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How Many Protestant Denominations Are There? [vanity]

Posted on 11/13/2014 6:49:41 PM PST by Heart-Rest


How Many Protestant Denominations Are There?


Partial List of 5000+ Protestant Denominations by Name


How Many Protestant Denominations Are There?    The 20,000 / 30,000 numbers and David Barrett's statistics



"The Facts and Stats on "33,000 Denominations" The 20,000 / 30,000 numbers and David Barrett's statistics
Part II


(Above links derived from here) ===> ("How Many Protestant Denominations Are There?")



⛪⛪⛪⛪⛪⛪⛪⛪⛪⛪


There are many, many more Protestant denominations out there, not just those reflected in the links above.    How many?    Well, nobody really knows for sure exactly how many Protestant denominations exist at any given point in time, because after you get done counting the first forty or fifty thousand, several thousand more new ones pop up here and there all over the place, like popping pop corn!      :-)


We Catholics love all our Protestant brothers and sisters (no matter how many denominations or "non-denominations" they belong to), and we simply want to share the fullness of the truth with them, so that they can find the precious jewel (the "pearl of great price") that we have already found (by the Grace of God).     With that in mind, the following song is dedicated to all our beloved Protestant brothers and sisters, and their ever-increasing number of distinct and ever-changing denominations with contradictory, mutually-exclusive, incompatible teachings.    (And, no, that is not a bunch of cardinals singing that song!)




(Song -- "Bless 'em All!")

(This song is a tribute to all our beloved Protestant brothers and sisters, no matter what denomination -- or "non-denomination" -- they are currently in.)

"I appeal to you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no dissensions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment."     (1 Corinthians 1:10)



TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic; Humor; Mainline Protestant
KEYWORDS: catholic; denominations; protestant; truth; vanity
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To: Heart-Rest

“You’re making my point.”

Actually, no - assuming your point is identical to the article.

I’ve fellowshipped and worshipped in 6 main churches as we’ve moved around the country and a great many we’ve visited on trips. I’ve never met a single believer, nor a single church that believed that the people you list are the authority on interpreting the Scriptures. Thousands of believers in many states and one foreign country and not a single one matches up to the silly claims of the article.

It is, in short, silliness that is made up to make the Roman Catholic denomination sound better. Frankly, it appears to need all the help it can get these days, but still.

You would be better off gathering actual facts and thinking about them logically, before cutting and pasting trite articles.


21 posted on 11/13/2014 7:22:21 PM PST by aMorePerfectUnion ( "I didn't leave the Central Oligarchy Party. It left me." - Ronaldus Maximus)
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To: Heart-Rest
When I see post like this I can't help, bur think of this passage from Alexandre Dumas'- 'The Three Musketeers'

Porthos:
"You know, it strikes me that we would be better employed wringing Milady's pretty neck than shooting these poor devils of Protestants. I mean, what are we killing them for? Because they sing psalms in French and we sing them in Latin?"
Aramis: Porthos, have you no education? What do you think religious wars are all about?

All followers of Christ would do well to remember Saint Paul's words:
"For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens." Ephesians 6:12
22 posted on 11/13/2014 7:23:16 PM PST by Kartographer ("We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.")
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To: GeronL

Wherever two or more are gathered, Jesus said he was also there. I don’t know about your church, but the Lutheran church I was once a board member of took Jesus literally and inflated every attendance figure by one. My time on the board was eye-opening. Heh.


23 posted on 11/13/2014 7:24:13 PM PST by Sparklite
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To: Sparklite

lol


24 posted on 11/13/2014 7:27:33 PM PST by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
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To: aMorePerfectUnion; Heart-Rest
Not meaning any offense toward you personally, ...

Why not? It is clear that the purpose of the posting is to denigrate Protestants, while promoting the largest cult in the World. It displays the typical arrogance of the Roman Catholic posters seeking to validate their faith in their "group" claim.

What they fail to note is the intolerance goes to the heart of Christ's proclamations and Works. He died to set us free from the bondage of sin and death. They would prefer to work their way through their groups claims and hope that somehow, some day, they can be good enough or at least have enough candles and prayers for them that they can escape from their assumed purgatory.

Of course, most of what they claim is extra-biblical and found only within their "traditions". Jesus had much to say about that! They mostly employ the rat-poison formula, containing 10% poison along with 90% wholesome foods.

Mark 7: 13 Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.” ...

...and Paul says more...

