"For that matter, please show me ANYWHERE you can find what "bible only" Christians officially believe. 25000 different bible christian denominations all have differing interpretations of scripture. Which ONE do you follow???"
Or is it "30,000"? There aren't "25000" "bible christian" (i.e., code for "Protestant evangelical") denominations.
David Barret (*the* source used by Roman Catholic apologists) cited 20,780 denominations--the majority of which are *not* "bible christian," i.e., Protestant evangelicals that hold to the principle of sola Scriptura.
Barret's exhaustive work (incidentally, the work cited by Roman Catholic apologists in their "25,000" Protestant denomination claims, though they are less than honest in conveying what the numbers actually state) cites that there are 8,196 denominations within Protestantism. Moreover, the figures are significantly less in regard to actual denominational distinctives, as Barret will make a distinction between, say, Baptists that use hymns and those that utilize more modern music--while they are in complete agreement with the core essentials of the faith and the Gospel.
Interestingly--and never mentioned by Roman Catholic apologists--is that Barret cites *seven* major ecclesiastical "blocs". This same work cited by Roman Catholics in their erroneous (and moot) claim of "25,000" Protestant denominations cites that there are 223 denominations of *Roman Catholicism*.
Barret makes distinctions with this number for Roman Catholicism to further produce *2,942* separate "denominations" within Roman Catholicism (American Roman Catholics do *not* belief the same things as Roman Catholics in Haiti, and Vincentians have distinctives that are quite different than those of Jesuits, for example). This number was cited in 1970; in 1970 he cited 3,294 evangelical Protestant denominations--a whopping difference of 352 denominations.
Barrett's wider category set of doctrinally distinctive denominations is twenty-one Protestant denominations and sixteen Roman Catholic denominations.
Barret, when citing evangelical Protestants, actually cites them as *one unified group*, regardless of denomination (Barret, p. 71). In contrast, on the very same page he makes four major group distinctions among Roman Catholics:
[a] Catholic Pentecostals;
[b] Christo-Pagans (Latin American Catholics that syncretize folk-Catholicism with traditional native American paganism);
[c] Evangelical Catholics;
[d] Spiritist Catholics.
This can be further put into sub-groups, such as moderate Roman Catholics (most American Catholics and most Catholic scholars); Conservative Roman Catholics; Traditionalist Roman Catholics; and Sedevacantist Roman Catholics (those who believe the apostolic chair of St. Peter is presently vacant). (See David A. Barrett's *World Christian Encyclopedia: A Comparative Survey of Churches and Religions in the Modern World A.D. 1900—2000 [ed. David A. Barrett; New York: Oxford University Press, 1982]).
Evangelical Protestants *agree* on the core essentials and have unity of faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There is, however, a wide-varying view of beliefs within Roman Catholicism, not unity of belief.
Moreover, it is a logical fallacy of the species 'faulty analogy' to compare the (so-called) one "denomination" of Rome (there are more than one) with the *principle* of sola Scriptura.
To be logical (and honest), the one denomination of Rome (even if we grant there is one unified, distinct denomination of Rome) must be compared with the unity among, say, Reformed Baptists.
Or, to be logically consistent and honest, the Romanist may compare the principle of sola Scriptura (evangelical Protestantism) with the principle of Scripture plus an infallible interpreter (Roman Catholicism), and the latter has fare more disunity than the former.
The Roman Catholic principle of Scripture plus the need for an infallible interpreter has produced far more cults, all of which claim to have an "infallible interpreter" to which one must submit.
In sharp contrast, in evangelical Protestantism we have us embracing, with few exceptions, each other as brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ all believing essentially the same core doctrines of historic Biblical Christianity.
There is a unity of belief in the Gospel and the core doctrines of Biblical Christianity among evangelical Protestants. There is, however, a great deal of disagreement among Roman Catholics.
I'll answer your next question from #64 in a subsequent reply to keep this one from being too long.