Religious discussion: Why there are so many denominations

[SBC]

In the mess we've inherited (assuming Christianity in the first place, which many readers will not), the line of thought that I ultimately found most persuasive (not on the most important point, in an important sense, but on the point under discussion), is that the Church of the NT and indeed of the 1st millennium was a Church in inter-communion (consider for instance that ecclesia is used in the NT on different levels: global, regional, parochial, etc. resulting in the conclusion that the Church at any given level is comprised of constituent churches the next level down), and that we simply cannot know that that inter-communion was not of the essence or being of the Church, so it behooves us to err on the side of caution in that regard. And once you look at it like that, there is only one extant candidate: the four patriarchates that remained in inter-communion in 1054.

IOW what today is commonly called the Eastern Orthodox Church, but this is misleading: if it is the continuation of the original intercommunion of apostolic churches (and indeed, to this day it continues to include Jersusalem, Antioch, etc.), then it is simply the Church, very regrettably truncated for the time being to the patriarchates that happen to fall East of the Adriatic. I am glad that the Western Rite is making a come-back within this Church.

Having said that, I am far, far more concerned that people submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in any conservative Trinitarian context than that they navigate the fragmentation correctly.

Christ have mercy.

And on earth peace, good will towards men.

Oh, and ... IBL.

 

[buckaroo]

Parables can be interpreted differently. Experience brings them to light. Test yourselves.

 

[Brad H]

I thought the Protestant Church was something to do with Martin Luther nailing his feces to the door of some church in Germany!

Feces? Hmmm more like the 93 points I think. 93-98 can’t remember off hand.
And such reformation was born!

 

[prairiedruid]

Happy Solstice and Alban Arthan!

 

[rakovsky]

Ancient languages and text rarely translate well to different languages and opposing interpretations are inevitable. Different schools of thought evolve over time and subsections of similar disciplines arise.

Chasing Embers,
It's true that translation issues are sometimes a source of confusion.
But the NT was in Greek, I sometimes attend a Greek Orthodox Church where half the service is in Greek, and Luther and Calvin and others knew Biblical Greek, so I think translation issues were not key. I've also found that the Latin and English translations from Greek to Latin or English like the Vulgate or KJV have been good enough that they aren't the source of the confusion.

I think the problem is a little different. The Bible is the highest text for all Christian Churches. But the NT is written as an inspired story of the starting period with the Hospels and Acts with letters of guidance, instead of as a succinct elementary detailed rulebook or long series of detailed theological treatises. Some issues are clear and simple like Jesus being born in Bethlehem.

But sometimes more specific less common issues come up that Christian's disagree over. At times it seems that the Bible tries to build up to an idea, and inspire and guide the reader to accept it. Mark's Gospel seems to do that a lot with Jesus' divinity. For some other potential points of conflict it seems that the Bible only indirectly and tangentially relates to those issues.

Martin Luther wrote in relation to his Sola Scriptura principle that the Bible was the only establisher of Articles of faith, and the only evaluator alone of every teaching. So what should happen if an issue should come up that the Bible didn't talk about? Luther thought that the Bible didn't about certain issues, and he took the position that we should be indifferent about them. He considered them adiaphora, meaning indifferent, and he counted them as including some issues of church organization and ceremonies.

 

[HeavyLeadBelly]

Making this comment to memorialize that I too, was “in before the lock.”

I do know that as a lapsed Catholic I felt kind a funky after smoking a tin of that Presbyterian mixture a few years ago….