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30,000 Denominations! What happened to unity?

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moses916

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The church (Orthodox) still exists today! why is everyone rebelling against the Church Jesus himself appointed to be built? There are 30,000 different denominations that all say different things. The holy spirit reveals the truth about God. Could the holy spirit say 30,000 different things? Each denomination claims to be right. Yet the Orthodox church is almost 2000 years old and has not changed or altered its doctrine in any way to suit its layppl!

1 Corinthians 1:10-12 10 By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ I appeal to all of you, my friends, to agree in what you say, so that there will be no divisions among you. 11 For some people from Chloe's family have told me quite plainly, my friends, that there are quarrels among you. 12 Let me put it this way: each one of you says something different.......

Here is the issue of whom to follow, but Paul says not to dispute over such things or matters as such. Paul says to stay united and he goes on to say in 1 Corinthians 1:13 Christ has been divided into groups!

Its such a shame that everyone has split from the Church, Jesus never desired such a split, Paul urged the ppl to stay united (no divisions) by the command of Jesus Christ! Is there a possibility that this is reversable? What do u guys think? What should be done or could be done?
 

minasoliman

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I always reiterate this time and time again...

Go and become lights of the world and salts of the Earth. As Fr. Peter Gillquist mentioned, there's a lot of people who don't know about the Orthodox Church and still needs exposure.

And church history is VERY important...It is through Church history you understand where is the real Church. And sometimes when Westerners are still unfaithful to Holy Tradition, you just have to give the logic of the "tradition of the Bible itself."

God bless you.
 
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Maximus

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moses916 said:
lol i know what happened, i think i'm retarded, i knew that question yet i still asked it :eek:

What you asked, in other words, was a rhetorical question.

One thing to keep in mind, however, is the truth when it comes to all those denominations.

Protestants don't really see a problem with having a multitude of different churches or sects.

Their ecclesiology is almost entirely different from ours.

The true Church, for them, is composed of all those who have "a personal relationship with Jesus" and have been "born again" (in the Evangelical understanding of the term), regardless of the visible organization to which they belong or even if they belong to no visible ecclesiastical organization. Heck, some of them even include us and the Latins in their idea of the great, amorphous "Church."

Since allegiance to a visible institution is completely indifferent to Protestant ecclesiology, one should not expect them to stress too much over how many denominations they have.

Besides, their lack of unity is more apparent than real. Protestants are fairly easily sorted into a relatively small number of doctrinal categories, regardless of divisions in polity.

And Protestants bounce around among each other's churches, picking a home church more for its feel-good factor than its doctrinal stance.

If you are going to convince them of the need for a unified, visible Church, you're going to have to do it first with the Bible and then by showing them, step-by-baby-step, the historical continuity of the Orthodox Catholic Church with the Church established by Christ Himself.
 
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mmadison777

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The body of Christ consists of all believers who are filled with the Holy Spirit. The true believers are known by Him. Maximus....I am ashamed of your attitude. I study the Bible everyday. I am not perfect, but please don't patronize people of faith. I am not Catholic. I worship the Lord Jesus. I am a Christian and I pray that I am received by Jesus when He returns. I have my opinions about the Catholic religion, but I won't use the forum to express them, in honor of your faith. It's called respect.
 
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moses916

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mmadison777 i am not trying to attack ur beliefs in any way, i'm just saying if protestants did a bit more research, they wouldn't be protestant anymore, there is no reason to protest anymore. i'm just saying Jesus wanted unity, and i guess ppl wanted to start their own church rather than obey Jesus's command to stay united and undivided as a church. :)
 
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Maximus

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mmadison777 said:
The body of Christ consists of all believers who are filled with the Holy Spirit. The true believers are known by Him. Maximus....I am ashamed of your attitude. I study the Bible everyday. I am not perfect, but please don't patronize people of faith. I am not Catholic. I worship the Lord Jesus. I am a Christian and I pray that I am received by Jesus when He returns. I have my opinions about the Catholic religion, but I won't use the forum to express them, in honor of your faith. It's called respect.

I thought I was pretty nice in stating the Protestant case as I did. Since I was once a Protestant, I think I understand it fairly well.

I don't want to get into an argument with you about the nature of the Church, especially since you are not allowed to argue here.

I don't judge you.

I will simply say that I believe there is only One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church and she isn't invisible (not totally anyway) since the Lord meant for people to be able to find her.
 
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Orthosdoxa

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mmadison777 said:
What Orthodox Church are we talking about? The first gathering of disciples took place in homes. Are we talking about Catholics?

Welcome to TAW, MMadison :wave:

Orthodox Christianity is not the same as Roman Catholicism, no. It in fact is entirely different. It is the oldest form of Christianity. This page http://www.ocf.org/OrthodoxPage/reading/questions.html has some very good basic reading info. That link, and many other helpful links can be found on my web page at http://stienekel.tripod.com

I hope that helps somewhat.

LK
 
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Wakeup2god

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Could the holy spirit say 30,000 different things?

The Holy Spirit could say one million different things if He so wishes. You speak of unity but deny a different part of the body because it doesn't carry out the same function as you. How can the eye understand the function of the foot? But without each other the eye would not trvel and the foot would break toes etc... The work together for the same ultimate goal though - the body. How many different functions or parts are there to the human body? It's the ideology that you are right and the others are wrong that cuts the nose off to spite the face.
 
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Rilian

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I would say we have a different understanding of what the church is than Protestants. We don't pass judgment on them, or shouldn't anyway, but should try and present what we believe is the fullness of what Christ intended for us in our participation in his visible body. Many people here are former Protestants who still have families, friends and loved ones in their former spiritual homes.
 
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NewToLife

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I have mixed feelings on this, whereas I certainly recognise that it would be better if all denominations were in fact Orthodox and united within the bounds of Orthodoxy I think that it's also important that we recognise that those outside of Orthodoxy have a saviour who loves them and who desires salvation for them in precisely the same way in which he loves and desires salvation for us.

Our response to division ought to be prayer that those who do not have the fullness of truth will by the grace of God receive it and that we all may be one based upon that very same truth.
 
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countrymouse33ad

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Wakeup2god said:
The Holy Spirit could say one million different things if He so wishes.

Hi Wakeup, and welcome to TAW. I believe the poster intended to say 30,000 conflicting things, which is what you have if you have 30,000 disagreeing denominations. The actual number isn't important (and I don't know how many there are).

Unity in the Orthodox Church doesn't mean that everyone holds exactly all the same theological opinions all the time. We are united by the Holy Spirit around an unchangeable Holy Tradition, beliefs and practices that have not changed and will not change. The Holy Spirit does not make any individual infallible. He does cause the Church, working together, to be faithful to the truth and unified in the Faith.
 
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