There are 2,942 Catholic Denominations, Maybe more

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Syele said:
IF you want to split hairs on stuff like…
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Listen, don’t fool yourself.

Protestantism is built upon Sola Scriptura.

This means YOU are your own magisterium. If you happen to agree with a lot of people, then get together, and become your own distinct denomination, with a head of your church (a sort of “pope”, if you will), bishops, leaders, etc.

You’ll notice that by having a “teaching authority” breaks the Protestant backbone of Sola Scriptura, and accepting the teaching authority of your newly formed magisterium is quite absurd when you deny the authority of THE Magisterium that is 2,000 years old.

Protestantism is built upon Sola Scriptura, and there’s no two ways about it.

ACCEPT IT.
 
Jean_Marie said:
Listen, don’t fool yourself.

Protestantism is built upon Sola Scriptura.

This means YOU are your own magisterium. If you happen to agree with a lot of people, then get together, and become your own distinct denomination, with a head of your church (a sort of “pope”, if you will), bishops, leaders, etc.

You’ll notice that by having a “teaching authority” breaks the Protestant backbone of Sola Scriptura, and accepting the teaching authority of your newly formed magisterium is quite absurd when you deny the authority of THE Magisterium that is 2,000 years old.

Protestantism is built upon Sola Scriptura, and there’s no two ways about it.

ACCEPT IT.
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I don’t think this thread was intended to be a debate on Sola Scriptura.
 
lak611 said:
I don’t think this thread was intended to be a debate on Sola Scriptura.
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But accepting Sola Scriptura makes each and every Protestant his own personal magisterium, making each and every Protestant his own denomination, meaning there are literally MILLIONS upon MILLIONS of Protestant denominations - as many denominations as there are Protestants themselves.
 
lak611 said:
That is exactly what criteria that author is using to define “denomination”.

stop fighting over silly stuff like numbers.:grouphug:
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Yay! :extrahappy:Someone else gets the entire point of the thread… :clapping:
In all fairness, why should it matter to any of us, Catholic, Protestant or Orthodox how many denominations some author claims exist? What we need to do is pray for Christian unity and
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Seriously, some Catholics are often citing incorrect numbers just to make Protestants look worse than we are. The same Catholics would be VERY vocal about it if Protestants did something similar.
 
Syele said:
Seriously, some Catholics are often citing incorrect numbers just to make Protestants look worse than we are. The same Catholics would be VERY vocal about it if Protestants did something similar.
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They do. Go ahead and create a thread titled “Why do Catholics worship Mary?” and see what happens. No, wait, don’t do that. We know what happens. They get angry–rightfully. Same sort of thing here with the 30K thingie, just a question of whose ox is getting gored.
 
Jean_Marie said:
But accepting Sola Scriptura makes each and every Protestant his own personal magisterium, making each and every Protestant his own denomination, meaning there are literally MILLIONS upon MILLIONS of Protestant denominations - as many denominations as there are Protestants themselves.
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It is not here to debate sola scriptura or to invent your own definitions of the word denomination. What dictionary uses “a Magesterium” as the criteria to determine what a denomination is?
 
Syele said:
It is not here to debate sola scriptura or to invent your own definitions of the word denomination.
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That is the point exactly. Each person has his or her own definition of denomination, and none of us agree. What is the point of even giving numbers? Do the numbers help us to achieve Christian unity, or do they just give us more reasons to fight?
 
lak611 said:
That is the point exactly. Each person has his or her own definition of denomination, and none of us agree. What is the point of even giving numbers? Do the numbers help us to achieve Christian unity, or do they just give us more reasons to fight?
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Well I’m not sure you got my point now. I wasn’t giving numbers I was asking people to stop doing so since they are so inaccurate. In order to prove their inaccuracy, I had to post the numbers they were getting their info from.
 
Syele said:
It is not here to debate sola scriptura or to invent your own definitions of the word denomination. What dictionary uses “a Magesterium” as the criteria to determine what a denomination is?
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From the American Collegiate Dictionary:

A large group of religious congregations united under a common faith and name and organized under a single administrative and legal hierarchy.

