Why so many Protestant denominations

[pismopal]

why so many denominations?

sola scriptura(bible alone as authority) is the reason. the invented doctrine of martin lither in the early 16th century which was never heard of previous to him.

when you have a man interpreting scripture for himself, he can make it say whatever he wants. without a teaching authority, ordained by God, to keep the teachings of the apostles in line, you have chaos and division which is evident in the last 500 years of Church history.

previous to the 16th century the church was a virtual monolith, teaching basically the same thing throughout the world, other than the few differences of the orthodox split in 1054. after the 16th century and the advent of sola scriptura, we now have well over 30,000 splits in the protestant realms. The fruits are very evident.

Bengalfan
This is one of the posts that I think expresses my thoughts in a little different way but is probably a little less offensive to you. " when you have a man interpreting scripture for himself, he can make it say whatever HE WANTS." ( caps are for emphasis and are mine)

 

[pismopal]

Because Junior needed a Church?

Bengalfan
This is another “simplistic” post that hits close to my original idea that you may have missed. There is no reason for me to further offend you so I will just say that my original post was hyberbole but much, much closer to the truth than the explanation that all “churches” are formed by people driven by conviction.

 

[jblake]

pismopal:

If you don’t think that most of that “lets start a new church” mentality has to do with greed and avarice, thats ok but I think you are wrong.

Luther’s reforms were aimed at the Catholic Church. He formed a new denomination only after the greed and avarice of the Roman Catholic Church excommunicated him.

Whilst the ostensible cause for the creation of the Church of England was the refusal of the Pope to grant Henry a divorce, that dispute had been brewing for decades. Most of it was about the attempt/claim by the Catholic Church that kings, and countries were to be subservient to it.

Wesley was merely preaching that which he had experienced. A doctrine that was not inherently in conflict with the Anglican Church.

Zwingli’s initial objections were about the political mechanisms of the Roman Catholic Church. The rest of the objections developed later.

When you get to the Restoration Movement, you find basically the same pattern. Those that advocate teaching and practicing only that which is taught by the Bible are thrown out of their existing church, and find themselves running a new organization. (With Sola Scriptura, one has to throw out tradition. Determining what is done “because of tradition”, and because it is solidly supported by the Bible is difficult.)

Greed/avarice is always a temptation for leaders of a church. It doesn’t matter if they are independent, Protestant, Catholic, or Orthodox. Most of the time they resist that temptation.

Please explain why there are more than 25,000 denominations formed by people who "had to be true to their convictions?

Can you clearly articulate the differences between those denominations?

Can you clearly demonstrate that the theology, doctrines, and practices of each of those groups is unscriptural, using only to Sola Scriptura?

Can you clearly demonstrate that the theology, doctrines, and practices of each of the orders within the Roman Catholic Church are scriptural, using only Sola Scirptura?

 

[pismopal]

Luther’s reforms were aimed at the Catholic Church. He formed a new denomination only after the greed and avarice of the Roman Catholic Church excommunicated him.

Whilst the ostensible cause for the creation of the Church of England was the refusal of the Pope to grant Henry a divorce, that dispute had been brewing for decades. Most of it was about the attempt/claim by the Catholic Church that kings, and countries were to be subservient to it.

Wesley was merely preaching that which he had experienced. A doctrine that was not inherently in conflict with the Anglican Church.

Zwingli’s initial objections were about the political mechanisms of the Roman Catholic Church. The rest of the objections developed later.

When you get to the Restoration Movement, you find basically the same pattern. Those that advocate teaching and practicing only that which is taught by the Bible are thrown out of their existing church, and find themselves running a new organization. (With Sola Scriptura, one has to throw out tradition. Determining what is done “because of tradition”, and because it is solidly supported by the Bible is difficult.)

Greed/avarice is always a temptation for leaders of a church. It doesn’t matter if they are independent, Protestant, Catholic, or Orthodox. Most of the time they resist that temptation.

Can you clearly articulate the differences between those denominations?

Can you clearly demonstrate that the theology, doctrines, and practices of each of those groups is unscriptural, using only to Sola Scriptura?

Can you clearly demonstrate that the theology, doctrines, and practices of each of the orders within the Roman Catholic Church are scriptural, using only Sola Scirptura?

