denominations
This is an issue that has been prodding my heart and mind lately. What are denominations? Are they a good thing or a bad thing, or a bit of both? We discussed this in Bible class, but I don't feel like it was properly addressed, since we had to move on with the lesson (similar to when we discussed predestination, but I've beaten that argument to death on this blog).
Pastor Troy likes to neutralize, almost in Hippy fashion, when he discusses issues in the church. He stands in the middle and says, "That's weird, but they love God, so there must be some good in it" referring to both sides. I respect that about him. He's open-minded to different viewpoints (though he may perhaps never develop or at least share an opinion of his own). Then again, our class is a denominational melting pot, with everything from Catholics to crazy Calvinist Presbyterians:P, so everying he says is very general and non-offensive, and he only barely skims the surface of controversial issues. But I would probably be doing the same in his position, and he's doing extremely well for a class that's full of so many opinions.
But I'm going to go ahead and share my opinion, since we're outside of class.
"Denomination" has always sounded an off-key note in my mind. The meaning of the word isn't too menacing, it is simply the term for the classification. A raw "denomination" is something that has been classified because of a certain defining characteristic. Christians have always disagreed about certain things, and we can see disagreement from even the early days of the Christian church. Thus, we may be able to classify Christians by their belief systems (infant baptism, arminianism, post-millenialism, individualism, feminism, criticism, and whatever other "isms" you can think of). But is this a cause for divide? One might say, "Yes, because different people have different preferences, and it's best that they gather with a body of believers who share their preference." Still another might add, "Denominations are a gift from God, because they are full of believers with differing spiritual gifts. Though they share different beliefs and worship seperately, they have unique talents that God has given them that give them the right to separate if needed. The Bible talks about Christ's body: Jesus is the head, and the Church has many different parts to it. Thus, we have many different 'parts', or 'denominations.'" Fair enough.
I'd still disagree. In class, Pastor Troy used the story of Luther as an example of the first "denominational divide", and a good and necessary one at that. First, I would like to note that Martin Luther never wanted to leave the Catholic church. He fought with all he could to bring reform within the church without dividing himself from it. He loved the Church. The false teachers and "pharisees" of the day excommunicated him, and he had no choice but to continue despite the division. I would also say that Martin Luther's split was not the "first denomination", but the rediscovery of the gospel itself. In short, the Catholic church at the time did not teach the gospel of grace and therefore was not part of Christ's body (they've come a long way since then). So even the start of Protestantism was not a denominational split, but a new beginning. Since then, leaders used this split as license to create their own splits within the Church. This is where the trouble began.
Rather than live in brotherly love and respect each other's differences and worship under the unified banner of the gospel, people felt it necessary to completely break off and start their own "club." This brought about extreme intolerance and pride among the denominations, which still exists today. This also brought confusion and lack of accountability, for as long as there was no one could disagree with them, they head in whatever direction they wanted to, which further contrasted them from each other. Those outside of the body (the unbelievers) were and are confused over these divides, and don't know who to trust or where to begin. Instead of what we all have in common, denominations love to boast their superiority to the others and list reasons why their denomination is the one to join. Let's face it, we're all guilty of pride in our churches and denominations (myself included). And pride is so easy to have when we are different from others (as can be seen with all things: gender, race, sports teams, social class, etc).
Though a denomination may cater to the preferences of the individual, it causes division in Christ's body. Sure, the arms may have a different job from the legs, but this doesn't mean the arms have to separate themselves in order to do their task. Different tasks, ONE body. ONE God. ONE faith. ONE gospel. What we must realize is that all Christian denominations have much more in common than what they disagree on, and the things they agree on are by far much more important than what they disagree on. We have to stop seeing the Church as a list of items on a restaurant menu, and more like ONE hamburger that has different components, like lettuce and tomatoe and ketchup and mustard and cheese and a patty and onions and pickles and two buns.
Many denominational splits have resulted in disaster. The Pentecostals (some, but not all), The Jehovah's Witnesses (or the Watchtower Society), the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Christian Science, and even Islam are some examples of splits that have been caused for the wrong reasons or started for the "right reasons" and morphed into something that did not teach the historic Christian gospel. Clearly, motivation of the heart is not a basis for validation of Christianity if it teaches a different gospel.
So what's my opinion? I believe that Denominations are the grevious result of Satan's attempts to fragment the imperfect, earthly Church. The Church will never fully be restored until Jesus returns to do so. Denominational divide may or may not be something that is abolished when he comes to fulfill his promise (since that issue may be solved before that appointed time). But until then, we as Christians must pray that God will heal his Church and cease the divisions, and that we can come together and focus on building bridges, and not walls. We must, in all things, pray and strive for the unity of Christ's body.
