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Rightlydivide
Guest
Yes it does. I agree.
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Quackers
Guest
This is common in Protestantism. I hear of this all the time. I have some acquaintances who have done this very same thing, in fact. As for your questions:
- They base their authority on the Bible, and they believe they have been called by God to be ministers, which gives them authority.
- Most of the Protestant pastors I’ve spoken with believe they will avoid these pitfalls because their faith is strong, and they have a close relationship with Jesus. They don’t anticipate anything of this nature happening to them.
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estesbob
Guest
There best choice is to join the One True Church , the Catholic Church. Better that than run off and form still another man made church with still another version of the truth based on still another personal interpretation of Scripture.
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Rightlydivide
Guest
Shocking. Just shocking. I can’t believe it took you guys that long to say that!
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VWcrazy
Guest
Please show Book, Chapter, and Verse which supports this statement.
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estesbob
Guest
Well if they dont do that the church they form in their bedroom has just as much authority as your church.
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estesbob
Guest
Which bible and who’s interpreation of the it?
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Rightlydivide
Guest
The Bible does not speak specifically as to what to do if the church decides to have a pastor that violates scripture.
A good book for that is Doubtful Disputations which offers advice on what to do when the Bible is silent on a specific issue.
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Rightlydivide
Guest
If they follow the Bible, I am sure people will be led to Christ.
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justinthemartyr
Guest
A. there is no salvation outside the Catholic church is True. This means that if anyone is saved that is not explicitly in the church, they are to some dergree implicitly in the church, for their is no salvation outside of Christ and His Body, the one Church He instituted. " there are many in my flock whom you know not of"i am having a little trouble putting pieces together, can you help me? below are stuff I hear from catholics, which one is incorrect:
(a) there is no salvation outside the catholic church.
(b) protestants are outside the church.
(c) there are true christians among protestants.
B. Protestants are not explicitly in the church though the majority are implicitly in the church yet lack the graces through the sacraments to achieve a certain degree of sanctification (holiness) which helps us to become more fully human as is the goal, perfection.
C. I covered C in B.
Christ wills that the Church be One as He and the Father are one, and how he made it, that there be no division among you and that you avoid dissenters. One Flock, One Shepherd, not many flocks and many shepherds teaching contradicting things.
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Jennifer_G
Guest
I come from a Lutheran background, and some of my family members have started their own church, or preacher “services”. In protestantism, there’s a general belief that you’re free to start up a church if you don’t agree with your own church. I think that part of the problem is a lack of any real heirarchial structure, or even the lack of any knowledge of a structure (I didn’t know we had a bishop in the Lutheran church until one came to our church one Sunday). We aren’t told things like, “If the pastor does something you don’t agree with, you can write to Bishop XYZ…”. Mainstream protestantism does have pastors who go to a theological college, but I’m not sure about non-denominational pastors go to a theological college. I’m inclined to think no considering how many “Get your preacher certificate online!” type things there are online. Case in point, the following was from a quick search I did online -
I suppose, to answer the first question, the above gives them ‘authority’ simply creating a certificate (that one gets in 24 hours). Protestantism basically ‘allows’ people to “think for themselves”. One argument from protestants is that “The pope tells Catholics what to do (believe).”.
For the 2nd question, I’m not sure. Anyone can have pitfalls.
The thing is, now with tens of thousands of denominations, I wouldn’t be surprised if ther’s a few dozen here and there that have the exact same beliefs, but they don’t know about each other.
Also, it’s quite common for any couple in a protestant faith to simply start their own church. My 2nd cousin did that (his uncle was a fallen away Catholic, and led his nephews away in the process when they were kids) and he has his own ministry (and missionary). Although, looking at my cousin’s church’s website, I wouldn’t exactly say it’s a full fledged church - it’s more like a gathering where people can pray however they want (sing, dance, shout, prayer, kneel, read a Bible verse, etc.). It does sound chaotic, though. However, some protestants also don’t like “many of the excesses” in a normal church service. Excesses being extra prayers, rituals, etc…
I remember when I was a kid, I thought it was kind of cool to start one’s own church (even my cousin (Catholic) and I once played “church”. Imagine that! Kids playing church!
At least the liturgy was similar enough…) since that’s what my 2nd cousin was doing at the time - creating his own church. From a protestant perspective, it’s just another thing you do when you’re “on fire for the Lord”.I’m pretty sure, if they were raised protestant, they’re probably doing it in innocence. But, I would tell them that they’re adding to the ever increasing divide between many, many denominations. Soon, there’ll be so many divisions, that ‘churches’ will be able to count the number of members on one hand. That is, everyone will have their own idea of what the truth is.
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Metaron
Guest
In otherwards, Protestants’ll probably spend alot more time in that Place-They-Don’t-Believe-In (Purgatory) because they don’t have all the graces that can be found in the Church. (half-joking) 
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notself
Guest
In my small Ozark town of 12,000 people there are over 50 churches. That is less than 250 people per congregation. There is one Catholic church with about 2000 parishoners. Everyone seems quite happy with the situation.
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VWcrazy
Guest
The reason Scripture is silent on the issue is because is no need to ever start another Church.
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Rightlydivide
Guest
I disagree. Planting churches is what the great commision is all about.
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VWcrazy
Guest
Once again, please show Book, Chapter, and verse which clearly states that one can establish one’s own Church.
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Rightlydivide
Guest
The Bible does not speak directly to the procedures for starting a church. We have his great commision to us. Thankfully many people follow that and have led others to Christ.
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VWcrazy
Guest
Unless you can show the exact Book, Chapter, and Verse, then said Church would not be Biblical.
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Metaron
Guest
That’s because this was already taken care of in the deposit of Faith, and they had already maintained Apostolic Succession-- go figure.
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Metaron
Guest
VWcrazy meant “church” as in “denomination” or “non-denominational community” separate from the original Roman Catholic Church, not starting new parishes, which we all agree on.
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