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I agree with your point about freedom of choice; but if the Spirit is truly leading we should come to consensus of opinion. Freedom of choice in the secular world usually means plurality of opinion.God allows freedom of choice so that those who choose correctly can learn to remain free. And, to prove that the leading of the Spirit is reality.
My opinion is that there are religious people who are church politicians who have been able to get control, either to take over a group, or to start one.thousand of denominations
I agree with your point about freedom of choice; but if the Spirit is truly leading we should come to consensus of opinion. Freedom of choice in the secular world usually means plurality of opinion.
we have thousand of denominations due to division. Leaders have their 'own' understanding and opinions after they read the bible. It's sad I think it's how the Lord want it to be done. If you read the church history all the way up to now, you'll see godly servants of the Lord broke from their origin church and start their own denomination, some turned out to be good and some became really bad, in short no perfect church. Well it's sad and hard to swallow to see so much division for someone who's new to the faith but it's the reality.
I personally believed God is in charge of this, until Jesus's 2nd coming it will stay what is it, what do you think?
(different groups or churches is challenging to a new believer, he might ask 'so which church/community should I go to?')
we have thousand of denominations due to division. Leaders have their 'own' understanding and opinions after they read the bible. It's sad I think it's how the Lord want it to be done. If you read the church history all the way up to now, you'll see godly servants of the Lord broke from their origin church and start their own denomination, some turned out to be good and some became really bad, in short no perfect church. Well it's sad and hard to swallow to see so much division for someone who's new to the faith but it's the reality.
I personally believed God is in charge of this, until Jesus's 2nd coming it will stay what is it, what do you think?
(different groups or churches is challenging to a new believer, he might ask 'so which church/community should I go to?')
This is never a topic embraced by many Christians today. Yes, division is bad.
Here is a short summarization of Church history.
The first 1000 years of Christianity there was only one faith, one Church, and one Lord.
Then there was the Great Schism of 1054 A.D. This was the first division and it was between eastern and western orthodoxy. This division was supposed to be temporary. Today they are still divided. This division wasn't too harmful but still a division nonetheless.
Then there was the Protestant movement led by Luther, Tyndale and Cranmer. This division was necessary to preserve the much more traditional Gospel that was being lost by Roman Catholics who were becoming corrupt in their ways.
Not long after the Protestant movement, the Puritan movement broke out everywhere. This movement not only opposed Roman Catholicism, but it also opposed Protestantism. People today are not fully aware of this but Puritanism is not Protestantism since it opposed Luther, Tyndale and Cranmer. Puritanism wanted to break so far away from Catholicism that nothing traditional remained. Everyone and anyone could start a church and the result was massive overload of denominations popping up all over. Out of all the Churches considered Protestant today, about 98% of them are actually Puritan Churches. This division was bad because it led to many troubles in the Church and the divisions were so many that the Church today is plagued by all the denominations out there.
Finally, we arrive to the 20th and 21st centuries. The Roman Catholic Church is far gone and considered apostate in their doctrines which are all worldly views. Jesus called us out of the world, not to embrace the world like modern Roman Catholic Churches do. Then there are all these new cults like the Black Hebrew Israelites just to name one. Cult after cult and they get worse and more obvious all the time.
I studied this history and was not happy with this history. Today I am a Lutheran because I want to be part of the true Protestant movement which was not so radical that all Christian history prior to Luther was lost. I don't even want to say these words but I also want to express myself here in open honesty: I do believe that a new reformation needs to take place. This reformation must be loyal to Scripture as well to the 2000 years of Christian history and doctrine that we have. I'm just not happy with what I see in the world of denominations today. I'm kinda disgusted by it. I just don't believe in division. I believe in unity in the body of Christ. I believe all Christians should worship one Lord in one faith. But people must be convinced of these things in their own minds. Nothing will change unless people change for the better.
Then there are denominations who can prove to another denomination that there is a error in their doctrine. How does the other denomination reply when corrected? They argue back, even though they were clearly corrected in their misinterpretation. I find this very disturbing because these leaders cannot accept correction. Any Christian leader who cannot accept correction when the true answers have been clearly established, cannot possibly be men of God. For a true man of God accepts correction and loves discipline. I would like to see more godly leaders in the Church today who can accept correction, who can accept sound doctrine, and who can accept sound reasoning.