Pastor Troy likes to neutralize, almost in Hippy fashion, when he discusses issues in the church. He stands in the middle and says, "That's weird, but they love God, so there must be some good in it" referring to both sides. I respect that about him. He's open-minded to different viewpoints (though he may perhaps never develop or at least share an opinion of his own). Then again, our class is a denominational melting pot, with everything from Catholics to crazy Calvinist Presbyterians:P, so everying he says is very general and non-offensive, and he only barely skims the surface of controversial issues. But I would probably be doing the same in his position, and he's doing extremely well for a class that's full of so many opinions.
But I'm going to go ahead and share my opinion, since we're outside of class.
"Denomination" has always sounded an off-key note in my mind. The meaning of the word isn't too menacing, it is simply the term for the classification. A raw "denomination" is something that has been classified because of a certain defining characteristic. Christians have always disagreed about certain things, and we can see disagreement from even the early days of the Christian church. Thus, we may be able to classify Christians by their belief systems (infant baptism, arminianism, post-millenialism, individualism, feminism, criticism, and whatever other "isms" you can think of). But is this a cause for divide? One might say, "Yes, because different people have different preferences, and it's best that they gather with a body of believers who share their preference." Still another might add, "Denominations are a gift from God, because they are full of believers with differing spiritual gifts. Though they share different beliefs and worship seperately, they have unique talents that God has given them that give them the right to separate if needed. The Bible talks about Christ's body: Jesus is the head, and the Church has many different parts to it. Thus, we have many different 'parts', or 'denominations.'" Fair enough.
I'd still disagree. In class, Pastor Troy used the story of Luther as an example of the first "denominational divide", and a good and necessary one at that. First, I would like to note that Martin Luther never wanted to leave the Catholic church. He fought with all he could to bring reform within the church without dividing himself from it. He loved the Church. The false teachers and "pharisees" of the day excommunicated him, and he had no choice but to continue despite the division. I would also say that Martin Luther's split was not the "first denomination", but the rediscovery of the gospel itself. In short, the Catholic church at the time did not teach the gospel of grace and therefore was not part of Christ's body (they've come a long way since then). So even the start of Protestantism was not a denominational split, but a new beginning. Since then, leaders used this split as license to create their own splits within the Church. This is where the trouble began.
Rather than live in brotherly love and respect each other's differences and worship under the unified banner of the gospel, people felt it necessary to completely break off and start their own "club." This brought about extreme intolerance and pride among the denominations, which still exists today. This also brought confusion and lack of accountability, for as long as there was no one could disagree with them, they head in whatever direction they wanted to, which further contrasted them from each other. Those outside of the body (the unbelievers) were and are confused over these divides, and don't know who to trust or where to begin. Instead of what we all have in common, denominations love to boast their superiority to the others and list reasons why their denomination is the one to join. Let's face it, we're all guilty of pride in our churches and denominations (myself included). And pride is so easy to have when we are different from others (as can be seen with all things: gender, race, sports teams, social class, etc).
Though a denomination may cater to the preferences of the individual, it causes division in Christ's body. Sure, the arms may have a different job from the legs, but this doesn't mean the arms have to separate themselves in order to do their task. Different tasks, ONE body. ONE God. ONE faith. ONE gospel. What we must realize is that all Christian denominations have much more in common than what they disagree on, and the things they agree on are by far much more important than what they disagree on. We have to stop seeing the Church as a list of items on a restaurant menu, and more like ONE hamburger that has different components, like lettuce and tomatoe and ketchup and mustard and cheese and a patty and onions and pickles and two buns.
Many denominational splits have resulted in disaster. The Pentecostals (some, but not all), The Jehovah's Witnesses (or the Watchtower Society), the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Christian Science, and even Islam are some examples of splits that have been caused for the wrong reasons or started for the "right reasons" and morphed into something that did not teach the historic Christian gospel. Clearly, motivation of the heart is not a basis for validation of Christianity if it teaches a different gospel.
So what's my opinion? I believe that Denominations are the grevious result of Satan's attempts to fragment the imperfect, earthly Church. The Church will never fully be restored until Jesus returns to do so. Denominational divide may or may not be something that is abolished when he comes to fulfill his promise (since that issue may be solved before that appointed time). But until then, we as Christians must pray that God will heal his Church and cease the divisions, and that we can come together and focus on building bridges, and not walls. We must, in all things, pray and strive for the unity of Christ's body.
posted by John Mark at 5:11 PM
1 Comments:
I say briefly: Best! Useful information. Good job guys.
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