Collossians 2 ... 6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forcesa of this world rather than on Christ.

9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.

25 posted on 11/13/2014 7:28:19 PM PST by WVKayaker (Impeachment is the Constitution's answer for a derelict, incompetent president! -Sarah Palin 7/26/14)
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To: WVKayaker

“Not meaning any offense toward you personally, ...

“Why not? It is clear that the purpose of the posting is to denigrate Protestants, while promoting the largest cult in the World.

......................

Because I’m a follower of Christ and want to reflect that to this person - despite the poor quality of the posted article, despite the attack nature of the posted article, despite the attempted denigration of those who follow Christ...

... and actually, for all those reasons. This poster obviously needs to know Christ.


26 posted on 11/13/2014 7:32:47 PM PST by aMorePerfectUnion ( "I didn't leave the Central Oligarchy Party. It left me." - Ronaldus Maximus)
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To: GeronL; CynicalBear
"When two or more people come together in HIS name, that is church. That is the One True Church, that is the church founded by Jesus Christ."

=============================================================

No, the word "church" is not in that text.   You added that word.

God is among those people gathered together, and God is also with every individual by himself or herself.   (God is omnipresent.)

If you and "CynicalBear" were "together" like that, and an argument broke out between you, and you both would not listen to each other, how could you "tell it to the church" like it says in Matthew 18:17, if the two of you are "the church"?    Would you take it to him, and he take it to you?   (That's how the problem started in the first place!)

(Do you see how absurd and ridiculous that text sounds, when you misinterpret the text you were quoting by falsely adding the word "church" to that text, when the Holy Spirit did not put it there?)

"If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector."    Matthew 18:17

27 posted on 11/13/2014 7:35:47 PM PST by Heart-Rest ("Our hearts are restless, Lord, until they rest in Thee." - St. Augustine)
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To: Heart-Rest
There are many, many more Protestant denominations out there, not just those reflected in the links above. How many? Well, nobody really knows for sure exactly how many Protestant denominations exist at any given point in time, because after you get done counting the first forty or fifty thousand, several thousand more new ones pop up here and there all over the place, like popping pop corn!

So tired of this stupid "statistic" FRoman Catholics spit out as if it is gospel truth and can refute any or everything a "Protestant" might say to dispute the errors of Roman Catholicism. If you are going to post a vanity thread based on your own ignorance, don't be shocked when others call you on it and link, yet again, to better and more reliable sources for the truth. Such as The 33,000 Denomination Myth

28 posted on 11/13/2014 7:36:01 PM PST by boatbums (God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him.)
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To: Heart-Rest

I have to tell you that this claim has always sounded disingenuous to me. It makes it sound like there are tens of thousands of Protestant denominations which condemn each other as heretics when that is simply untruthful.

A great many denominations have fellowship with each other, and the differences in beliefs don’t prevent us from recognizing each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.

And how many non-Catholic denominations are in your local phone book? That tens of thousands figure, again, isn’t honestly arrived at. It divides all non-Catholic denominations when denominations might be in fellowship with each other. An independent church in Africa or Asia can be considered its own “denomination” when its believers would be in fellowship with many other Christians. Let’s actually see and examine such a list, and how it’s made up, and if it actually represents insurmountable differences between different Christian groups. Overall, though, the claim reminds me of the patently false type made by atheists.


29 posted on 11/13/2014 7:36:27 PM PST by Faith Presses On
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To: Heart-Rest

How many protestant attack threads can Catholic FReepers post per day, while claiming that they are the ones suffering bigotry around here? Can you count that up for us next?


30 posted on 11/13/2014 7:39:13 PM PST by Boogieman
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To: CynicalBear
"Catholics just can’t get the “man” as the head of the church out of their head can they?"

=============================================================

That statement in the form of a question is completely, utterly false, CynicalBear.

Did you just skip by post #7 where I specifically stated that Jesus Christ is the Head of His Church, which all Catholics believe?

31 posted on 11/13/2014 7:43:50 PM PST by Heart-Rest ("Our hearts are restless, Lord, until they rest in Thee." - St. Augustine)
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To: Heart-Rest
Billions and billions...

Do not allege that there are 33,000 Protestant denominations. This tally comes from the 2001 World Christian Encyclopedia, and it includes all denominations and paradenominations which self-identify as Christian, including Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants, Old Catholics, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists, Gnostics, Bogomils, etc. And even so, the number is too high. The World Christian Encyclopedia artificially inflates the number of Catholic "denominations" by counting Eastern Churches in communion with Rome as separate denominations. It likewise inflates the number of Eastern Orthodox "denominations" by counting Churches in communion with each other as distinct....

