K
khutcheson
Guest
I attend a non-denominational church. I grew up in a non-denominational church associated with a mainstream evangelical college.
- Status
S
Syele
Guest
No, this is not what I am saying, you asked about their genuineness. Being Genuine is different than saying true things. Someone can read my words here and agree with them or disagree with them, but that does not attest to weather I genuinely believe all I say AND live it out each and every day.
If you want to know what church fathers I agree with the teachings (though not 100%) they have published, that is a very different question. and I agreed with bengal-fan’s list as I said.
R
ralphinal
Guest
I have one that may not have a good answer. For those who belong to a denomination that began for only political reasons, how do you justify it? Specifically, the Southern Baptists began when they held it was a God-given right to own slaves. Is this problematic?
S
Syele
Guest
the plan is that answers are simple answers, not debates. I asked those with differing views than myself (I specifically said Calvinist as they are my opposite on a great many things, I wnated a broad view) to answer as well. As I answered already Arminian and Calvinist are not denominations, but Doctrines embraced by very very many denominations.You raise an interesting thought that began my hesitation about the OP. For a Catholic to ask a protestant a sincere question, one has to determine out of the 20,0000 to 30,000 different denominations. So I do agree with your statement, The Arminian is ball hogging this thread, unless other protestants speak up, or start their own, because , I dont believe all of you protestants are going to believe alike, making it difficult to thread this site, I feel sorry for any moderater if other protestant denominations way in. Just a thought.
a summarization based on http://mb-soft.com/believe/txh/denomi2.htm:
**
Protestants**
- Lutherans
- Calvinists
- Arminians
- Brethren
- Anabaptists
- Anglican Communion
- Non-Denominational
S
Syele
Guest
I grew up in non denominational churches. I have also been a member of the Episcopal church. I now attend the Assembly of God.
S
Syele
Guest
I’ll have to let a Baptist answer for the Southern Baptists, but more generally, I do not choose a denomination to attend based on such things. As I mentioned before, most denominations fall in one of only a few doctrinal categories. Instead of asking who founded each division, and why, I want to know:
Do their teachings line up with scripture?
Much is taught by the individual Pastor, What education and anointing for preaching/Sheparding does he have?
Is the attitude of the Pastor(s) & congregation one that reflects the fruit of the Holy Spirit? Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and Self-Control? Scriptures say we will know them by their fruit.
What system of accountability is in place? (for leaders as well as Church members)
S
Syele
Guest
I made the thread, invited others to post in it, and enjoyed answering the questions that came up. you can only ball hog if you don’t let anyone else play.
I’d be happy to see people who disagree with me post here. Not everyone can agree with me…
C
Claire_from_DE
Guest
Did the individual churches of those three denominations that you attended have a lot in common with each other? If so, is that why you chose to go there?
If not, do you see them as a progression? I mean, does the Assembly of God church you currently attend seem to teach more doctrinal truth than the previous churches, or have holier people?
S
Syele
Guest
They all taught the same things on a basic level. The stuff in The Nicene Creed (catholic meaning Universal) , The five points of the remonstrants - Humans have free-will(granted by God’s grace, Conditional election (those who choose God will be the same who are elected to Heaven), General Atonement (Christ died for everyone), resistible Grace(one can resist god and not choose Him, Falling from Grace (Salvation can be lost). All also have charismatic worship styles.
They differed in the order of service, speaking in tongues, and Wine vs grape juice in communion.
The common aspects had very much to do with my choice to be a member at those Churches.
G
Gabriel_of_12
Guest
I have found like you say these many protestant denominations are similar to Catholic but are not.
Did your protestant movement come from the Catholic Church originally?
Ps. What I like and dislike, does not mean anything here, Its truth that matters to me, I should add, a man made ideology, or a man made christian faith is hard to prove it comes directly from Jesus.
G
Gabriel_of_12
Guest
If you submit to the authority of the bible, then why dont you submit to the authority that gave us the holy bible? Before you go there, I know God inspiried the wiitten word, but it was the Catholic Church under the inspiration of the holy spirit, that authenticated it.
Ps. I thought Arminians where the first Catholics to embrace the Catholic Church as a people?
S
Syele
Guest
I believe all Protestant churches are traced through the Catholic Church as well.
