Posted on 08/24/2015 8:30:26 AM PDT by damonw
When someone ask the question WHY ARE THERE SO MANY CHURCHES they usually are not interested in seeking an honest answer to the question. But rather they ask the question to go on to say (1) Christianity is divided. (2) God wants unity in His church not division (3) and their group is the Only True Christian Church. This is the case with the video above and the website WhyAreThereSoManyChurches.com that is produced by the hardline Church of Christ (CoC) organization World Video Bible School. This site seeks to examine that video and it’s exclusive claims and inferences in detail. (Please note: Not all congregations in the CoC denomination believe they are the One True Church. The ones that do are called “hardliners” among the CoC’s who do not say the CoC is the One True Church)
SO WHY ARE THERE SO MANY DENOMINATIONS?
In case you have not viewed the 26 minute video above that we are about to examine, the video starts off with 5 interviews where people ask certain loaded questions about denominations and churches. The narrator, Don Blackwell, then starts off by asking a series of more loaded questions. Those questions follow and we will look at and answer a couple of them first before we look into some of the false claims made in the video.
(Excerpt) Read more at whyaretheresomanychurchesanswered.com ...
Membership in the One True Church is more important than ethics or belief. The COC is a cult.
The classic Evangelical position here is that believing on Jesus Christ personally for salvation of your eternal life, without mediator except for Him, by definition puts you in His church. Details of whom the Lord wants you to affiliate with on earth about the connected collective body responsibilities would correspondingly be absent, except that it should be believers, and the more sincere the better.
That is, believers in Him. It is SOOOOO easy for an ostensible worship organization to become believers in themselves. But pride as always goes before destruction. In many cases spiritual destruction. The earthly effects and heavenly rewards of any Christ belief that may be present are minimized in such a situation, which tickles the devil and grieves God.
Mathew 13
31 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field,
32 “which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”
Nelson, Thomas (2009-02-18). Holy Bible, New King James Version (NKJV) (p. 949). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.
Louis, pray tell what is the method you suggest for entry into the One True Church.
If the method you suggest is “faith in Jesus the Christ”...
what exactly does that entail.
James 2:19 [Full Chapter]
You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?quicksearch=demons&qs_version=NIV
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%207&version=NIV
God knows who is a Christian and who isn’t.
Period.
He is the One Who causes dead sinners to be born again into a new life, in the first place.
By the way, the new birth is by faith in Christ, NOT by any kind of ceremonial water baptism.
God creates the faith.
God creates the new birth.
He knows exactly who is a Christian and who isn’t.
I find it curious and telling that a blog defending divisions among Christians would cherry pick part of one verse to suggest that God approves of divisions— I Cor. 11:19— not only out of the context of an entire chapter condemning divisions, but out of the context an entire book condemning divisions!
One can follow men’s traditions and history, or the Bible. That depends on whether you really want to hear God, or not.
Brother, I am not CoC. I am non-denominational and baptist leaning but have debated CoC’s online since 98. I think some of the are orthodox and saved and not all CoC congregations should be considered a cult. But most are very cultic and would be little cults. I try to distinguish between the CoC and the hardline CoC here.
There’s gold in them thar hills (of your post).
Are you church of Christ? Are you defending the CoC. Or do you belong to a group that also thinks they are the one true church?
Ohhhh.... but when some people say that, they really mean, follow their local church’s take on the bible. Heaven forbid one might actually succeed in getting taught by Christ.
“In essentials unity, in non-essential diversity.” But therein lies the rub, doesn’t it? It is disagreement about what is essential.
We fought the Campbellite Wars here on Fr about ten years ago.
I had a local hardliner tell me that a Christian’s salvation depended on his state of mind at death.
Other churches that baptize for remission of sin are in error because it was not done by a CoC preacher.
Music in churches is wrong.
Sunday School is wrong.
Kitchens in churches are wrong.
Wrong
Wrong
Wrong!
Nitpicking. Always looking for something to find WRONG!
I think there is pretty much unity about what is essential among the groups that do not think they are the one true church. And we can go back to the early church fathers and history to see what is orthodox and what is not.
It’s the vain pursuit of purity “according to the flesh.”
I can say something about that because I went sailing right down a substantially similar road after I became a believer, though blessedly with enough misgivings about CoC that I never yielded to their pressure.
The big, open secret of salvation is that Christ loves you into purity, and you answer with ever increasing works of faith as this takes place; you do not engage your pride to work yourself into purity. I can vouch that the latter game Does Not Work. Works of faith often entail a lot of trial and error, and fumbles, and retrospect about what needs to be improved. The important thing is not to stay exactly where you are, but learn something, when you find you have erred.
How about as old as Christ. The RC take is also a worship of outward artifact.
How old is your church?
The Church of Christ is not a "cult".
Get your facts straight about the definition of a cult before spouting off.
We are a Bible-believing church that affirm the historic doctrines of Christianity. We baptize for the remission of sins, worship (most of us) without musical instruments, and partake of the Lord's Supper every Sunday.
Which of these things make us a cult?
Christians are the most damaging to Christianity. Fighting and biting each other, as Paul said, we will be destroyed by each other.
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