Many (Christian) religions, many ways...

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Many (Christian) religions, many ways...

Postby lyons24000 » Thu Sep 28, 2006 2:30 pm

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."-John 14:6

Paul said, "One faith."-Ephesians 4:5

Luke wrote about "The Way" or Christianity-Acts 24:14

And Paul wrote that divisions are bad. He said, "Now I urge you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all say the same thing, that there be no divisions among you, and that you be united with the same understanding and the same conviction."-1 Corinthians 1:10

And how many religions did Jesus make? How many sects of Christianity did he make? 1 Religion, 0 Sects. Then how come we have so many sects of Christianity?

The Bible says that there is one true religion and that if anyone teaches anything contrary to what the apostles taught then they are cursed. (Galatians 1:8,9)

But since there are so many different sects that teach so many different things (not one agrees with any other) then only one can be right.

My question is: Do you think all of these Christian religions are right or just one? Is there more then one way to God?
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Postby wizzard » Thu Sep 28, 2006 2:34 pm

I think there is only one way to salvation. This is through humbly doing your best to obey God and serve your neighbor. By looking at it this way, there can be many different religions that are all participating in a sort of "universal religion".
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Postby lyons24000 » Thu Sep 28, 2006 2:38 pm

That is a popular belief. Since I believe in the Bible I feel I have to believe that there is only one religion because of Ephesians 4:5 and that not all of them lead to God.
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Postby Jayelle » Thu Sep 28, 2006 2:59 pm

There are not sects of Christianity. There are denominations within Christianity (Baptist, Anglican, Mennonite, Luthern etc.) they are different on the surface level (worship style, philsophical arguments), but in the stone cold basics, they are the same. It is one religion.

(oh, and I don't include Mormons in there, but that's another story for another day)
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Postby Taalcon » Thu Sep 28, 2006 3:18 pm

There are not sects of Christianity. There are denominations within Christianity (Baptist, Anglican, Mennonite, Luthern etc.) they are different on the surface level (worship style, philsophical arguments), but in the stone cold basics, they are the same. It is one religion.

(oh, and I don't include Mormons in there, but that's another story for another day)
A look into many of the denominations does present some incredibly significant differences concerning what is Salvation, and what needs to be done.

*Baptism - Many Churches claim that baptism is not necessary, while an equal number of churches say that it is

*Belief Only - Many Churches claim that belief in Christ and accepting Him as your savior is enough, and that following this step, nothing more is needed. Others teach that one needs to follow God-given commandments in order to be considered a Good and Faithful Servent in the Kingdom of Heaven.

*Conditional Salvation - Many Churches teach that Salvation can be lost. Others teach in Unconditional Salvation once it has first been thought to be achieved.

*Authority - Some Churches teach that designated authority is necessary to oversee the work of the Church. Others teach that anyone with the desire become automatically authorized.

And then there are those who maintain that the Godhead is not a Trinity of One Substantial Being In Three Persons/Personalities, but is rather made up of separate beings - that God the Father is not the same substantial being as Jesus Christ. True, most who reside within what is termed 'Mainstream' or 'Traditional' Christianity claim that these must, indeed, be of another religion unassociated with True Christianity, while those who do not claim Christianity as their own religion see no important difference.

Who defines what others call themselves, and who defines what interpretation of Christ's teachings are Correct Truth? And is it really important?

There are many, many more differences in the Christian World.

There is a division. While I believe all of those you mentioned (as well as others you didn't, and wouldn't) do fall under the generic category of "Christianity", I don't think it's accurate to say that all are equally exactly what was specifically taught by Jesus Christ.

When a teaching is present that contradicts the original teaching, would the original teacher approve of it, and call it His Own?

All believe that they present the Original Teachings. All believe they interpret the Bible correctly. All cannot be right.