I won’t clearly demonstrate anything about the 10’s of thousands of denominations that have been formed, mainly because that is not my job but actually I don’t know of anyone on this planet who could and I would like to, respectfully, go out on a limb and include you.
If you think that anyone is going to buy the idea that all those denominations are formed as a result of G-d’s will I invite you to try. The confusion that divides these denominations is obvious to most. It is my opinion that a lot of church goers choose a church for reasons aside from doctrine anyway.
Your reference to sola scriptura is meaningless to me anyway as the concept is not valid to a Catholic…and I am. I understand the concept but it has been blown so full of holes in many other threads and other areas that it needs not be revisited by me.
Your remarks about the Church in England and Henry are not historical. In fact Henry was a “devout” and loyal Catholic who had no beef with Rome until he couldn’t get his way. That is so well documented in all mainline treatise.
Your observations about the Church being corrupt at one time is true but we are still here…alive and kicking.
Is homosexual marriage supported by the Bible?..serial marriage?..I could go on and on with differences that divide denominations but my point is that the ongoing formation of “churches” that satisfy only the leaders, certainly I don’t think they please G-d and I don’t think G-d is the author of this confusion. If they are so in tune with the Bible or sola scriptura why is there the necessity for another denom…just a question?
Greed and avarice… always a temptation…you are spot on there and I am not being selective about that but I am more interested in solid doctrine which I have found in my Church.
Thanks for the civil,sincere, thought provoking questions but I don’t have much info about all denoms…oh by the way the Baptists I once belonged to did not think that Christ drank wine…but thats on another thread.

 

[bengal_fan]

the offense comes in the fact that you assume greed and a lust for power in these people who actually sacrifice a lot to follow what they believe God is leading them towards. by your logic, a priest is power hungry because he desires to lead. a bishop even more power hungry and greedy. a cardinal even more… and on up the line.

the mere fact that people throw out the number “25,000” denominations goes to show they don’t know much about protestantism (and that goes for the secularists who also publish numbers like this). there are only a few different theologies. the rest of what “separates” protestant denominations is much like those things which “separate” the latin rite from the 22 other rites within the catholic church. it is a very small minority of churches that are started because of greed and avarice. the reason i know this to be true is because of the difficulty involved in starting a church. i have been a part of church plants and have seen others. many have grown to be quite successful, but only after years of the pastor and his family having to rely on bags of groceries being dropped off at their door, or the pastor driving a school bus to make ends meet, or bagging at a grocery store, or some other form of “tentmaking”. i have seen it time and again. do some slip into greed after growth has taken place? sure. what better example than the catholic church itself of this? but it is not why the church’s were started.

back to the statement “there are only a few different theologies”. not every church is a denomination unto itself. every “independent baptist” church is not it’s own denomination. every “non-denominational” church is not it’s own denomination. the reason i say this is because they will line up with many other churches and denominations on issues of theology. maybe not issues of style or structure but of core beliefs they do. there are those “Christian” denominations out there that don’t line up with anyone. those, however, usually express a theology that is in no way consistent with historical Christianity.

i do believe that the bible can be twisted to suit the needs of anyone. but don’t think for a second that “most” protestants do that. most protestants are truly seeking after God, and He promises that those who seek will find.

your assumption is offensive, but you seem to like being that way so have at it. i will continue to truly try to understand all sides and not make assumptions without really knowing.

oh, and you are allowed to say the name of God now. the curtain has been torn, we can now approach the Holy of Holies (boldly approach as the New Testament tells us).

 

[whatevergirl]

Why further splits after Martin Luther’s initial split? I have always wondered that…I read something recently during my google travels that the splits that have occured and that keep occuring have a lot to do with personal preference from those beginning new ministries, which seem to be popping up all over the place here in Florida. People have been misinterpreting the Bible for years…often to suit their own behaviors. God forbid we call those behaviors sins.

I think that could be why there is so much splintering…I wonder what Jesus will say when He returns to see such confusion over the Bible, and misinterpretations. I am grateful, personally, that the RCC has one person who decides what is true through Scripture, through his infallible interpretation. The RCC is steadfast with its laws…I suppose that is why many leave it as well, because it doesn’t move with popular opinion.

 

[pete_29]

Why so many Protestant denominations.

Well why so many Catholic denominations.

1. Conservative
2. Liberal
3. Eastern Rite
4. Traditional (sspx)
5. Charismatic Renewal
6. Folkloric

6 ---------- 30,000+ ?

 

[pete_29]

mormons aren’t Christians. just fyi.

I think Mormons might disagree

 

[Atemi]

I assume that everyone in this forum except the atheists and agnostics believe that God is incapable of error

Yes. Only God, not men.

that being said then why after the first group of protestants split from the Catholic church didn’t the splitting away end.

I don’t know why anyone would assume that it should have.

I mean, if the Holy Spirit told, Martin Luther, ( just as an example, I don’t mean to single him out in any way), that the Catholic church was teaching false doctrine and the Lutheran churh was formed, then why was the split of any other denomination from the Catholic church necessary.

