Denominations

[aggie03]

What do you all think about denominations? What do you all think that the Bible says about them?

 

[LouisBooth]

I think it doesn't mention them at all. I think (personally) that it is okay to have diversity in non-essentials.

 

[cougan]

Well it seems to me that the bible teaches that their is only one body which means that their is only 1 church. Of course this one body is christ body which he is the head over and the way to get into this body is found in 1Cort 12:13. Paul taught and taught for us to be of the same mind and for there not to be any divisions. So in my opinion if someone is claiming to be a denomation they are not that of that 1 body which is christ. Denomination means that they have their way of doing things which differ from another which goes against what Paul teaches on unity. Eph 5:23 says that Jesus is the savior of the body which is the one church. So it would seem clear to me that jesus is not the saviour of a denomantion.

 

[shibboleth]

I find, in Scripure, that only Paul seems to have concerned himself with the different churches' variations of belief.
Personally, I hand over a Bible with "words of Christ in Red" and tell members of various denominations "If we agree about these words in red, all else is politics."
As cougan points out; the church is the body of believers.
Acts 7:48 and 17:24
"God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; "

The buildings, sectarian trappings, various seminaries' certificates:
are of Man, not of God.
All this denominational divisiveness is political.
In my opinion.

"People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them."
Dave Barry
"SCRIPTURES, n. The sacred books of our holy religion,
as distinguished from the false and profane writings on which all other faiths are based.
The Devil's Dictionary" (Ambrose Bierce)

"I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do, because I notice that it always coincides with their own desires."
Susan B. Anthony

How many believe that only their own sect will be on Christ's right hand on Judgement Day?

 

[Blessed-one]

as everyone has different talent, God would use us differently. It's like in today's society where people work in niche, with speciality. As we all agree on the foundamentals, it's allright to have denominations, so long as that they don't separate us.

 

[ZiSunka]

Since there is only one body of Christ, and different parts of that body, I think there is only one church, with the different denominations being groups of the parts of the body. That is, different denominations serve to organize the body parts into congregations of parts. One denom might be heavy on ears, or heavy on mouths, another might have a lot of knees or feet or hands. I'm fine with denominationalism under this concept.

Where I disagree with denominationlism is when the "mouths" start to think they are more important than the kidneys or the feet. Or worse, when they think the whole body is made up of mouths, and that feet, hands and kidneys aren't truly in the body of Christ! That irks me!

 

[Job_38]

I find denominations to be quite annoying at times. I do not see why they dont just teach the Bible, but they teach it through the Southern Baptist Convention or whatever. We are one body, we should all go to eachother for help with the word or to teach it.

 

[Warrior4Jah]

*shrugs* I think the hole denomination thing is silly. We should not be divided amongst each other under Christ, but as one together. There is WAY to much existing seperation among christian because of the massive amounts of different "denominations".

 

[Received]

How about this?

1 Corinthians 12:5 "There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord."

and

John 17:20,21 "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You..."

Certainly we may divide over our interpretations, but we are called to be one anyways.  Which of the 33,800 denominations in america doesn't consider itself the "it"?  We are dividing over our theology, and not uniting under divinity. 

 

[Blackhawk]

I do not see the Bible condemming denominations. Yes we must remember that the church is one. That no man ade denomination is the only true way. However i do not know of any denomination who thinks this. many cults do but I know the Southern Baptists, Lutheran missouri synod, and all others I now about including the RCC so not hold to themsleves being the only way.
Now it is true that denominations have divided us in the past but they do not have to do that. I could go with calling them a necessary evil because we are not perfect and all of us have flawed views of what God and His will exactly is. But I will not call them silly or stupid since I see that they have served a good purpose in church history. We just have to remember not to take them too far.

blackhawk

 

[LouisBooth]

I did some researching on this subject among others..here is what I got..Just check out these 2 passages..

 

1 cor 1:10-17...Paul puts the concentration squarely in one place. Does that mean that we should never agree or never talk about it?For my answer...check romans 14 and 15

 

[heydeerman]

What really matters is if we agree on essential theology. We can disagree on non-essentials and be ok. The United Pentecostal Church is a good example. they deny the doctrine of the Trinity which is an essential Christian doctrine. This puts the UPC outside of a denomination. They are in disagreement with essential christian doctrine. Then look at presbyterians and Baptists. They would disagree on the mode of baptism. These would "seperate"the two groups but not remove them from the Church. denominations can be a good thing as well.

 

[Susan]

Amen.

 

[Blessed-one]

just looked at Louis's given scripture...

Roman 14: 1-3
Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgement on disputable matters. One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him.

right.....

 

[Received]

I think the UPC needs to have a very long talk with a non-charasmatic or even trinitarian pentecostal groups over their view on deity and trinity/oneness. I come from a home where my mom is UPC and I'm southern baptist, and I find that we tend to agree on our views on trinity. It's all about perspective.

 

[heydeerman]

Recieved it goes much deeper than perspectives. This thread is not the place for this discussion. If you would like to have a discussion about the UPC's beliefs on the Godhead I would be happy to start another thread and carry on a discussion with you.

I am in a similiar situation. My mom is in the UPC and I was for a short time. I have read alot of UPC material and participated in Bible Studies by UPC elders since becoming a Trinitarian. The doctrine of the Trinity is not welcome in the UPC. If you would like to discuss this further I will check back here for your responce.

 

[LouisBooth]

I was about to put exactly that Heydeer..UPC, from what I have studied doesn't accept trinity as well as some other things....

The point I was making was summed up in what you said in your other post heydeer...its the essentials we need to agree on, everything else is "talkaboutable". this is where demons come into play.

 

[Received]

Sorry, I guess you guys here in real theology dont enjoy chasing rabbits as much as the folks in apologetics.

*sniff*

; - )

 

[heydeerman]

What do you mean by that?

 

[LouisBooth]

That's why this is called THEOLOGY not appologetics