Posted on 07/11/2026 3:42:32 PM PDT by Jonty30
When you accept Christ, you are justified. However, part of the Christian life is repentance and leaving the old life behind, which is to my understanding sanctification.
My question is, as you study the Bible and are trying to align your life with the Bible, does that mean you should change denominations periodically as you find the church you are part of having doctrines that are not in line with the Bible and find a new church that reflects where you are in your current state of growth?
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If the church doesn’t believe the original documents are Gods word, find one that does and aligns its teachings and practice with Gods Word. Then do the same with Gods word in your life. The church will leave you if they don’t follow Gods word and you do follow. Do all in good faith and do no sin.. Be convinced in your own mind.
Find ways to minister to fellow believers and do not think of church as a social organization for your benefit
There is only ONE denomination.
The denomination of JESUS CHRIST.
If you are CERTAIN that you belong to Jesus Christ (and Jesus knows YOU) then you are in the only denomination that matters.
ALL the rest of it is just religiosity. Jesus could care less about that.
Good point. The church in Jerusalem never issued guidance. Except when they did.
But churches SHOULD interact and support - or rebuke - each other.
Got to it before me. The Council of Jerusalem is the obvious earliest recorded example. Clear direction to *all* churches on how to handle the fact that both Gentiles and Jews are in the Church.
If you come to realize that you were part of a heretical cult, move on. You may not immediately step into the perfect match but you likely won't recognize that for some time.
If you find that you can no longer subscribe to doctrines of your denomination, start looking for a better match.
The Church in Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Council as it's sometimes called. So why did Paul go to Jerusalem in Acts 15? Well, verse 1 tells us certain people (troublemakers) came to Antioch from Jerusalem and began a conflict with Paul and Barnabas.
So they and others naturally went to Jerusalem to meet with the elders there in order to resolve the conflict. The elders there solved the problem and sent instructions much in the same way Paul and other apostles sent instructions to independent churches.
But Acts 15 in no way set or established a standing headquarters or a permanent authority structure over any other churches.
Any denomination that uses Acts 15 as a guideline for a hierarchy is in error.
You need to continue to read through the Bible and challenge what you have accepted. The Holy Spirit should help you.
God’s Word is our Scripture.
Do the best you can as you come to know it.
God will hold us to account over what we did with what we knew.
I totally understand the parishes have gay priests, but isn't the SSPX “not” the Catholic church? Also, are you saying there are many straight priests in the SSPX?
God ordained the Vatican and its all its fripperies?
That’s a structured they are policy makers not the religious system you think they are.
its a corrupted organization with many popes in recent memory dipping their toes in affairs of the United States or fully embracing liberalism/ progressividm.
Homosexual men find a “ life” beneath a cassock dressing as a woman would, their secret secure and free to abuse others.
.
Go back to the Vatican’s banking scandal in the 80’s.
ago to the sexual abuse scandals of many parishes in the United States, specifically.
I’ve never gotten over the Archdiocese of Baltimore closing catholic run schools , and it wasn’t just 2 or 3, the closing of the schools destroyed parishes, close friends and even neighborhoods Churches closed all because of the many reports and lawsuits against the Archdiocese for the amount of past and present at that time of sexual abuse by perverted molesting priests.
Sick I tell ya’ sick.
No, God did not ordain the Vatican and all its fripperies.
He organized a church body with certain officers and responsibilities. For instance:
Christ has commanded us to not forsake the church (Heb. 10:24-25 ).
We are told to have elders and deacons administering the word and charity, within a church structure. The elders are set aside for the ministry of the word and prayer. This is not to be ignored:
“5 The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you. 6 An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. 8 Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. 9 He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.” Titus 1 Are you doing this in your house? This is church government.
We need to regularly take communion to deal with outstanding sin in our lives and keep short accounts with God (1 Cor. 11:27-30 ). We do not serve communion to ourselves or partake of it ourselves.
How can the elders manage the flock given to them if the flock is non existent? “To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: 2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.” We are entrusted to them! They are to watch over us! We are not handling things ourselves.
The church has been given the ordinance of discipline for the care of the wayward members (Matt. 18:15-20 ; 1 Cor. 5:1-13 ) and if I remove myself from the church, I also remove myself from God’s appointed system of watching over me when my soul desires to stray from the Lord.