I don’t even think that Lutherans believe that Luther was perfect.

And since the RCC split from the Holy Orthodox church, why were there any more splits after that?

These questions can come from all sorts of angles.

I would think that the Holy Spirit would have given Luther all the information he needed to correct the problem.

No.

This is a very narrow way to look at this.

Luther did not have a Batphone to the throne of God anymore than you or I do.

(Again let me state that I’m not picking on Luther but he is the most famous Protestant that I know.)

Understood.

These are not bad questions per se, but only yet unformed questions.

It seems to me That since many Protestant denominations split from the Catholic church, and that some if not most of them have split apart themselves, that A: the original problem still exists, or B: The original organization, i.e. the Catholic church, was the correct one.

The answer is part answer “A.”

The original problem of those not staying true to the Word of God found in the Scriptures still exists. This problem will always exist until the Lord comes again.

Even Catholics recognize that not even their own are all true to the Word of God and many do as they please: believing whatever suits them. The only difference between Protestants and Catholics in this regard is that Protestants are in the open about it. That is my take from my experience on both sides of the fence, so to speak.

I say only “part answer A” because there are many “splits” that are not splits at all. Not every denomination you find was created by a true split: doctrinally or politically. Some denoms exist simply because of taste.

There is much liberty to be found in Christ.

I’m just a high school graduate so please keep the words as small as possible.

LOL.

I highly doubt you would have a problem keeping up with any of us here.

…

 

[Atemi]

In the CC there are over one billion of people, we can live in unity, protestants can’t do it.

Surely we all know that there are not one billion Catholics who all believe the same things: doctrinally and morally.

Not even close.

There is no such unity among Catholics, so lecturing others about the very same problem only judges oneself.

…

 

[justasking4]

This is kind of my point. If sola scriptura is right then why didn’t the early Protestants, who I’m sure prayed very hard for guidance, all come up with the same interpretation of the Bible. Why would the Holy Spirit lead the Baptists in one direction, the Mormons in another direction, the Methodists in still another direction and so on. It reminds me of the story of the detective who questioned ten eyewitnesses to a robbery and got ten different answers in return.

Do you think that in the catholic church that there is just one interpretation of the Scriptures? I don’t know if you know this that there is less than 20 verses infallibly interpreted by the catholic church. What this means is that even in the catholic church you can’t get around the fact that catholics (from the pope to the average catholic) can have a different interpretation of a given passage of scripture. The idea that the catholic church is one unified body is not true.

 

[bengal_fan]

I think Mormons might disagree

and they would be wrong. they don’t believe in Jesus the way Christianity teaches about Jesus. they might disagree, but that is because they believe THEY are the true Christians. i say it again, mormons are NOT a Christian sect, a protestant church, or just another denomination. they are a different faith entirely.

 

[PaperMoon]

I assume that everyone in this forum except the atheists and agnostics believe that God is incapable of error, that being said then why after the first group of protestants split from the Catholic church didn’t the splitting away end. I mean, if the Holy Spirit told, Martin Luther, ( just as an example, I don’t mean to single him out in any way), that the Catholic church was teaching false doctrine and the Lutheran churh was formed, then why was the split of any other denomination from the Catholic church necessary. I would think that the Holy Spirit would have given Luther all the information he needed to correct the problem. (Again let me state that I’m not picking on Luther but he is the most famous Protestant that I know.) It seems to me That since many Protestant denominations split from the Catholic church, and that some if not most of them have split apart themselves, that A: the original problem still exists, or B: The original organization, i.e. the Catholic church, was the correct one.
I’m just a high school graduate so please keep the words as small as possible.

You are totally right. That’s how we know that that split could not have been inspired by God. The Bible says you know them by their fruit and what is the fruit of the Martin Luther rebellion/split? More and more splitting till you get chaos and many different cults etc and making it even harder to find God because people get caught up in cults and get hurt by them and turned off of God altogether. The Martin Luther thing did waaaay more harm than good in the longrun that’s how you know it was not inspired by God.

 

[PaperMoon]

Luther’s reforms were aimed at the Catholic Church. He formed a new denomination only after the greed and avarice of the Roman Catholic Church excommunicated him.

Whilst the ostensible cause for the creation of the Church of England was the refusal of the Pope to grant Henry a divorce, that dispute had been brewing for decades. Most of it was about the attempt/claim by the Catholic Church that kings, and countries were to be subservient to it.

Wesley was merely preaching that which he had experienced. A doctrine that was not inherently in conflict with the Anglican Church.

