Day Bible Church 7th Day Church of God A Church of God Ministry A Congregation in St. Louis Aaronic Order (House of Aharon) Abiding Faith In Truth Church Inc. Abunda Life Church Active Bible Church of God...

www.christianforums.com

That's a lot!

 

[RileyG]

That's a lot!

Many of them are relatively small in number. Keep in mind, Christianity is rather diverse.

 

[Beth77]

Were you raised in any particular Church?

No, although I was baptized in a Catholic Church as an infant. My parents were Catholic in name only and rarely attended (according to my mother) but when I born they were told that I had to be baptized and so I was.

Growing up we rarely went to Mass and I always hated it because I was bored out of my mind. But again, I was a kid.

As a teenager I occasionally attended churches of friends.

I always believed in Jesus but I never got into churches, let alone doctrines. However, I'm now interested in these things.

 

[RileyG]

No, although I was baptized in a Catholic Church as an infant. My parents were Catholic in name only and rarely attended (according to my mother) but when I born they were told that I had to be baptized and so I was.

Growing up we rarely went to Mass and I always hated it because I was bored out of my mind. But again, I was a kid.

As a teenager I occasionally attended churches of friends.

I always believed in Jesus but I never got into churches, let alone doctrines. However, I'm now interested in these things.

Well? I have no comment, other than I learned to love Mass as I got older

I am happy you love Jesus and you know him!

God bless you!

 

[Beth77]

Well? I have no comment, other than I learned to love Mass as I got older

Maybe I would have too if I had been better instructed. I'm pretty sure that my parents had no idea about the doctrines of Catholicism or any other denomination. They were very simple people that believed in Jesus, God, and Mary. They're gone now but I'm confident that they're in Heaven. After all, one doesn't have to be a theologian to make it to Heaven!

 

[jmldn2]

Are you part of the United Methodist Church or Global Methodist Church at this moment? I'm just curious?

I am a member of the United Methodist Church but no longer attend. This church is on the verge of allowing LGBT/Gays to hold leadership position and I am firmly against that.

 

[ARBITER01]

Fellowship with other believers, or perhaps a better word should be seekers, is fine. Jesus said to serve God and each other. It's the pause to listen to the commercial that can be unsettling, listening to a lot of talk that doesn't really say anything.

I don't think I follow. Are you watching church on tv?

 

[The Liturgist]

Maybe I would have too if I had been better instructed. I'm pretty sure that my parents had no idea about the doctrines of Catholicism or any other denomination. They were very simple people that believed in Jesus, God, and Mary. They're gone now but I'm confident that they're in Heaven. After all, one doesn't have to be a theologian to make it to Heaven!

I myself really love the Traditional Latin Mass, which is closer to our Orthodox Divine Liturgies across the different Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox tradition, and that of the Church of the East (the Assyrian Church of the East and the Ancient Church of the East, which were separated by a minor schism in the 1960s but are in the process of reunifying, which along with the Syriac Orthodox Church worship primarily in Aramaic, and also have the largest population of Christians who speak Aramaic in the vernacular).

It is very different from the Novus Ordo Mass which I usually find boring except at a few parishes that also celebrate the TLM and do the Novus Ordo with panache, for example, St. John Cantius in Chicago. The Novus Ordo often just seems like a longer and more complex variant on the typical low church Protestant liturgy, but usually without the same calibre of congregational hymnody. So the experience is very much like that of a Broad Church Episcopalian parish using the 1979 BCP, except for the severe problem of a large number of Catholic priests just defaulting to one of the four Eucharistic prayers, Eucharistic Prayer no 2, which is regrettable because there are three other lovely prayers in the liturgy including no. 1, based on the Roman Canon, and no. 4, based on the Egyptian (Greek and Coptic) version of the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil*


*In its original form with the exquisite original hymns this is still in use in the Coptic Orthodox Church, although it is extinct among the Alexandrian Greeks unfortunately (it is related to the Byzantine version of the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil, which the Alexandrian Greeks and other Eastern Orthodox still use, but has a slightly different structure, and interestingly appears to be around the same age as its Byzantine counterpart, which is very interesting because St. Basil himself lived in Cappadocia, and we don’t know why a liturgy attributed to him was picked up in Egypt, but it was, along with a liturgy attributed to his best friend St. Gregory the Theologian, and the Ethiopians have a liturgy attributed to his brother St. Gregory of Nyssa).

 

[The Liturgist]

I am a member of the United Methodist Church but no longer attend. This church is on the verge of allowing LGBT/Gays to hold leadership position and I am firmly against that.

Unfortunately they capitulated on that last summer; the conference was taken over by liberals, and I don’t understand how they were able to do that since in 2018 the conference had a clear minority voting against allowing non-celibate persons who reject Biblical instructions on sexual morality to hold leadership positions. The Global Methodist Church consists of parishes which left in frustration, and there are also some good Methodist churches in the Free Methodist Church, like the Epworth Chapel on the Green in Boise, Idaho; the recently retired pastor who was there for many years and his successor I count as friends and I love that chapel, although they need to replace their microphone, because shortly after Rev. Brook Thelander retired in 2002 the microphone they used for their streaming services began to malfunction which is unfortunate, as I used to love watching their services online - in fact I’ve been meaning to give them a call about that.

I myself was baptized and raised Methodist, attended an LCMS colloquial school, and was with a denomination that was taken over by liberals before converting to Orthodoxy in 2013; I then was involved just before and during the pandemic in particular in two missions which were not initially Orthodox but which will likely be incorporated into the Orthodox church in the near future which I am very happy about.

 

[timothyu]

I don't think I follow. Are you watching church on tv?

Either. Jesus' focus was narrow and simple. Not enough to support mass religion. Man built themselves a better mousetrap, one that controlled rather than set free.

 

[ARBITER01]

Either. Jesus' focus was narrow and simple. Not enough to support mass religion. Man built themselves a better mousetrap, one that controlled rather than set free.

I'm not interested in a bunch of complaints. Like I said, if you are not getting anything out of fellowship with other Christians, then you're doing something wrong.

 

[timothyu]

Like I said, if you are not getting anything out of fellowship with other Christians,

I do.. but not with those who think safety in numbers will cover for failure to follow the Will of God rather than the religions of man

 

[jas3]

Unfortunately they capitulated on that last summer; the conference was taken over by liberals, and I don’t understand how they were able to do that since in 2018 the conference had a clear minority voting against allowing non-celibate persons who reject Biblical instructions on sexual morality to hold leadership positions.

There are several good write-ups, but the one that has stuck with me the most is this one:

A Day Older and Wiser: Why I Resigned from the Commission on General Conference - Wesleyan

By Rev. Joseph F. DiPaolo March 8, 2022 President Abraham Lincoln was once taken to task by a congressional ally for changing a policy position. “Mr. President, you have changed your mind entirely within a short time.” Convinced that recent events and new information required a change of heart...

web.archive.org

In short, people got the impression (in my opinion rightfully so) that there had been some bad-faith politicking on the part of the liberals in the commission responsible for organizing the general conference. The resulting combination of conservatives leaving while they could and reduced conservative African representation (again suspected to be due to the general conference commission delaying in getting African delegates visas) meant the liberals could steamroll doctrines like clerical monogamy, Christian marriage, and so on.

 

[timothyu]

It's their worldly government, Not representative of the Kingdom. They can do what they want with their earthly realm.