As for me, I believe that while most (if not all) religions and denominations (and/or sects) of Christianity contain differing levels of Truth, I believe the Lord continues to manage his One True Undivided Church, which holds the most correct understanding of Revealed Truth, the way as I believe was done in the New Testament, under the direction of Prophets and Apostles who receive revelation on behalf of the entire Church, with each individual able to recieve a personal revelatory testimony by the Holy Spirit of the valididty of the work, and its leadership.

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Postby DEK » Thu Sep 28, 2006 3:34 pm

I think many of the divisions come from people finding teachings that contradict the original ones and trying to change them. For example, Martin Luther's 95 thesis contained all the erroneous teachings he found, basing himself on the Bible. All these changes have had a cumulative effect over history, and so we have some very different religions, all calling themselves true Christianity.
Personally, I think that the true religion can be found by using the Bible as a source of knowledge about its founder, as suggested by John 17:3 (in other words, eliminating all non-Biblical teachings).

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Postby Taalcon » Thu Sep 28, 2006 3:48 pm

While I believe the Bible is an important place to start, and that personal study is in fact essential, I personally do not believe it is possible for one to come to a completely accurate knowledge of what it teaches alone without divine assistance.

I believe that it is essential to utilize Prayer and Humility, as well as a willingness to be guided by revelation from God.

I believe that it is this, revelation from God that is the rock on which the Church organization is established, with Christ at its head.

I believe that this is what was meant in Matthew 16:15-18.
15 He [Christ] saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Direct communication with God, in my view, is the only way one can truly know His Will, and know for a fact that what they know is in accordance with His will. I believe that Mankind and their interpretations are and always will be fallible, especially as concerning interpretations of translations of multiple thousands year old texts. I believe the only way to truly understand them is to be in communcation with the Divine Author.

Without contact with the Original Source, I can only see that reformation is possible, bu not a true Restoration.

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Postby DEK » Thu Sep 28, 2006 3:53 pm

That's true, a textbook is useful, but mastery of the subject requires a Teacher.

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Postby Eaquae Legit » Thu Sep 28, 2006 7:53 pm

When you think about it, he didn't create Christianity. He fulfilled Judaism. So why aren't we all banned from eating pork?

Same deal. History happens.
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Postby Jayelle » Thu Sep 28, 2006 8:16 pm

When you think about it, he didn't create Christianity. He fulfilled Judaism. So why aren't we all banned from eating pork?

Same deal. History happens.
Cause Peter had a crazy dream.
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Postby Taalcon » Fri Sep 29, 2006 8:07 am

When you think about it, he didn't create Christianity. He fulfilled Judaism.


While it's true he fulfilled Mosaic Judaism, I'm of the opinion that Christianity came first.

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Postby DEK » Fri Sep 29, 2006 10:18 am

(Romans 10:4) “For Christ is the end of the Law, so that everyone exercising faith may have righteousness.”
Jesus didn't just fulfill the law, he also replaced it with a new version.
(Hebrews 8:13) “In his saying “a new [covenant]” he has made the former one obsolete. Now that which is made obsolete and growing old is near to vanishing away.”
The Mosaic Law was made obsolete by the principles that Jesus taught while on Earth, so a lot of the stuff the Jews had to do were no longer required of them.

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Postby wigginboy » Fri Sep 29, 2006 10:39 pm

Well, one thing that IS known is that the Anglican Chuch(Church of England) Began when King Henry VIII rebelled against the Pope, and therefore the Catholic Church because the Pope would not grant him an annulment so he could marry another woman. He created his own church and designated his own Pope, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Today most of Britain pracitises Anglicanism. As well, Lutheranism began when Martin Luther rebelled against the Papal edict that stated that priest could not marry. As a Catholic bishop, Luther was outraged at this, and thus, declared his reformation. It is my assumption(though I am by no means a scholar on the subject) that many(but definitely not all) of today's Christian denominations sprang up from these splits from the Catholic Church.

