Where does 36,000 denominations come from?

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michaelp:
This ought to help challenge you or at least give you something to wrestle with.

ntrmin.org/30000denominations.htm

Michael
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The author of your link and dave are quoting the same work but have entirely different numbers. What gives?
 
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TheGarg:
Pride, Herecy, Self-Glorification
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Lets also try: seeking Jesus’ and God’s will imperfectly, because they have not found the true Church. In other words, love, comittment to Christ, fervor for the Lord.
 
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otm:
Lets also try: seeking Jesus’ and God’s will imperfectly, because they have not found the true Church. In other words, love, comittment to Christ, fervor for the Lord.
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I wasn’t taking a stab at the mislead, i was taking a stab at those who did the initial misleading 😉
 
Catholic Dude:
Any Math majors out there? Take a guess/theory?
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LOL I was a math major and I think your explanation is very good in a half-serious, half-whimsical kind of way. In fact if there are 40,000 possible denominations, but only 36,000 exist today, then clearly there are some gaps in the market. Your theory would allow a programming whiz to devise a “protestant denomination generator” to fill the gaps.
 
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buzzcut:
LOL I was a math major and I think your explanation is very good in a half-serious, half-whimsical kind of way. In fact if there are 40,000 possible denominations, but only 36,000 exist today, then clearly there are some gaps in the market. Your theory would allow a programming whiz to devise a “protestant denomination generator” to fill the gaps.
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Hmm there is such thing as a random number generator, but I think you invented the newest type of product.

Its called an RPG, “Random Protestant Generator”!!!

You type in a little bit about what type of church you want to start and it will create one for you!!

EUREKA!
 
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Thal59:
I am certain, are the small mom and pop “dancing with snakes” type of churches you see down south where services are held in the back yard or in a mobile home.
Thal59
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Oh come now. Do you really think southerners dance with snakes at their back yard/mobile home church? I was born and raised in the south and I can tell you that we don’t dance with snakes; they’re way better as a stew than as a dancin’ partner. And besides, trailers aint got no back yard!
 
Hugh Betcha:
Oh come now. Do you really think southerners dance with snakes at their back yard/mobile home church? I was born and raised in the south and I can tell you that we don’t dance with snakes; they’re way better as a stew than as a dancin’ partner. And besides, trailers aint got no back yard!
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Cain’t do it in Arkansaw, nohow – the Fish and Game will getcha for molesting a protected species!
 
Dave88 << Therefore, I believe 33,000 is a tragically conservative number of Protestant denominations IN THIS COUNTRY (U.S.) let alone in the world. God bless, Dave >>

Hey Dave, if you don’t mind I’d like to copy/paste your post here and put it on my apologetics site. I would like to double-check your work here also if I can find the Barret Encyclopedia. Good job, you set the record straight. 👍

Phil P
 
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TheGarg:
I wasn’t taking a stab at the mislead, i was taking a stab at those who did the initial misleading 😉
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OK. There are those, including some on the forum, who seem to only see heresy and fail to see faith.
 
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geezerbob:
The author of your link and dave are quoting the same work but have entirely different numbers. What gives?
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Eric Svendson is quoting from an earlier edition of the same encyclopedic source. Tragically, the number keeps rising. Unfortunately for Svendson, if you’ve read Dave Armstrong’s article on the subject, you know that Eric Svendson’s polemics fall flat upon its face (as usual).

23,000 or More Protestant Denominations: a Myth of Catholic Apologists or a Documented Fact?
by Dave Armstrong and Al Kresta
web.archive.org/web/20001217080800/http://ic.net/~erasmus/RAZ429.HTM

The beauty is, Svendson still has not faced up the fact that there is ONE Catholic Church listed for every country Barrett lists. Nor has he addressed that fact that all those “denominations” that use a 66-book Protestant Bible, and uphold the pillars of Protestantism (sola scriptura and sola fide) are PROTESTANT even if they want to claim otherwise. Calling themselves “non-denominational” may be a clever marketing technique, but the world (including Protestant authors) know them as Protestants.
 