....even if we could arrive at an accurate tally for Protestant denominations (20,000?), we still could not blame the whole of that number on Sola Scriptura. Some of these churches share substantial unity in faith, even if they are juridically independent (perhaps due to geography). And much of the disunity of faith within Protestantism, at least in the developed world, stems from efforts to subordinate the authority of Scripture (e.g., to various sexual perversions). In reality, if every Protestant denomination were serious and consistent in affirming and applying the rule of Sola Scriptura, the spectrum of Protestant belief would be significantly narrower. It bears emphasizing: the only thing for which we can directly blame Sola Scriptura is the extent to which it fails to provide unity in true faith and morals to those who sincerely adhere to it, e.g., "orthodox" Lutherans, Presbyterians, Baptists, Anglicans, Methodists, Pentecostals, Campbellites, etc.
-- from the thread Unsound Sticks, or, Arguments Catholics Shouldn't Use

When this figure first surfaced among Roman Catholic apologists, it started at 20,000 Protestant denominations, grew to 23,000 Protestant denominations, then to 25,000 Protestant denominations. More recently, that figure has been inflated to 28,000, to over 32,000. These days, many Roman Catholic apologists feel content simply to calculate a daily rate of growth (based on their previous adherence to the original benchmark figure of 20,000) that they can then use as a basis for projecting just how many Protestant denominations there were, or will be, in any given year....

....If the Roman Catholic apologist wants instead to cite 8,196 idiosyncrasies within Protestantism, then he must be willing to compare that figure to at least 2,942 (perhaps upwards of 8,000 these days) idiosyncrasies within Roman Catholicism. In any case, he cannot compare the one ecclesial tradition of Roman Catholicism to 25,000, 8,196, or even twenty-one Protestant denominations; for Barrett places Roman Catholicism (as a single ecclesial tradition) on the same level as Protestantism (as a single ecclesial tradition)....

....In short, Roman Catholic apologists have hurriedly, carelessly—and, as a result, irresponsibly—glanced at Barrett’s work, found a large number (22,189), and arrived at all sorts of absurdities that Barrett never concluded. One can only hope that, upon reading this critique, Roman Catholic apologists will finally put this argument to bed. The more likely scenario, however, is that the death of this argument will come about only when Evangelicals consistently point out this error—and correct it—each time it is raised by a Roman Catholic apologist. Sooner or later they will grow weary of the embarrassment that accompanies citing erroneous figures in a public forum.
-- from the thread 30,000 Protestant Denominations?


32 posted on 11/13/2014 7:44:48 PM PST by Alex Murphy ("the defacto Leader of the FR Calvinist Protestant Brigades")
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To: Heart-Rest

Who cares-A person’s salvation isn’t found in church, it’s found through a personal relationship with Christ based on nothing less than His Grace.


33 posted on 11/13/2014 7:45:59 PM PST by JSDude1
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To: null and void

Classic Emo! I guess a lot of people didn’t dig him, but I always thought he was one of the best.

Another great religious joke of his:

“When I was a little boy, I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realised, the Lord, in his wisdom, doesn’t work that way. So I just stole one and asked Him to forgive me.”


34 posted on 11/13/2014 7:46:35 PM PST by Boogieman
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To: Boogieman
"How many protestant attack threads can Catholic FReepers post per day, while claiming that they are the ones suffering bigotry around here? Can you count that up for us next?"

=============================================================

So, to you, posting pictures of the founders of some of the Protestant denominations constitutes an attack on Protestants?

35 posted on 11/13/2014 7:47:20 PM PST by Heart-Rest ("Our hearts are restless, Lord, until they rest in Thee." - St. Augustine)
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To: Heart-Rest; Nailbiter; BartMan1
Emo Phillips

I was in San Fransisco once, walking along the Golden Gate Bridge, and I saw this guy on the bridge about to jump. So I thought I'd try to stall and detain him, long enough for me to put the film in. I said, "Don't jump!" and he turns... You've heard of the elephant man.

He was kind of like that, he had a, well, you could say he had the head of a horse. And my heart went out to him. I said, "Why the long face?"

He said, "'Cause all my life people have called me mean names like horses-head or Flicka or chess-piece or Trigger..."