Zwingli’s initial objections were about the political mechanisms of the Roman Catholic Church. The rest of the objections developed later.

When you get to the Restoration Movement, you find basically the same pattern. Those that advocate teaching and practicing only that which is taught by the Bible are thrown out of their existing church, and find themselves running a new organization. (With Sola Scriptura, one has to throw out tradition. Determining what is done “because of tradition”, and because it is solidly supported by the Bible is difficult.)

Greed/avarice is always a temptation for leaders of a church. It doesn’t matter if they are independent, Protestant, Catholic, or Orthodox. Most of the time they resist that temptation.

Can you clearly articulate the differences between those denominations?

Can you clearly demonstrate that the theology, doctrines, and practices of each of those groups is unscriptural, using only to Sola Scriptura?

Can you clearly demonstrate that the theology, doctrines, and practices of each of the orders within the Roman Catholic Church are scriptural, using only Sola Scirptura?

Martin Luther also removed books from the Bible and wanted to remove Revelations form the Bible. Then the Protestant church turns around and taught it’s followers that Catholics were the ones who were not real Christians and who were of the devil etc.

 

[PaperMoon]

Why further splits after Martin Luther’s initial split? I have always wondered that…I read something recently during my google travels that the splits that have occured and that keep occuring have a lot to do with personal preference from those beginning new ministries, which seem to be popping up all over the place here in Florida. People have been misinterpreting the Bible for years…often to suit their own behaviors. God forbid we call those behaviors sins.

I think that could be why there is so much splintering…I wonder what Jesus will say when He returns to see such confusion over the Bible, and misinterpretations. I am grateful, personally, that the RCC has one person who decides what is true through Scripture, through his infallible interpretation. The RCC is steadfast with its laws…I suppose that is why many leave it as well, because it doesn’t move with popular opinion.

True, some get seduced by popular trends and the glamour of many signs and wonders which may or may not be real so they leave the Catholic church and some come to the Catholic church because of the stability and unchanging unwavery solidness of the church which doesn’t follow every popular thought or “movement” etc. Because they get tired of the everchanging thoughts and “new revelations” and false theologies etc which go unchecked because there’s no one they have to answer to. A lot of those movements like holy laughter etc are simply NOT of God period but people get seduced by the false signs & wonders.

 

[PaperMoon]

I think Mormons might disagree

Mormons are NOT Christians no matter what they may say. They believe crazy stuff like thinking Jesus & lucifer were brothers and and that Jesus was just an angel for starters and there’s lots more crazy nonChristians things they believe. Mormons are not Christians.

 

[PaperMoon]

and they would be wrong. they don’t believe in Jesus the way Christianity teaches about Jesus. they might disagree, but that is because they believe THEY are the true Christians. i say it again, mormons are NOT a Christian sect, a protestant church, or just another denomination. they are a different faith entirely.

Yup, exactly! Even other protestant churches at least believe Jesus is the Son of God. Mormons are so far out there they don’t even fit in with other protestants!

 

[paarsurrey]

Why so many Protestant denominations

Hi

I think they should all merge into one United Christedum in truth by peaceful dialogue, maintaining the present diversity, not compromising falsely, but sacrificing the egoistic rhetorics.

Thanks

 

[jblake]

Martin Luther also removed books from the Bible and wanted to remove Revelations form the Bible.

The only book to which he can be solely credited with removing is a text that was ambiguously part of the Canon of German Catholicism. He rejected the divine origin of deuterocanonical material, but did think that it was useful background reading.

If you want to get technical, the RC Church did remove books from the Bible. (1 Esdras, 2 Esdras, Psalm 151, EpLao, PrMan, 3 Mac, 3 Corinthians.)

xan

jonathon

 

[SIA]

I assume that everyone in this forum except the atheists and agnostics believe that God is incapable of error, that being said then why after the first group of protestants split from the Catholic church didn’t the splitting away end. I mean, if the Holy Spirit told, Martin Luther, ( just as an example, I don’t mean to single him out in any way), that the Catholic church was teaching false doctrine and the Lutheran churh was formed, then why was the split of any other denomination from the Catholic church necessary. I would think that the Holy Spirit would have given Luther all the information he needed to correct the problem. (Again let me state that I’m not picking on Luther but he is the most famous Protestant that I know.) It seems to me That since many Protestant denominations split from the Catholic church, and that some if not most of them have split apart themselves, that A: the original problem still exists, or B: The original organization, i.e. the Catholic church, was the correct one.
I’m just a high school graduate so please keep the words as small as possible.

Why so many different opinions of truth amongst Catholics? This seems to strike along those same lines.