I do not accept blanket infallibility, other than the inspired word of God. By that I mean that just because someone or some group is correct about one thing, does not follow that they are correct about everything. But we are diverging from questions on protestant beliefs to a Catholic vs. Protestant debate. I think debating in this thread would make it too convoluted to follow all of them,
You are thinking of Armenians (people of a particular country) as opposed to Arminians who were people agreeing with Jacobus Arminius.
B
bengal_fan
Guest
catholic dude, the OP said this was not a thread for debate but an opportunity to ask a question and get an answer. if you want to debate you should start another thread, but i will address this (and only this) post.
hope this helps, and again this will be the last debate by me in this thread. if you want to question or debate any of the protestant answers, start a new thread.
so, by your own logic, you don’t judge, you trust your church to judge. that’s fine, that’s just not how protestants (most) operate. i cannot judge the “Christianness” of some one else. i can look at their actions and see if they are compatible with what the bible teaches, but i am not the one who judges. even the catholic church says it cannot say who is in hell. they will say who is definitely in heaven, but they would not say some one is in hell.
they are heretics according to your and your church’s understanding, but they did not think they were heretics. in fact, they believed they were teaching the truth. many times, the winner of the argument was the one with the most power (political, military, votes, etc.) behind them.
again, this is not a thread for disagreements, but i said i would respond this one time in here. one church judges it as heretical, one church says it isn’t. the arian controversy is a great example of this. at some points, arius was considered a heretic. at others, athanasius was. athanasius’ point of view eventually won out, but in the nicene creed, there was a bit of a compromise with the arians in including the term “begotten”. i don’t have to consider anybody anything, let alone not a “genuine Christian”. i can disagree with some one and still worship with them. all protestant denominations have a set of “essentials” (trinity, death and resurrection of Christ, etc.) which is what makes them a Christian religion. after that though, i can disagree with anyone on anything and still worship with them. i might think they are wrong, but i must always be humble enough to know that i might be wrong.
because i hold to prima scriptura number one. and because it is not a necessary doctrine for salvation. it is a doctrine of practice. it does not separate Christians from non-Christians. the catholic church even teaches this by accepting that protestants are Christians.
hope this helps, and again this will be the last debate by me in this thread. if you want to question or debate any of the protestant answers, start a new thread.
B
bengal_fan
Guest
it’s a good question. most protestants would say they do submit to the authority that gave us the bible. the Holy Spirit which guided the church council.
the question (from an orthodox point of view) could be turned around and ask why the roman catholic church doesn’t submit itself to the authority that put the bible together. church council made up of all the patriarchs having and equal authority (with the bishop of rome as primary but not supreme)? why did the roman catholic church break from that model and the pope claim a supreme authority rather than the first among equals that the orthodox claim was the original authority?
this is not a thread of debate but question and answer.
also, i am not arminian and have answered a number of questions on here so i think some of you are giving syele a hard time. there have actually been a couple of different protestant traditions represented in this thread.
S
slo2lurn
Guest
i dont undrstand? were u a live back then. did u write somethine before them. do you mean the other way around? that u do not agree with them instead of them agreeing with u…
A
Archerette74
Guest
I just love your idea - a true Q & A thread with no debates!
When you wrote this, about babies not being accountable for their actions it made me think of this question:
What does your church teach about Original Sin? Or, what are your beliefs on Original Sin? And maybe explain why Baptism is a necessary sacrament (you listed it as one of the two sacraments that you believe in I think). Thanks so much!
R
ralphinal
Guest
I would have no issue with this response. To me, doctrine is important. It just bothers me that there are divisions not because of understanding of Scriptures, but because of politics, affairs, and other non-spiritual matters. I very rarely go with the who founded your church line. I do, however, use the WHY was your church started. It is a valid question in my mind. Why is always better than who or what.
A
AgnosTheist
Guest
can a peaceful & loving agnostic make it to heaven?
A
AgnosTheist
Guest
This Syele guy is pretty smart. A wise guy. 
E
East_Anglican
Guest
Paul never said that the number of the elect correspond to the number of angels that fell. According to Augustine, when a third of the angels fell their seats became vacant for people who God elected before hand.
Paul never said anything of the sort.
Some Augustinian Theolgy is nuts.
Have you guessed that I’m an Arminian yet?
- Status