Why are there denomonations??

[MoKnows]

Shouldnt there be one complete church of God in Christ?
I thinks thats what we in the world should be striving for.
Im willing to strive for that but are u ?

 

[New_Wineskin]

Shouldnt there be one complete church of God in Christ?
I thinks thats what we in the world should be striving for.
Im willing to strive for that but are u ?

I don't consider that the Church is incomplete .

Yet , it seems that you do .
What have you been doing so far in your striving that has helped ?
Has your group merged with any other group to eliminate one denomination with the goal to merge with still more groups ?
Have you started yet ? Or , are you asking for advice on how to proceed ?
Do you have any proposal ?

 

[James1979]

There should be one gathering together to be in one accord in the word of God. But since Satan is in the world, he will cause people to change the word of God and laws, this will always be the case up until the end of the world when the Lord Jesus Christ comes in the cloud with power and glory.

 

[hola]

When I think about the division of denominations...I think about the tower of Babel. The tower itself was in a sense another way that man was trying to get to God...in his own works, or his own way. It seems that all this division in the body of Christ may be due to such a thing. Why are all we seemingly speaking different languages? Why does each denomination seem to have a different message that they follow? If there is no difference in their message, then why are all these different denominations or divisions still existing? As I believe MofoKnows was implying, there is only one way to the Father...that is through Jesus, the Way. Can Christ be divided? If not...than why is his body, or what is called his body? Jesus is truly the only Way...than why are things so complicated. Why are there disagreements and divisions? I know that we as humans are imperfect...but what are we showing the world by our divisions?

I don't want an Ecumenical movement that doesn't have Christ as it's true center. But I believe that the true body of Christ is not, nor should be divided.

 

[PastorJer]

Shouldnt there be one complete church of God in Christ?
I thinks thats what we in the world should be striving for.
Im willing to strive for that but are u ?

This is a question that I have pondered much over the last years as I have seen our church deal with some very serious scriptural issues.
My conclusion is this - that most denominations exist because of the pride of men. Let me explain further - I say that they exist because of the pride of men because often times when a split within the church occurs that causes another denomination to arise it happens because two men have come up with two different ideas which both support with some sort of scriptural reference, and neither is willing to admit or even think that perhaps the position that he has taken on that scripture may infact be tainted.

Underlying it all is that most splits happen because all parties involved are not taking the time to truly examine what the Word of God has to say, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit - which will always lead 2 people to the same conclusion if they are willing to lay aside their biases and approach scripture to be taught rather than to gather evidence for their preconceived argument. But then that would take humility on the part of all parties - which is something that rarely if ever happens within the body of a church.
Oh for the day when it finally will!

 

[Svt4Him]

In the early 1500s, a German monk named Martin Luther was so conscious of his sins that he spent up to six hours in the confessional. Through study of the Scriptures he found that salvation didn’t come through anything he did, but simply through trusting in the finished work of the cross of Jesus Christ. He listed the contradictions between what the Scriptures said and what his church taught, and nailed his "95 Theses" to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany. Martin Luther became the first to "protest" against the Roman church, and thus he became the father of the Protestant church.

Since that split, there have been many disagreements about how much water one should baptize with, how to sing what and why, who should govern who, etc., causing thousands of splinter groups. Many of these groups are convinced that they alone are right. These have become known as Protestant "denominations."

Despite the confusion, these churches subscribe to certain foundational beliefs such as the deity, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Bible says, "The foundation of God stands sure, having this seal, The Lord knows them that are his" (2 Timothy 2:19). Thomas Jefferson once wrote of a preacher, Richard Mote, who "exclaimed aloud to his congregation that he did not believe there was a Quaker, Presbyterian, Methodist, or Baptist in heaven, having paused to give his hearers time to stare and to wonder. He added that, in heaven, God knew no distinctions."

 

[gsmithcat]

I have no problem with other denominations so long as they are Christ centered. If they are sincerely following Christ according to His Word then we are unified despite having different labels.

However, there are Christians out there who use denominational differences as a reason to cause selfish ambitions, division, factions and envy (Galatians 5:19-21). I don't think this is right, we should all be willing to work together in love and humility for the glory of God.

One of things that I think is good about having different denominations is that different people connect with God in different ways. Some people are drawn to a church community that worships God with lots of singing and dancing while others may prefer to worship God in silent prayer (both of which I think are scriptural). This is good because I don't think you'll find a "one size fits all" church community, but instead we glorify God by showing diversity even within the body.

 

[ElElohe]

Shouldnt there be one complete church of God in Christ?
I thinks thats what we in the world should be striving for.
Im willing to strive for that but are u ?

I can empathize with your sentiment.

But I'll share just one thing that I heard recently which makes some sense. That is, different congregations have different gifts. There are all of the gifts within the Body, but that does not mean each church will be strong or even gifted in every area.

I certainly wish we had unity in a more comlete sense. There are 3 southern baptist churches in our town; our town is only one of 14,ooo people. Things like this ought not be.

And in Truth there is "one complete church of God in Christ." As for me and my house, we will strive for the glory of God among all people, for first the Gospel must be preached to all people, and then the end will come (Matt 24:24).

The presence of denominations doesn't have to identify a lack of unity in the Body of Christ. But because we are aware of our sin, we know that there is disunity.

 

[Monica02]

Martin Luther also eliminated seven books from the O.T.. He also was not happy with some of the N.T. books (James being one of them) but they were later put back into the Protestant Bible. His 95 thesis were simply that -HIS ideas. There was alot of corruption in the Church at the time, but Her Theology was correct. I believe that most if not all of Luthers flights of fancy were refuted by the Church. His Iideas took off because of the corruption in the church and because of the political ambitons of local princes . Some other so-called reformers were Calvin and Zwingly (sp?)
Henry 8th of England created the Anglican Church when the Church would not grant him a divorce. Most denominations are the result of further seperation of these movements. Luther, on his death bed, reportedly was distressed by all of the division.

The Orthodox Churches seperated themselves, I think, in the 11th century although they are considered to just be in schism.

There have always been heresies in the Church (Arianism, Gnosticism, Manichees (SP?)--I think St. Augustine belonged to this group before he joined the Church--Nestorianism ect.) Luthers heresy just sort of got real big.