Denominations confuse me

[frater_domus]

I mean, why are they even a thing? Aren’t we all in the same boat, trying to glorify the same God and being saved by the same Christ?
And yet some guys tell me to believe one thing, other to believe another thing, and they all blame each other for spreading misinformation.
I do not care what you tell me to believe, I care about that God tells me to believe! (I am not talking to the reader directly, just illustrating my point).

I look for comfort in churches, I look for advice. But I end up confused and frustrated. I mean, I need a bloody flowchart by now to even begin to understand what they all want.
I once heard a prostant pastor pr priest say that he allows catholics to visit his church but does not allow them to marry there. Who in the world does this gut think he is?!
Interdenominational rivalry breeds antagonism, but how can Christianity survive like that? A kingdom divided against itself can not stand.
Is it biblical? Did I miss something?

Sorry, this is partially my frustration speaking. I do not get point of it all. I do not mean it as an attack or anything. It is just that I have no Christians around me to talk to, so I come here. But I find interdenom rivalries rather common and it utterly demonlishes me. It takes several days of absence and lengthy prayer to get me back on track.

I have no idea what to think other than to ask “why?”...

 

[Petros2015]

Denominations are easy - they are like fractions. Jesus is the Numerator.

Denominator - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[W2L]

People grow up in a certain denomination and believe its the true church and others are wrong. Its likely that most of them will never change.

 

[frater_domus]

@Petros2015 - I do not see fractions blaming and bad-mouthing one another or at worst even twisting good teachings. All fractions follow the laws or mathematics. I have the creeping suspicion that not all denominations follow the teaching of Christ...

 

[W2L]

Fractions or factions? Factions are a work of flesh, Galatians 5

 

[DaveM]

Denominations are dividers of the body of Christ, I follow Jesus Christ who is a uniter of the body of Christ. You must read the bible daily yourself so you can discern.

 

[tdidymas]

I mean, why are they even a thing? Aren’t we all in the same boat, trying to glorify the same God and being saved by the same Christ?
And yet some guys tell me to believe one thing, other to believe another thing, and they all blame each other for spreading misinformation.
I do not care what you tell me to believe, I care about that God tells me to believe! (I am not talking to the reader directly, just illustrating my point).

I look for comfort in churches, I look for advice. But I end up confused and frustrated. I mean, I need a bloody flowchart by now to even begin to understand what they all want.
I once heard a prostant pastor pr priest say that he allows catholics to visit his church but does not allow them to marry there. Who in the world does this gut think he is?!
Interdenominational rivalry breeds antagonism, but how can Christianity survive like that? A kingdom divided against itself can not stand.
Is it biblical? Did I miss something?

Sorry, this is partially my frustration speaking. I do not get point of it all. I do not mean it as an attack or anything. It is just that I have no Christians around me to talk to, so I come here. But I find interdenom rivalries rather common and it utterly demonlishes me. It takes several days of absence and lengthy prayer to get me back on track.

I have no idea what to think other than to ask “why?”...

We all need to exercise some tolerance of other peoples' errors. Jesus said to forgive our brothers from our heart, 490 times daily ("seventy times seven"). No one is perfect, so we cannot expect people to be perfectly like Christ in every way. If we are to live in some semblance of unity of the faith, we have to get familiar enough with the gospel to know how to discern between the majors and minors. We can't let minor differences prompt us to disfellowship. There are still many churches with good leadership. If your church has bad leadership, then go somewhere else, if it doesn't cause you to isolate from relationships you deem important. If you have important relationships at your church, then become an active difference.
TD

 

[A_Thinker]

I mean, why are they even a thing? Aren’t we all in the same boat, trying to glorify the same God and being saved by the same Christ?
And yet some guys tell me to believe one thing, other to believe another thing, and they all blame each other for spreading misinformation.
I do not care what you tell me to believe, I care about that God tells me to believe! (I am not talking to the reader directly, just illustrating my point).

I look for comfort in churches, I look for advice. But I end up confused and frustrated. I mean, I need a bloody flowchart by now to even begin to understand what they all want.
I once heard a prostant pastor pr priest say that he allows catholics to visit his church but does not allow them to marry there. Who in the world does this gut think he is?!
Interdenominational rivalry breeds antagonism, but how can Christianity survive like that? A kingdom divided against itself can not stand.
Is it biblical? Did I miss something?

Sorry, this is partially my frustration speaking. I do not get point of it all. I do not mean it as an attack or anything. It is just that I have no Christians around me to talk to, so I come here. But I find interdenom rivalries rather common and it utterly demonlishes me. It takes several days of absence and lengthy prayer to get me back on track.

I have no idea what to think other than to ask “why?”...

Denominations exist because people are different (in likes and preferences) and imperfect (in managing those likes and preferences).

Most Protestant denominations make allowances for differences with other denominations, and even the Catholic church. Protestants, generally, believe in a universal body of Christ (i.e. the Church), which manages itself in smaller sub-groups (i.e. Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcoplaians, Catholics, Othodox, etc.). And, of course, there are differences (in practice and peripheral areas of belief) among them, ... not unlike the differences between the sub-groups of the early church (i.e. Jerusalem, Galatia, Ephesus, Sardis, Philadelphia, etc.).

An abiding principle that guides most Protestants regarding christian belief and practice is ...

UNITY in the essential things
LIBERTY in non-essential things
CHARITY in ALL things

 

[R. Hartono]

Just believe in the BIBLE.