I said, "Well, don't worry about it, Ed. It can't be that bad."

He said, "My girlfriend's suing me!"

I said, "For palomino?"

He said, "Why was I put on this Earth?"

I said, "My friend, anywhere else you wouldn't stand a chance."

He said, "Nobody loves me."

I said, "God loves you, you silly ninny."

He said, "How do you know there's a God?"

I said, "Of course there's a God. Do you think that billions of years ago a bunch of molecules floating around at random could someday have had the sense of humor to make you look like that?"

He said, "I do believe in God."

I said, "Are you a Christian or a Jew?"

He said, "A Christian."

I said, "Me too. Protestant or Catholic?"

He said, "Protestant."

I said, "Me too! What franchise?"

He says, "Baptist."

I said, "Me too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?"

He says, "Northern Baptist."

I said, "Me too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?"

He says, "Northern Conservative Baptist."

I say, "Me too! Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist or Northern Conservative Reform Baptist?"

He says, "Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist."

I say, "Me too! Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Great Lakes Region or Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Eastern Region?"

He says, "Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Great Lakes Region."

I say, "Me too! Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879 or Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?"

He says, "Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912."

I said, "Die, heretic!" And I pushed him over!

36 posted on 11/13/2014 7:47:22 PM PST by IncPen (None of this would be happening if John Boehner were alive...)
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To: Heart-Rest

I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. So I ran over and said, “Stop! Don’t do it!”

“Why shouldn’t I?” he said.

I said, “Well, there’s so much to live for!” He said, “Like what?”

I said, “Well, are you religious or atheist?” He said, “Religious.”

I said, “Me too! Are you Christian or Buddhist?”

He said, “Christian.” I said, “Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?”

He said, “Protestant.” I said, Me too! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?

He said, “Baptist!” I said, “Wow! Me too! Are your Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord? He said, Baptist Church of God!”

I said, “Me too! Are your Original Baptist Church of God or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?”

He said, “Reformed Baptist Church of God!” I said, “Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915?”

He said, “Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915!”

I said, “Die, heretic scum!” and pushed him off.


37 posted on 11/13/2014 7:51:04 PM PST by freedumb2003 (Measure with a micrometer, mark with chalk, cut with an axe)
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To: null and void

Nooooooooooooo!

I took the tine to edit my post dangit

GNTA!


38 posted on 11/13/2014 7:52:23 PM PST by freedumb2003 (Measure with a micrometer, mark with chalk, cut with an axe)
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To: Heart-Rest

I am neither a Roman Catholic nor a Protestant, so I don’t have a dog in this fight — but one major problem with what you have presented is much of it is ahistorical. Where is Henry VIII’s body of work in theology and exegesis? Charles Wesley is remembered as a hymnodist, not a theologian, and even his brother John is revered by Methodists more as a founder of a tradition than as an authority. A collection of his sermons, along with his amended version of the Anglican Articles of Religion historically set Methodism’s theological emphases, but a lot of Methodists pay no attention to them, if they are aware of them at all. Another thing is that many of the people here would not necessarily identify themselves as Protestants, since they saw their own movements as being distinct from the work of Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, and the Anabaptists. That is certainly the case with Mary Baker Eddy, and the same case can be made for some Pentecostals. Even some modern-day Evangelicals debate on whether or not they are Protestants. Sure, some of the people pictured here started out as Protestants, but they didn’t end up Protestants. If starting out as a Protestant is how someone is to be measured, then you may as well have included Brigham Young, originally a Methodist, on this list.


39 posted on 11/13/2014 7:52:30 PM PST by Southside_Chicago_Republican (If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.)
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To: boatbums
So tired of this stupid "statistic" FRoman Catholics spit out as if it is gospel truth and can refute any or everything a "Protestant" might say to dispute the errors of Roman Catholicism. If you are going to post a vanity thread based on your own ignorance, don't be shocked when others call you on it and link, yet again, to better and more reliable sources for the truth. Such as The 33,000 Denomination Myth

=============================================================

That count is really totally irrelevant, boatbums.    It is just a humorous, but also sad estimate.

How many more than the"one" that Jesus Christ prayed for is fine with you?

If there were only two, that is one too many, according to the wishes and prayer of Jesus Christ.

You do admit that there is more than one Protestant denomination with incompatible teachings, don't you?

40 posted on 11/13/2014 7:54:12 PM PST by Heart-Rest ("Our hearts are restless, Lord, until they rest in Thee." - St. Augustine)
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