The deal wthi the denominations is that many people keep announcing there are 30,000 denominations but they are quoting a study completely out of context… The 30,000 are not protestant or even “denominations” exactly. The study they quote says there are over 2 thousand CATHOLIC denominations. I just got tired of all the wild exaggerations.
The whole idea of all those denominations really bothers you, doesnt it?! :yup: Well good! It should bother you. I have the exact source at home it was the Oxford something or other - I ll get it. I beleive the number was 33,000 in 2001. Im sure you’ll feel so much better it when you have the actual source.
The reality of the various doctrines which resulted from the Reformation mantra of “Sola Scriptura” and the belief that the bible would somehow bring a unity of doctrine is clearly not happening. It has caused a multiplicity of doctrine. In response to this REALITY many Protestants, rather than recognizing the facts for what they are, have chosen not to deny that the differences are there, but to deny that they matter! Under the umbrella of inter-Protestant ecumenism these differences are often classified as “disputable matters” which have no significance on salvation. As nice as that seems, for those us with a discriminating palate for theology and reasonableness it is most distasteful. The “core” of the faith is stripped down to the two pillars Sola Fide and Sola Scriptura, but ultimately, when there is no ultimate criterion for what those two things actually they mean so many things that they mean nothing.
Now, for the numbers. Someone earlier posted about 12 doctrinal issues that had two possible stances one could reach from Scripture. For example: Baptism conveys Grace and is necessary vs Does not and is not necessary. If you want to know how many various denominations can form from those 12 issues, all you need to do is raise the number 2 to the exponential power of the number of doctrinal differences under consideration. In this case it would be 2 to the 12th power. Do you know how many denominations that can make? 4096. 15 issues brings the number possible to 32768. It simply is a question of how many issues
someone, somewhere considers critical enough to establish a separate denomination. Protestant history has shown us that the whims of man have led to many thousands of divisions. You may not view them as “significant”, but your opinion - like mine - is irrelevant. In fact, the difference of opinion of whether they are significant or not is simply another variable to add to the list which potentially doubles the number of denominations. I think if you created a distribution analysis you would find that a large number of Protestants cluster around relatively few differences resulting in a normal Bell curve. But as someone else said, even if there were only 50 different Protestant denominations, that is still far too many.
Please know that I dont judge you in any way for your choices. I regret that Christianity is not more unified but I hope and pray that God will work for good all the things we view as differences for those of us who love him, regardless of affiliation.
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