Replies

"And the entirety of your own answers are nonexistant. So much for decrying the tendency to simply duck the question."

No need to get upset. I did not finish my sentence in that last post. It should have read,

"Your other questions are excellent ones, and would be well put to the rest of the readers of this thread, or would make a great topic for another thread."

I typed that, but snipped it while proof-reading.

Your other three questions were: "

What are they disagreeing on? What common ground remains between them? Is any disagreement, on any issue for any reason, permitted in your view?

Those are indeed the million dollar questions, Alex. What are we disagreeing on? That would be an extremely long list, wouldn't it? Free will, predestination to hell, man's role in salvation, is baptism necessary for salvation, what should we believe about infant baptism, is the Lord's supper merely a symbol or is Jesus physically present in it, limited vs. unlimited atonement, eternal security, is it necessary to keep the ten commandments or not, the rapture, to say nothing of abortion and homosexuality. Don't really need to go into the Resurrection as an historical event, the virgin birth, inerrancy of the bible,and the timeline of creation, as we're on Free Republic. I think someone else mentioned differences in church government as well back on # 36.

"What common ground remains between them? "

Quite a bit, I'd say, and this is the question that begins all ecumenical conversations. This would be a great subject for another thread, or for that matter, this thread.

"Is any disagreement, on any issue for any reason, permitted in your view?"

Of course, but let's not trivialize the disagreements. What we're talking about here is disagreements big enough to split denominations.

Now, Alex, I've answered your questions, and would be interested in your answer.

I'm asking a very simple question. If scripture alone as a sole rule of faith is sufficient to establish the truth of Christianity, why are there hundreds of disagreeing sects based upon the bible?