One Word, One Christ, One Church
There is a huge problem facing the body of Christ today. The church is divided so badly that it doesn’t know its hands from its legs any longer! We are at war with ourselves. There are believers who forbid those under their supervision from meeting with God in certain places of worship. Don’t get me wrong, there are many cults and religious sects that teach false doctrines and these should be denounced and rejected at all costs.
However, I am referring to the pettiness of man that comes into play when we try to show others that our chosen path to God is superior to theirs! I’ve heard and sometimes participated in arguments between Catholics and Pentecostals. I’ve heard criticisms levelled against the Anglican church. I’ve heard accusations of a lack of spiritual charisma in the Baptist church. My question is this: what does it all matter in the end? How did the Christianity go from being united as one body in the Early Church to having over 40,000 denominations in a relatively short span of 2000 years?
Interestingly, the Bible makes no reference to the word ‘denomination’. Jesus said He is the Way, the Truth and the Life and no one comes to the Father except through Him. Simply put, no one can denounce any style of Christianity that places Jesus and His teachings at its centre. Once Jesus is given His rightful place over and above all then God truly becomes accessible to members of that denomination. I guess the best illustration of how Jesus felt about this matter can be found in Luke 9:49-50: Now John answered and said, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us.” But Jesus said to him, “Do not forbid him, for he who is not against us is on our side.”
Like John, we have a tendency to think or feel that our group is the right one to belong to and any other group or individual is treated suspiciously. Jesus corrected this thinking by reminding John that they were all on the same team! This is something the Global Church needs to remember quickly. We are all on the same team with the same purpose. A kingdom divided cannot stand. Wake up Church! A cancerous body will eventually eat itself up.
Very well said. People should stop getting hung up on denominantion, but rather focus on their personal relationship with God and his Word (i.e. Bible). The Bible has all the answers.
God Bless
That really is the truth. Let Jesus and the Word be our guide. There’s nothing wrong with having different expressions of our faith but ALL must have Christ at their centre holding them together in a band of love between the different expressions. We must be united in love otherwise the unsaved world will not see anything worth becoming a part of and that is a gross misrepresentation of our Lord. Thanks for your comments bro.
Think you have both said it. The Bible is absolute…the truth. Christ is the Way, Truth and Life. There is nothing apart from Christ when it comes to Christianity and our relationship with God. So basically, anything that is not following the Word is not of God or the Truth. Denominations are irrelevant (to me). It’s simple: is what you stand for and practice based on Scripture i.e. are we doing relationship or are we still stuck in religion.
Spot on Yoda! I totally agree. We are not saying that doctrinal issues don’t matter. Actually, the doctrine we believe is the only true one as spelt out in the bible. The rest of it is littered by man made traditions. This is where denominations crept in. In the Book of Acts, Paul did not head one type of church and Peter the other. No! There was unity in the Church. It was one Body under the headship of Christ. The bible says that Jesus is coming back for His Bride and not a harem! That speaks prophetically about what the end-time Church will look like. It will be united by the Spirit of Christ with scripture as the only authority on doctrine. Nice one Yoda…thanks for stopping by!!
This is one subject I’m VERY passionate about. It does my head in when I hear people run down other denominations, thinking they are the only one’s with visas to heaven. I picture God with his head in his hands (assuming he has a head and hands. lol) thinking “what is wrong with these people?!”