“Large” is a relative term that has no real meaning.

Therefore, a denomination is organized under a common faith and legal hierarchy.

If you believe in Sola Scriptura, the only legal hierarchy you have to follow is yourself, making yourself your own denomination.

If you’re a Methodist, and you believe the Methodist Church is infallible, then you don’t practice Sola Scriptura, and the only thing you protest is the infallibility of the Bishop of Rome, not the idea of infallibility itself.

Do you understand the difference between being a Methodist because you like the church you go to and being a Methodist because you believe it to be the infallible Church, set up by Jesus Himself?
 
Syele said:
Well I’m not sure you got my point now. I wasn’t giving numbers I was asking people to stop doing so since they are so inaccurate. In order to prove their inaccuracy, I had to post the numbers they were getting their info from.
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I know. I don’t believe numbers given by ANYONE because anybody can make up numbers to skew his/her idea. I don’t believe any of the numbers are accurate or serve any purpose. We need to find what unites us, not what divides us.
 
Jean_Marie said:
From the American Collegiate Dictionary:

A large group of religious congregations united under a common faith and name and organized under a single administrative and legal hierarchy.

“Large” is a relative term that has no real meaning.

Therefore, a denomination is organized under a common faith and legal hierarchy.

If you believe in Sola Scriptura, the only legal hierarchy you have to follow is yourself, making yourself your own denomination.

If you’re a Methodist, and you believe the Methodist Church is infallible, then you don’t practice Sola Scriptura, and the only thing you protest is the infallibility of the Bishop of Rome, not the idea of infallibility itself.

Do you understand the difference between being a Methodist because you like the church you go to and being a Methodist because you believe it to be the infallible Church, set up by Jesus Himself?
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This doesn’t make any sense. You use Methodists as an example. Methodists have Articles of Religion and Book of Discipline. If one is a Methodist, he will follow those.

Other denominations have statements of faith, etc. Every Protestant does not have his own denomination.
 
Jean_Marie said:
From the American Collegiate Dictionary:

A large group of religious congregations united under a common faith and name and organized under a single administrative and legal hierarchy.

“Large” is a relative term that has no real meaning.
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Really so one person is a “Large group”? Is English your first language?
 
Syele said:
Really so one person is a “Large group”? Is English your first language?
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Yes, indeed English is my first language.

Yes, one is “large” when compared to zero. That what “relative” means. One is relatively large when compared to zero.

On the other hand, let’s define “large” as one billion.

Now, there are NO Protestant denominations, and we must use some other word to describe those organizations to which Protestants belong.

Let’s call them “Anti-Catholic Social Clubs”.

Of which “Anti-Catholic Social Club” are you a member?
 
I was once a member of the Presbyterian Anti-Catholic Social Club.
 
Jean_Marie said:
Yes, indeed English is my first language.

Yes, one is “large” when compared to zero. That what “relative” means. One is relatively large when compared to zero.

On the other hand, let’s define “large” as one billion.

Now, there are NO Protestant denominations, and we must use some other word to describe those organizations to which Protestants belong.

Let’s call them “Anti-Catholic Social Clubs”.

Of which “Anti-Catholic Social Club” are you a member?
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If you believe that all non Catholics are anti Catholics then you are deceived.
 
Jean_Marie said:
Now, there are NO Protestant denominations, and we must use some other word to describe those organizations to which Protestants belong.

Let’s call them “Anti-Catholic Social Clubs”.

Of which “Anti-Catholic Social Club” are you a member?
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Nobody says there are no Protestant denominations. The point is, what difference does it make how many there are? None of the numbers are accurate, but really why should it matter? We need to bring unity not more disunity to the Body of Christ, and making up numbers to throw at each other does not bring unity.

I know many Protestants who are not anti-Catholic. It is uncharitable to label all of them as such.
 
rr1213 said:
If you believe that all non Catholics are anti Catholics then you are deceived.
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If you aren’t anti-Catholic then you believe in the Magisterium of the Church, and are, by default, a “Catholic Christian”.

So, yes, you are either WITH the Church, or against Her.
 
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