What about taking behavior issues to the church as instructed? How can we do this without an actual church body?
“15 “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. 16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ 17 If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.” (Matt 18)
Scripture against says there are those who have the rule over us — as directed — “ Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.” Hebrews 13:7
Behaviors are set and followed in the church. “6 In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. 9 We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate. 10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.” (2 Thess 3) Just one of many examples where church elders are organizing behaviors and exercising discipline over the members there.
The church has been entrusted with the dual ordinances of Baptism (Matt. 28:19 ; Acts 19:1-7 ; Rom. 6:3-11 ; 1 Pet. 3:18-22 ) and the Lord’s Supper (Luke 22:14-20 ; 1 Cor. 11:23-26 ). Baptism is a public identification with and commitment to Christ and the church - we don’t baptize ourselves!! and the Lord’s Supper as a continual proclamation of the resurrection of Christ and a continual reminder of dealing with outstanding sin and keeping short accounts with God. As the church regularly partakes in these 2 ordinances, the gospel is both illustrated and applied in the. . .church.
No, you should not have fellowship with works of darkness you mention like child molestation or homosexuality. No “church” does that, the Bible says there are such things as synagogues of Satan. Our responsibility is to find solid obedient churches and worship, serve, and minister there. A faithful church is our spiritual home in this sinful world.
Don’t wander solo and avoid keeping God’s instructions as to our place in the church and its purpose, many citations above but there are more, in the New Testament we were organized into a church body and so we should still be.
“...does that mean you should change denominations periodically as you find the church you are part of having doctrines that are not in line with the Bible...”
How do you know it’s “the church you are part of having doctrines that are not in line with the Bible” and not you? How are you sure you haven’t become like a false prophet because you came to disagree with the doctrines of said church of which you were a part?
When I was called by God in my 47th year, I was not searching for Him. He called me to repentance. I was deeply broken and began reading the Bible. I started attending the church of my childhood where my mother had me and my siblings baptized and confirmed. At first I enjoyed being a part of a the church which was a Lutheran denomination, but of ELCA standing. These were the years of the ELCA conducting their “Human Sexuality” studies which was really them searching for the loophole to say that one could be a practicing homosexual and a believing Christian. After reading the Bible, I discovered that they were a lying, deceitful congregation and denomination. I left that church and have since seen its disgusting decline. I trooped right over to the other Lutheran church in our city, the LCMS. I found my home. While there are still some issues within my church, there are none that are doctrinal. However, there are people within my church who are liberal in their thinking. We have an early service that is centered around contemporary “worship” music and that has created a “them” and “us” mentality. I wish we could all worship in the same manner with the same liturgy. Maybe that will change one day as our new pastor is very conservative. I think seeking a church that is clearly Bible-centered is most important. The churches that I see going off the cliff allow women to have more influence in the worship service. I would never stay at a church that allows women to preach or even serve the sacraments. And I am speaking as a woman. I personally wouldn’t go from church to church seeking something that cannot be found: a perfect church. But there are good ones and when you find one, stick to it even if there are people jockeying for influence. There are those in every single church. Find one that has a good Sunday school and is solid in its teaching God’s Word.
It is part of growth to make mistakes. In my view, a denomination is a temporary stopover. As you grow in knowledge, you will inevitably outgrow your church because most churches are stagnant in their growth.
Catholic church not my cup of tea In fact any church isn’t really.
I was catholic but became born again.
I’m a work in progress
We all are :)
I saw a sign or meme that said something like “It’s not so much how close the church is to you, but how close the church is to the Bible.”
We used to drive 35 minutes to church. We moved and now it is 20 minutes to the same church. I think that as we grow as Christians we will grow in our knowledge and understanding of the Word, and will seek out congregations that feed that increased understanding.
Of course there will always be differences in viewpoints among the congregation - and the pastors on some things. But having unity in the fundamentals is pretty important.
,,, yep and spreading the gospel.
Too many landmines 💣💥💣💥 LOL 😜😆🤣🤣🤣
Paul wrote what the Holy Spirit moved him too, not the dictates of a corrupt hierarchal religions authority that established itself and calls itself the one true church told him too.
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