They are necessary, because otherwise churches would not be able to get beyond the extreme differences in opinions within them. If people have as vastly different beliefs as the Catholics and Protestants have, they cannot conduct services together very easily. Whether or not the Bible condones them is unclear, since at the time the Bible was written, the idea of denominations was unthinkable. However, each church was distinct at the time, so perhaps that is in fact precedent for different denominations.
Good question.
I really don't think it's necessary since Christ never divides His people into denominations.
In the 2ND coming, I believe all of us the biblical Christians (the one that does not steer wrong from the teachings of Christ) will join together hand in hands in harmony while worship ping our Lord.
Nope they are not when you consider that a christian is simply a follower/disciple of Jesus Christ. Also, the Bible does not mention anything about denominations. To be sure, membership of a denomination does not qualify one as a christian or for heaven.
But then, so many people have varied ideas/concepts about what it really means to follow Christ - Like the Anglican church approving homosexuality, catholics believing in Saint/Mary worship, Moonies encouraging adultery, etc to mention a few. So denominations began to form and grow depending on which one finds more convenient to follow. And sadly, people are being classified by the denominations they attend.
HOWEVER, THERE IS ONLY ONE TRUTH AND ONE GOSPEL - despite the many interpretations about this Truth/gospel. How do you then know which is which? Simply follow these steps:
1. Get a good Bible - I suggest King James version
2. Prayerfully tell God to reveal His son Jesus to you and what His will for you is. Let Him know of your inadequacies in finding out all by yourself and ask for HIS help sincerely
3. Start a daily Bible study - at least 3 chapters a day beginning from either the old or new testament.
4. Attend a Bible believing Church regularly; where you are not sure, continue in your local church until The Holy Spirit will, as necessary, direct your footsteps.
5. Promise God and seek His help to walk as He directs - even when it appears such an obedience will not be convenient.
Summarily, being of a particular denomination DOES not make ANYBODY a christian. Attitudes, customs, practices, beliefs, denominations, fashions - all may (and do) change, but a real (born again)christian will hold unto and stand on the UNCHANGING STANDARD of God.
The church predates the Bible in its finished form - in many respects the Bible relies on the church for its existence, not vice verse.
After the Last Supper, Jesus, in the Gospel of John, offered a long prayer of encouragement and strengthening, and asked his father "that they may be one."
Similarly, St. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians that the church is "one body" in Christ. The ideal model left to us is of one church.
That said, the reasons for divisions are long and ancient - it would take a very long time for them to sort it all out. However, on fundamental matters - such as how Christians are saved - most churches find agreement. In such small ways, even now, there are no denominations. We are one body in Christ.
Incidentally: Catholics do NOT worship Mary, who is not a god, though there are some individual Catholics who take it too far and probably do.
If Jesus were here, there would not be any denominations...these come from people trying to understand Christian doctrine, and they come up with different opinions.
Sure they're necessary. Not only to identify a group by it's beliefs and practices, but to do what the Lord has told us to. We're not supposed to just sit around on white clouds and play worship music, there's work to be done! And that requires a little organization, some rules (from the Bible of course) and officers to lead the church, to enforce the rules, to feed the flock, etc. Robin (an awesome friend) calls the church "the Government of God:"
"For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, and the GOVERNMENT will rest on His shoulders ... There will be no end to the increase of His GOVERNMENT or of peace, on the throne of His father David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this (Isa 9:6-7)."
"Let THE ELDERS THAT RULE well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in doctrine (1 Tim 5:17)."
"We beseech you, brethren, to know those who labor among you and ARE OVER YOU IN THE LORD, and admonish you (1 Thess 5:12)."
"Remeber those who have AUTHORITY OVER YOU, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith you follow... Obey those that have AUTHORITY OVER YOU, and SUBMIT YOURSELVES; for they watch OVER YOUR SOULS as they who must give an account... (Heb 13:7, 17)"
"And GOD HAS SET some IN THE CHURCH, first apostles, then prophets, then teachers, after that miracles, healers, helps, GOVERNMENTS, diversities of tongues (1 Cor 12:28)."
The King's government IS the church. He has empowered His ministers with awesome responsibility for the flock of God, and authority to carry out that responsibility: To ?retain and remit sins? (Matt 16:19, 18:17-18, John 20:21-23), to ?shut the kingdom against unrepentant rebels? (1 Cor 5:1-5, 1 Tim 1:20) and ?open it to penitent sinners? (2 Cor 2:6-8), in the discipline of errant believers (1 Tim 5:20, 2 Thes 3:6, 14-15, Titus 3:10).
If we reject church, we reject the government of God. To reject His government is to the reject the King Himself.
So am I saying "the church is like God and has to be obeyed without question? NO NO NO NO NO!!!!! The church is subject to His will which is recorded in His Word (the Bible). When the church sprays from her King, she must be brought back to His Word. And when she refuses, the sheep have no choice but to gather elsewhere - like hap penned in the Reformation.