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Postby hive_king » Fri Sep 29, 2006 11:52 pm

Many people seem to think of Anglicanism (Episcopalianism in the states) as kinda less true or authentic or whatnot because of its origens, what they don't realize that not only did Henry VIII break the Catholic church in England off from Rome and make it its own entity, the Anglican church also gave into alot of the reforms the protestants wanted, making it more of a "reformed catholisicm", similar to what Luther did. Also, it wasn't just the divorce, it was that the pope was meddling in international affairs, and was grossly biased, favoring the spanish (the pope had familial and other ties to Henry's wife's family). The breaking off also helped to keep England from having a protestant revolt of its own, since the church reformed as it broke off.


I look at it this way: if someone follows a church that turns out when the last trump calls to be not the most right denomination of Christianity, but the person tries to be the best christian they can, follow the bible to the best of their abilities as they understand it, and keep the holy spirit in their heart, God would have to be a real bastard to deny them on such a technicality.
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Postby wigginboy » Sat Sep 30, 2006 12:00 am

Also, it wasn't just the divorce, it was that the pope was meddling in international affairs, and was grossly biased, favoring the spanish (the pope had familial and other ties to Henry's wife's family).
Thanks for mentioning that. I was stating the most obvious, but yes that was a big reason. The divorce one is just the one most people seem to recognize.

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Postby pooka » Sat Sep 30, 2006 5:22 pm

(oh, and I don't include Mormons in there, but that's another story for another day)
I notice you didn't include the Catholic church either.

Mormons believe eternal life comes through believing on the name of Christ. Are you going to discuss it further here or take it to the Mormonism thread? Our third article of faith declares that we believe that through the atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel (which are faith, repentance, baptism by water and the Holy Ghost.) Or as Jesus told the woman at the well, we worship in spirit and truth. Our capacity to obey comes from God, but the choice to do so is ours.


Oh, I guess you might also be worried about that bit about us believing in 3 personages of the godhead instead of the trinity. However, we don't believe as the Jehovah's witnesses do that God the Father created the earth. We believe Jesus was the Lord of the Old testament. And I can't really protest that one, just wonder how you interpret the vision of St. Stephen.

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Postby Qing_Jao » Sat Sep 30, 2006 5:39 pm

I didn't read everything through, but I read the original post and wanted to throw my opinion in. As a Christian who was born into a Lutheran church, raised Assembly of God, went to a Baptist school, attended a Vineyard for a while, and married to a Methodist, I can say that there are several points that every one of these denominations (which is a fancy word for "sect", by the way) agree on. I think it's like looking at a large jewel. There are many facets, but people basically know the jewel's color, shape and size. The rest of it depends on which side of the jewel you can see.

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Postby wigginboy » Sun Oct 01, 2006 12:07 am

Qing_Jao, I will agree with you. Most of Christianity, it is believed, evolved from Catholicism, which was the first Christian religion. The Catholic Church was meant to be a universal church, one for everyone. (in fact Catholic itself means universal in Greek). Over time, and for the most part just recently, starting with Anglicans, then Lutherans, then Puritans and so on, the belief system presented by the Catholic faith became distorted, even within the Catholic faith itself,and thus, we have our many denominations of the same Christ-centred religion. How one believes in Christ, throughout these denominations, is for the most part similar. It is how faith is practised that has become distorted. For example. Catholics rely on a heavy amount of dogmatic doctrine. Lutherans have similar dogma, but the ability of priests to marry. (this is seen in the way both factions conduct the mass; as well, the Apostles' Creed is the exact same, with the exeption of the Lutheran faith to capitalize the word Catholic in theirs) To be quite honest, I have been exposed to a number of different Christian sects and i think the, for the most part, agree an a lot of things. Mostly, this includes the belief in Christ and the belief in the Trinity(although the trinity is not believed in widely in Christianity) but is not excluded to those things. Anyway, for the most part, Christianity means believing in Christ, and if thats all they have in common,so be it, as long as they all have something in common.
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Postby hive_king » Sun Oct 01, 2006 8:25 am