 

[frater_domus]

We all need to exercise some tolerance of other peoples' errors. Jesus said to forgive our brothers from our heart, 490 times daily ("seventy times seven"). No one is perfect, so we cannot expect people to be perfectly like Christ in every way. If we are to live in some semblance of unity of the faith, we have to get familiar enough with the gospel to know how to discern between the majors and minors. We can't let minor differences prompt us to disfellowship. There are still many churches with good leadership. If your church has bad leadership, then go somewhere else, if it doesn't cause you to isolate from relationships you deem important. If you have important relationships at your church, then become an active difference.
TD

I know... I am sorry. Frustration built up in me and I needed to vent. All I want is to serve and glorify God, but sometimes it feels like everything is against that.
I am guilty of that myself. Though I am non-denom, I am partial towards reformed protestantism.

I’ll keep trying, but ultimately, I will be able to do it only by the Spirit and not of myself.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Simple answer: We have disagreements on certain points of theology and/or practice.

We all accept Scripture and want to abide by what Scripture says, and to be faithful to Jesus. But we have different positions on what those things mean.

Why? Because we're humans, and humans are fallible.

A frequent irony is when someone comes along, says that all the various denominations and differences is wrong, and that they are going to just "do what the Bible says" and end up creating a brand new denomination. Sometimes people end up creating a denomination of one, just themselves.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[bling]

The answer to eliminating all these denominations is severe persecution. Under sever persecution the small stuff does not matter, you are not trying to build up your income base with followers, the leadership is flattened down to the members, unpaid small group leader and Christ as the head, so there are no high paying, high profile and prestigious jobs. A Christian is a Christian subject to the same imprisonment or death. The leaders are not preaching entertaining sermons catering to the masses to gain fame and fortune, since he will soon be caught, imprisoned and maybe never seen again. Look at what is happen with the “one” denomination of Christians in the unregistered church in China.

 

[com7fy8]

I do not care what you tell me to believe, I care about that God tells me to believe! (I am not talking to the reader directly, just illustrating my point).

"Now I say this, that each of you says, 'I am of Paul,' or 'I am of Apollos,' or 'I am of Cephas,' or 'I am of Christ.'" (1 Corinthians 1:12) Yes, there were ones who said they were "of Christ", but they did this in a wrong way . . . perhaps congratulating themselves about how they were better than the ones who divided themselves to naming Paul or Cephas or Apollos. Or, ones were refusing to accept Paul and Peter and Apollos while they were claiming that only Jesus was right.

So, we need to be careful that we do not say "Oh I am of Jesus so I am not like all you divided people." Because this could be self-righteous and a sneaky way of throwing out anything which might be good in different groups. Also, even if people go to a church of a denomination, this does not necessarily mean they favor that group over others.

Ones at the top or at the front might make a big show of claiming how their ways and ideas are better than all the rest, but other people there could be wise to them The real pastor can be a mature senior person sitting at the back of the church, not trying to control things, but leading by example. It is important to know who the real "examples" are > 1 Peter 5:3. Yes, they will name Jesus, but they don't need to make a project of pointing out how other humans are wrong. They are busy with ministering how Jesus is right

Paul knew there were divisions. And he knew how the wrong people could make the real leaders look good > 1 Corinthians 11:18-19. I would say find out who the real examples are and in prayer come into agreement with one another about how you will handle your situation. Do what you are blessed with encouragement to do, with God. Do not allow wrong people to have power over you to get you into criticizing and self-righteous judging, or else you are letting them make you the way they are, possibly > 2 Corinthians 10:12.

Make sure your example can help them get real with God and find out how to relate in love. And if you have impossible people to deal with . . . this will always happen, no matter where you go > embrace the opportunity to be kind to them and test yourself to see if and how well you are being kind and caring the way Jesus ways. And please remember that Jesus never gave up on His disciples . . . even though they could get quite busy and dizzy with trying to be the greatest.

And we all need to be ministering this > "speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the Head---Christ---" (n Ephesians 4:15).

 

[Shempster]

@Petros2015 I have the creeping suspicion that not all denominations follow the teaching of Christ...

Great point. Check out his commandments and see for yourself.

Matthew 5 NIV
Matthew 6 NIV
Matthew 7 NIV

 

[def]

I mean, why are they even a thing? Aren’t we all in the same boat, trying to glorify the same God and being saved by the same Christ?
And yet some guys tell me to believe one thing, other to believe another thing, and they all blame each other for spreading misinformation.
I do not care what you tell me to believe, I care about that God tells me to believe! (I am not talking to the reader directly, just illustrating my point).

I look for comfort in churches, I look for advice. But I end up confused and frustrated. I mean, I need a bloody flowchart by now to even begin to understand what they all want.
I once heard a prostant pastor pr priest say that he allows catholics to visit his church but does not allow them to marry there. Who in the world does this gut think he is?!
Interdenominational rivalry breeds antagonism, but how can Christianity survive like that? A kingdom divided against itself can not stand.
Is it biblical? Did I miss something?

Sorry, this is partially my frustration speaking. I do not get point of it all. I do not mean it as an attack or anything. It is just that I have no Christians around me to talk to, so I come here. But I find interdenom rivalries rather common and it utterly demonlishes me. It takes several days of absence and lengthy prayer to get me back on track.

I have no idea what to think other than to ask “why?”...

The concept of chaos explains the current state of affairs.