Christianity has always been fractious. However, denominations were not a problem for the first sixteen centuries. Orthodoxy, Catholicism and the Copts are not really separate denominations so much as Churches in schism. That is really different from different denominations.
Each of the ancient Churches is driven to maintain all of the beliefs of the first century as is. This means they don't get to vote on things, either they were believed or they were not. They don't get to go to conference and decide whether or not to allow gay marriage or if women can be ordained to the presbyter ate.
I teach organizational design and do consulting. Three exercises I do can shed some light on why we have denominations. They are the result of ordinary, but blind, human behaviors. I admire the Cappadocian Fathers and Pope Leo, they set ideas in motion that really has helped to hold Christianity together. They used the idea of aliphatic thought. Western Christianity and Protestantism in particular tends to use catalytic thought. Cataphatic thought is affirmatively descriptive, for example God is Great is a catalytic statement. All catalytic statements are wrong in that they incomplete. Apophatic thinking is discussion by negation. God is immortal. Immortal describes what God is not, not what God is.
In any case, the three exercises.
The first exercise, I split a large group into four small groups and give them an open end, incomplete problem to solve. It is a problem with many possible solutions. The problem is clear, but it is unclear if this is a symptom or a problem itself. Each group meets and works on the problem. After 15 minutes, I line up chairs into a + with each group facing the center. Only the leader of each group can speak and only to the other three leaders. Of course the team behind him can hear everything and all they can do is pass post it notes forward. Instead of solving the problem, they defend their group's solution. Nothing positive happens. It goes from a problem solving system to an "I'm right and you're wrong" session.
The second exercise involves M&M's. I give out about 15 M&M's, with some special colors as well. Each person is to arrange their M&M's in a logical manner. When they are done, I have them look around the room. They are always all different. Interestingly, even in groups of over a hundred you usually have very little overlap. I ask which arrangement is correct. Someone inevitably says "mine is." Most arguments are rearrangements that fit personal preferences and values. I use this in engineering groups and we use it to look at competing engineering designs. With the next exercise, it lets them re look at what the competing groups put together and separate themselves from their "correct" version.
The third exercise is with the same M&M's. I ask them, to decide without touching the M&M's what they like or don't like about M&M's. We all have internal values and they drive our yes and no. When they look at their designs it is really an expression on their beliefs about risk, utility, self-expression, competence etc.
If you read Calvin and Luther, they were the type of people who state their objective judgments. They bring their organization of their M&M's to others. Every single split whether schism or the creation of a denomination has been created by that dynamic, bringing your judgment to others as THE solution.
The word Catholic is actually two Greek words, ca ta holos. It means "all embracing," or "according to the whole." The word Catholic actually really means, non-denominational.
I attend a Catholic Church of the Byzantine rite rather than the Roman rite. Our services are derived from the service left to us by James the cousin of the Lord. The Copts use the service left to them by Mark, the Romans derive theirs from Peter and the Malabar/Malankaran Christians received their service from Thomas. As painful as it is for reformed Christians, it is "that old time religion." What the Reformation brings is a correct emphasis on that which is deeply important.
Their is a story told by an Orthodox theologian. A Master had three students. One preserved his teachings exactly as given. These are the Orthodox. One worked to take the teachings to their fullest meaning, those are the Catholics. One sought to make certain that the deepest most important parts were guaranteed their proper place, these are the Protestants.
There is a good book written by a former leading Protestant theologian who became Catholic. It was written as a biography by him and his wife. They write two versions of each chapter from their point of view. He was an extreme anti-Catholic and it writes of his and his wife's distress as his reading brought him to realize he was teaching the same point of view as the Catholic Church as he learned more of scripture. It is called Rome Sweet Home:Our Journey to Catholicism.
Well the bible says that we are like a human body with different body parts doing different things. I think that's true for us as individuals because each one of us serves a different purpose in the body of Christ, but I believe it is also true for the different denominations. In the end we are all part of the same church no matter what we call ourselves. If there were only Baptist churches a lot of people would simply never go to church. My mom and I could never go to the same church and both be happy simply because our ideas of what a service should be like are so different! Thank God we have a choice.
I think the different denominations aren't really a problem as long as we remember that we are all part of the same body and that we have to work together to glorify God on this earth.
It would be good if you read my study below first to get Jesus' take. You would think that Jesus would be glad for the Protestant movement, but He is not. He has nothing good to say about it. It may be because it goes against the prayer He made to the Father in John 17:22, "...the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one."
There are alto of non-denominational churches that I can walk in and fellowship with, no-problem. However, when I walk into an established denomination, there seems to be such a focus on what makes them different and not what we all agree on. I try not to say too much about denominations because God will judge us as individual. Denominationalism will burn with the earth.
Are denominations within Christianity necessary? Support your answer.?
