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lemonbeam
Guest
Why are there so many denominations and divisions, in Christianity, on how to interpret the Bible?
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M
mardukm
Guest
I’d put my money on (1) Pride, (2) the spirit of factiousness, (3) the spirit of lawlessness.
Blessings,
Marduk
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FightingFat
Guest
There aren’t that many. there are about 2 billion Christians in the world, 1.1 billion are Catholics, the rest are everything else. We all agree on most things, they don’t agree with the pope’s authority and that ends up meaning they don’t agree on anything much else. But they’ll come round
I think Protestantism has run its course and so do some quite prominent scholars. Did you watch the recent BBC series on Protestantism?I have the book of the series here and, quoting from Naphy, W. G., The Protestant Revolution (BBC Books, St. Ives, 1997):
“On a bright, blustery spring day in April 2005 the body of Pope John Paul II was laid to rest with a requiem Mass in the crypt of St. Peter’s Basilica…That the representatives of two of the worlds most iconic Protestant nations had dropped everything (including, in the case of the Prince of Wales, his wedding day) to attend the pope’s Mass was graphic proof that the spirit of the Reformation had been abandoned…The Reformation and the heroic split from Rome have been reduced to history.” pp. 8-9.
Pretty powerful stuff eh?
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lemonbeam
Guest
But why are there many denominations that say there is no afterlife. There are denominations that say Jesus was a man etc. How can this be explained?
How do you assess which denomination is true?
How do you assess which denomination is true?
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lemonbeam
Guest
And why have their been Christian wars, protestant vs Catholic for example, why aren’t we united?
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imkingdad
Guest
Sin Is divisive. Many of those Biblical interpretations are just Sin trying to Justify itself.
Most wars are fought over Land & riches. Using any means to justify, it just fits nicely into what is basically a collection of Power, Land & Riches grab.
Couple all that with the sinful nature of Fallible man and just about anything can & has been “justified” throughout the ages. Its more about Us turning away from God, His Church & Scripture.
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FightingFat
Guest
You can start by looking at their authority. Where do they get their information from? How do they decide that the original Christian teaching (that is the Catholic teaching -or doctrine) was wrong? Without fail, this comes down to a personal interpretation which usually has some grounding in a personal misconception or gripe, publicly aired.
Then you might ask where did they begin? For example:
The Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints was started in 1830 by Joseph Smith.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses were started by Charles Taze Russell in about 1870.
The Baptist Church grew out of the Puritan-Separatist movement in the Church of England.
You could say that there was Catholic (which means “universal”) Christianity and nothing else, until the Protestant Reformation which began about 1517. Then you have an explosion of different Christian “versions”, all disagreeing about small things. This is because once your authority is you, you make up what truth is. For Catholics, truth is an objective reality which can be known and which we strive for.
Where does the Catholic Church takes it’s authority? From [bibledrb]Matthew 16:18[/bibledrb]
So, who started the Catholic Church? Jesus Christ Himself.
There has always been a Catholic Church, it is One Holy and Apostolic. It has an amazing history of study and of making a real difference to the world and we are very fortunate to be part of it!
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FightingFat
Guest
Because secular leaders usurp Church authority to manipulate a populace to fight for land, or money, or both. For a thousand political reasons in fact. Many say that religion starts wars, in fact this is rarely if ever the case. If warmongers didn’t use religion to motivate people to fight, they would use something else!
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