Being "nice" does not cause unity. That allows for peaceful division.Denominations don't have to mean division unless we allow them to. A little Christian charity toward Nicene-believing Christians who practice differently than us could go a long way. Our disunity has nothing to do with denominations but everything to do with disapproval of folks thinking and practicing differently than us.
As for me, I'm glad there are denominational choices. No disrespect intended, but I don't care to worship in the same manner that some of you do. I left one church and came to another for exactly that reason.
Being "nice" does not cause unity. That allows for peaceful division.
What you just said reveals one reason why we have division...I disagree. One may prefer to worship on Saturday, one on Sunday. One may worship with clanging cymbals and tongues, another with solemn liturgical worship. One's minister in casual attire, another's fully vested. Can they not respect each other and embrace each other as fellow Christians? Is there not unity in sharing the same faith, however differently it is expressed?
FAITH comes from hearing the Word of God taught properly!
There is no true unity that way.The notion that your church teaches properly and others do not is the very reason there is division. Let us be united by what we have in common.
we have thousand of denominations due to division. Leaders have their 'own' understanding and opinions after they read the bible. It's sad I think it's how the Lord want it to be done. If you read the church history all the way up to now, you'll see godly servants of the Lord broke from their origin church and start their own denomination, some turned out to be good and some became really bad, in short no perfect church. Well it's sad and hard to swallow to see so much division for someone who's new to the faith but it's the reality.
I personally believed God is in charge of this, until Jesus's 2nd coming it will stay what is it, what do you think?
(different groups or churches is challenging to a new believer, he might ask 'so which church/community should I go to?')
Depends.
We have thousands of denominations today, but they get along just fine or even support each other.
Still much better situation than few hundred years ago, when there was just 3 and killing and hating each other.
I definitely don't think God is in charge of this. Why would Jesus pray to His Father asking Him to keep us as one (John 17:1-26)? No pride and arrogance was the major player in creating so many denominations (and I'll say the pride and arrogance was on both sides of the divisions). Now, I feel God wants us to start putting His Church back together (because we have a greater enemy to defeat with Our Lord guiding us and that is Satan and secular society). How can anyone take the Christian faith seriously when we have so many differences in major doctrines; some of these doctrines contradicting one another.
If there is one great thing we should pray for daily to Our God that is we begin to unify again. Definitely, we should call out those other denominations or people who try to continually divide us by making extremely false claims. Another thing we need to pray to Our Father about is that we develop wisdom, understanding, and caringness so we can reverse "the tower of Babel" problem we all have and we truly hear one another's views.
Don't let the devil convince we need these different denominations. There are millions of people who still need to know and believe Our God and won't until they see a more unified Church. Put away our pride and do what God wanted us to be all along.
God bless each and every one of us so we will discern God's words.
Unity is achieved by dialogue with the hope of overcoming past obstacles and coalescing on shared beliefs. If we arrive at a point of agreement, what other obstacles do you see that would prevent unification?Does this mean we of the Protestant Denominations in order for this Unity to take place, should all return to the fold of Catholicism?
Unity is achieved by dialogue with the hope of overcoming past obstacles and coalescing on shared beliefs. If we arrive at a point of agreement, what other obstacles do you see that would prevent unification?
I agree about the Holy Spirit being the source of unity; but that yields an interesting question. How can the Holy Spirit be the author of confusion and difference in beliefs?Unity is really achieved by the Holy Spirit.
Take 2 hypothetical questions for arguments sake.
1) On a given Sunday, I attend your Catholic Church, would I be allowed to receive Communion.
2) On a given Sunday, you attend my Charismatic Church, would you partake of Communion?
I don't see it that way. There are very valid arguments that need to be hashed out in every direction including some Catholic beliefs and how the faithful observe them. Look at the Anglicans who converted to Catholicism, they still maintain alot of their traditions:Does this mean we of the Protestant Denominations in order for this Unity to take place, should all return to the fold of Catholicism?
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