The sects of Christianity, it is believed, evolved from Catholicism, which was the first Christian religion.
What about the Coptic church, or the Nazrinis?
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Postby Eaquae Legit » Sun Oct 01, 2006 8:41 am

denomination (which is a fancy word for "sect", by the way)

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No, the two are quite different, in respect to their relative size, how they operate, and how they act within a secular environment.
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Postby wigginboy » Sun Oct 01, 2006 1:21 pm

What about the Coptic church, or the Nazrinis?
OK, what I should have said was most, thank you for pointing that out. Consider it chnaged. *waves magic wand* *turns lil brother into frog* *turn lil brother back into lil brother* *changes original post* curses self for buying defective magic wand* *corrects spelling of Nazarines just because*

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Postby Jayelle » Sun Oct 01, 2006 4:52 pm

(oh, and I don't include Mormons in there, but that's another story for another day)
I notice you didn't include the Catholic church either.
Just to clarify, I include Catholic in the "etc.", I should have mentioned it.

I think Mormonism is a cult and is not Christianity at all, but since that isn't a popular opinion on this forum, I would rather not go into it.
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Postby wigginboy » Sun Oct 01, 2006 11:33 pm

I think Mormonism is a cult and is not Christianity at all, but since that isn't a popular opinion on this forum, I would rather not go into it.
I wouldnt go so far as to say its a cult, but it definitely isnt what I would call mainstream Christianity. Many of the practises of the Mormon church are what most other Christian would call weird. I dont claim to be an expert so I will not go into detail, but I think this might be a reason as to why Jayelle thinks it to be cultish. To me, though, a cult is rather short lived, because those who follow a cult generally begin to see past it and end up defecting, or there are a) mass suicides or b) the case of the David Koresh cult in Mt. Carmel Texas, where there was a 23 day standoff with the National Guard and the eventual blaze that killed most if not all of the members of Koresh's compound. But thats a different story, and if I or someone else gets around to it, another thread.

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Postby ratesjul » Mon Oct 02, 2006 1:09 am

In many ways it seems to me that a lot of it comes down to interpretation. Someone reads one thing into it; someone else reads something else.
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Postby Taalcon » Mon Oct 02, 2006 7:57 am

I think Mormonism is a cult and is not Christianity at all, but since that isn't a popular opinion on this forum, I would rather not go into it.
I wouldnt go so far as to say its a cult, but it definitely isnt what I would call mainstream Christianity.


We wouldn't call it "Mainstream" either. *grin* Of course, for us, "Mainstream" doesn't always equal "most correct".

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Postby pooka » Mon Oct 02, 2006 8:18 pm

I don't think I said "This is why you're wrong." (edited)
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Postby Taalcon » Tue Oct 03, 2006 7:39 am

She said she'd rather not. Don't push her, pooka.

There is a thread on what LDS believe if there are questions that would like to be addressed, but "This is why you're wrong" posts are discouraged in this forum rules. Jayelle is being respectful, and I ask that you also be respectful of her desire to be respectful.

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Postby pooka » Wed Oct 04, 2006 8:27 am

Too bad there's not a straight delete feature. :? And I'll change my sig. I think that aggravates people. I thought it was just a funny Coen brother's reference.
*Learning and Discussing WHY individuals hold those beliefs as such
I didn't think I was out of line. But I'll post any other questions on the guidelines board.

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Postby Taalcon » Wed Oct 04, 2006 8:50 am

There -is- a straight delete feature *grin*

And I didn't say you posted a 'this is why you're wrong'. What I meant was, you were asking her to.

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Postby pooka » Wed Oct 04, 2006 11:07 am

Oh, Okay. But I really don't see a delete button. Is it maybe something mods have?

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Postby Taalcon » Wed Oct 04, 2006 11:16 am

When you edit your post, I think there's a 'delete post' box you can check.

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Postby pooka » Wed Oct 04, 2006 11:28 am

Not seeing it, maybe I'll ask in the town square.


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