I remember sitting in a college Bible course when the professor stood up to speak. "I love that there are different denominations," he said. "It's just like the gospels. We are all different yet the same." Of course the student body loved hearing that. The room was filled with Wesleyans, Catholics, Pentecostals, Baptists, and more. All of us were different, yet somehow the same. The same could be said about the gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are all different, yet they are the same. Let's investigate that shall we?
If you look at the gospels, every single book has a different take on Jesus' ministry. However, from a universal standpoint they are identical, are they not? Each book discusses the main bullet points about the Savior's life. That is not a bad thing. It's like atheists saying that Genesis isn't real because of multiple accounts of the flood by pagan religions. Each of us have different stories by our own experience. So for the sake of example, let's talk about 9/11/01. Let's say a Jewish person, a Catholic person, an Atheist, and I talk about our experience when the towers came down. Would all of us have a different story? Yes! Would all of us be talking about the same thing? Yes! So just because we are all of different faith, background, and creed does not mean that we cannot be witness to the same thing. That is how the gospels are. They are written by four different men all about the same person. Now allow me to separate the two topics. Are Catholics, Methodists, Pentecostals, Baptists, Presbyterians, etc. all the same? Well that's an easy answer isn't it? The answer is a resounding "No!" However, are the denomination beliefs all about the same thing? Let's discuss that.
I disagree with the teacher's comments about denominations. Why you may ask? Simply because we do not all believe in the same fundamentals. So what are fundamentals? Well a fundamental is defined as a basis for belief. In other words, it is a foundation. What is doctrine? Doctrine is a set of beliefs based on the fundamentals. So doctrine is not fundamental, and fundamental is not doctrine. I explain that because it is very important. Too many denominations attack each other because of doctrinal differences, but is that strictly why? It's time for some church history. In the beginning of the Christian church there were how many denominations? There was just one. What happened in the fourth century? We now have three denominations (Original, Catholic, and Orthodox). What happened in the sixteenth century? Well now we have multiple denominations, and since then they have grown. Where do these denominations differ? True, some of them differ on doctrine, but there is some difference on the fundamentals. Many of these differences include but are not limited to the deity of Christ, salvation, forgiveness of sins, the law of God. This is important to understand, because we are starting to get into the meat of the problem. I believe there should be ONE denomination. I believe that doctrinal differences should not divide the body. Here is my reasoning.
Water, the element of life, is made up of two elements hydrogen (2 parts) and oxygen (1 part). I can safely say that that is scientific fact. We know this to be true, so what if I were to take groups of people who had never learned this before, and teach them something different? What if one group I told water was made up of helium and neon; another group I told them it was sodium and chloride, and finally the last group I said it was made of uranium and plutonium, would any of these groups be right? Well we all know that they would be believing in the wrong thing. Would they fight the other group as to who was right about water? Well they probably would, wouldn't they? What would happen though if they realized that it was made of oxygen and hydrogen? Would those groups fight each other any more about water? Probably not. They would only argue as to how long water's hair should grow. So is it possible then that several of these denominations have a wrong foundation? I would say yes.
Romans 16:17 warns us about those who would divide the body and spread false teaching. The problem is that in the beginning the early church was under attack from outside influences. Paul warned the church about these issues. Unfortunately, years later these were ignored, and the church was infiltrated. I will cover this in later lessons but that created the problem we have today. I think Matt. 7:21-23, says it plainly. Jesus was not talking to nonbelievers but believers when he prophesied this. There are many who come in the name of the Lord but not all of them are truly His servants. They have infiltrated the church. They have changed its fundamentals. They have deceived billions. That is why we have multiple denominations today. So where does it all start? In the next lesson, "The Sun of God," I will begin talking about the transformation of the church and the mess we have to dig through today.
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