Catholic Dude:
I will try to do my best in explaining this huge number.

In math terms do you know what “factorial” “!” means?
(ie 5! = 5 x 4 x 3 x 2x 1 = 120)

You can use this “property” to see how many combinations of something are possible. Now it isnt quite right here, but it shows how fast things can add up.

So in the case of 36000 different teachings we can look at 8 specific teachings to each denomination.

1-Bible (SS, Oral , other)
2-Faith (Alone, Works, other)
3-Church (First, Authority, Members, other)
4-End Times (Rapture, Nothing, Hell, other)
5-Baptism (Babies, Audults, Choice, Method, other)
6-Tradition (None, Some, Apostles, other)
7-Communion (Real, symbol, limited, other)
8-Salvation (Selected, Choice, All, other)

Im not sure how the original number was calculated, but considering the different positions for each issue and the different ranking for each denomination then 8!=40,320 differences is a good start.

Any one else? Any Math majors out there? Take a guess/theory?
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“The 2001 World Christian Encyclopedia published by Oxford University Press counts 33,830 denominations within Christianity.”

Source: Beginning Apologetics 1 How to Explain and Defend the Catholic Faith. Fr. Frank Chacon and Jim Burnham

Whaddaya suppose the number’s up to now?

Phil
 
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PhilVaz:
Dave88 << Therefore, I believe 33,000 is a tragically conservative number of Protestant denominations IN THIS COUNTRY (U.S.) let alone in the world. God bless, Dave >>

Hey Dave, if you don’t mind I’d like to copy/paste your post here and put it on my apologetics site. I would like to double-check your work here also if I can find the Barret Encyclopedia. Good job, you set the record straight. 👍

Phil P
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No problem. http://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon14.gif
 
Phil,

Thank you for your web page, btw. I’ve used it for many years as a great apologetics resource. I just started a blog of my own at itsjustdave1988.blogspot.com/ , trying to capture the answers to some of the more frequently asked questions posed to Catholics.
 
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michaelp:
This ought to help challenge you or at least give you something to wrestle with.
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Michael,

The World Christian Encyclopedia by David B. Barrt, George T. Kurian, and Todd M. Johnson (2001 edition), a protestant reference by the way, is the source of the 33000 number.

God Bless.
 
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Ignatius:
Michael,

The World Christian Encyclopedia by David B. Barrt, George T. Kurian, and Todd M. Johnson (2001 edition), a protestant reference by the way, is the source of the 33000 number.

God Bless.
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And, in truth, even if you accept that number, you are just one of the 33000 denominations/traditions that claim Christ, the Bible, and roots in the historic church. Just as the Evangelical church is one of the denominations that claim Christ, the Bible, and roots in the historic church. Just as the Eastern Orthodox church is one . . . etc.

I really does not matter what people CLAIM, but what is. You have a large denomination and so do the southern baptists. To the unbeliever, they are all just one of many.

What is unique among the evangelical churches is that they are unified but allow for diversity on obsurities and non-essentials. That is what make the unity so fantastic. It is not forced upon them by any outside agent, but created because of essential unity that just happens. This is the way that each believer is unified, whether they know it or not. They are unified not because of an outside force telling them that they are through some denominational or traditions title, but through the Holy Spirit which unifies them when they realize and trust in Christ as God and savior. Catholics and protestants are unified as well to the degree that they trust in Christ as God and savior.

Once you start to emphasize the distinctions that Christians have to the neglect of their unity, you have lost the unified witness in your confession, since all unbelievers just see you as one option of the 33,000.

Michael
 
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michaelp:
And, in truth, even if you accept that number, you are just one of the 33000 denominations that claim Christ, the Bible, and roots in the historic church. Just as the Evangelical church is one of the denominations that claim Christ, the Bible, and roots in the historic church.
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Now, Michael, we’ve been through all this many times. The Catholic Church is the original Church, with the Apostolic Succession, teaching a constant and coherent message. And you know that.

Protestantism, however, can’t manage to get its act together and keeps splitting.
 
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