what makes a denomination a denomination

[nChrist]

Hello JudgeNot,

Brother, did you settle in the city or out in the country? I remember you were talking about getting a piece of land in the country.

If you were near Ft. Worth or Mineral Wells, I could give you a couple of nice churches to try. I'll do some checking with family and friends and get back with you by PM.

In the meantime - KEEP LOOKING UP!

Love In Christ,
Tom

Galatians 4:4-6 NASB  But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!"

[Shammu]

Denomination is made from man, not God. Then you follow one denomination only, You are following the cult of man. Man didn't author the Bible, God did. In all my time here, I have never said what denomination I am. The reason for that is, I follow the Bible. Salvation is not through, denomination it is only through Jesus Christ.

Resting in the hands, of the Lord.
Bob

1Co 1:13  Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?

[ZakDar]

I think, Pockets, that you place an undue importance on denominational doctrine. All that really matters is the core truth of what Scripture teaches and what is taught of Christ. The most important facts of Christ: He is God, first and foremost. He came to this world over 2000 years ago, born of the virgin Mary, whom was God's chosen vessel, His handmaiden, as she herself said, no more, no less. That Christ lived a sinless life. That Christ died upon the cross and therefore paid the penalty for all sins, past, present, and future, and that this sacrifice is sufficient for all humanity. That Jesus Christ laid in the tomb three days and then rose again on the third day, thus proving His power over death and death's master, the enemy. That Christ is even now at the Father's right hand, preparing a place for all those who now or who will love Him. And that Christ has sent the Spirit to assist all His children, the Christians.
Other things are open to individual interpretation. These are the only truths which are necessary to be held for salvation, and the truths upon which the church must unite.

you are kinda  saying.  God sure waisted his time authoring
the rest of the bible that tell us many other truth's  that are important to one's salvation. If they were not important for us to know for our salvation God would not have wrote all those extra thing's . He would have had you simply write the above your summary  .
Since that is all you think is important for ones salvation.

 i can certainly now see by your example why their must be division because I think every doctrine is important for ones salvation or God would not have authored so much more than you tell.

division is grand is it not ! Imagine if i was in your church
I think you would be grabbing me by the throat by now.

Gods blessing's

Prime example of what I had previously written about, majoring on minor things, yet totally ignoring the most primary thing of the BIBLE: Love the Lord your God with all your heart,and all your soul and all your strength and all your mind. Love your neighbour as yourself.

For ALL the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments. In other words, ALL the scripture hang on those two commandments.

So what do you think is primary here? Squabblings about denominations, or love? Denominations or Jesus? Nay I say, if we're going to squabble about something, let us conflict over the height and width and depth of the love of Christ! To which, I should imagine, we'd find no small resolution!  

[Shammu]

I say, if we're going to squabble about something, let us conflict over the height and width and depth of the love of Christ! To which, I should imagine, we'd find no small resolution!  

[size=22]AMEN![/size] ZakDar!

[Allinall]

Denomination is made from man, not God. Then you follow one denomination only, You are following the cult of man. Man didn't author the Bible, God did. In all my time here, I have never said what denomination I am. The reason for that is, I follow the Bible. Salvation is not through, denomination it is only through Jesus Christ.

Resting in the hands, of the Lord.
Bob

1Co 1:13  Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?

Me too!  Course that's namely because we started a new church and called it Grace Bible Church.  So the only thing we can call ourselves is Christians.  Namely because Bibleans sounds slightly odd.  

Seriously though, I agree Bob.  Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  Thanks for posting!  

[Allinall]

So what do you think is primary here? Squabblings about denominations, or love? Denominations or Jesus? Nay I say, if we're going to squabble about something, let us conflict over the height and width and depth of the love of Christ! To which, I should imagine, we'd find no small resolution!

AMEN!!!

[Shammu]

Denomination is made from man, not God. Then you follow one denomination only, You are following the cult of man. Man didn't author the Bible, God did. In all my time here, I have never said what denomination I am. The reason for that is, I follow the Bible. Salvation is not through, denomination it is only through Jesus Christ.

Resting in the hands, of the Lord.
Bob

1Co 1:13  Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?

Me too!  Course that's namely because we started a new church and called it Grace Bible Church.  So the only thing we can call ourselves is Christians.  Namely because Bibleans sounds slightly odd.  

Seriously though, I agree Bob.  Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  Thanks for posting!  

Now I'm laughing, we call our Church "The Grace Bible Church." But we call ourselves only Christians.

[nChrist]

Zakdar Said:

So what do you think is primary here? Squabblings about denominations, or love? Denominations or Jesus? Nay I say, if we're going to squabble about something, let us conflict over the height and width and depth of the love of Christ! To which, I should imagine, we'd find no small resolution!  

ANOTHER AMEN BROTHER!

Many men have traveled far away from the simplicity of the Gospel of the Grace of God that a child can understand.

1 Corinthians 2:1-5 NASB  And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.


Love In Christ,
Tom

Romans 10:16-17 NASB  However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, "LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?" So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

[Frederic Dalton]

Lots of good posts. But going back to one of pocket's earlier posts ..

and has God not given the bible to all?
So their is no excuse any of us can have for not having the whole truth and absoulute truth; Given to all in his Scriptures.

Yes God has given the Bible to all of us - but that's not the same as saying there's no excuse for not having the whole and absolute truth. Leaving aside the fact that some people suffer from learning difficulties, or don't get good grades in school for whatever reason - you need to remember that most of us have to make do with a translation of the Bible. All translations have their strengths and weaknesses. And scholars continue to debate the probability of variations of the original Hebrew and Greek texts. A good translation will try to take into account the scope of this possible variation, though this may sometimes be at expense of simplicity of meaning.

Although the Bible is God's word and is holy, the language that it is rendered into is not. The meanings of words change as time passes by. Some people revere the King James Version as if it's the only Bible translation into any language with any credibility - but even among English-speaking people, many find the KJV to be obscure and hopelessly inaccessible by itself.

Not to mention people whose mother tongue is not English. Are we to insist that people must learn English to understand the Word of God? That seems to be very arrogant to me. How is that better than requiring everyone to learn Arabic?

My point here is that there is room for variations of interpretation on some of the finer points within the church, and the church encourages discussion on that.

Outsiders consider these to be different denominations - but I believe we're still one church.

Once you start saying that your own denomination is the right one, because it sticks closer to scripture, and all other denominations are wrong - then you're ignoring Biblical teachings on Christian unity - and therefore, by your own arguments, your own denomination becomes the wrong one. Ironic really, isn't it?

But the good news is that Christ has taken the sins and restored the life of everyone - regardless of the denominations of church communities near you.

[ollie]

what makes a denomination a denomination

When men in their religion choose to name their religious groups with names they choose instead of just identifying themselves as Jesus Christ's and describing themselves as Christ's rather then of things of men.

ollie

[nChrist]

AMEN OLLIE AND FREDERICK DALTON!!

I have been praying about and thinking about many VERY simple things recently, and they give me peace.

I keep thinking of small children who genuinely come to JESUS in their childlike and simple way. I've seen this many times in my life, and it is one of the most beautiful experiences there is in this short life.

Our young Brothers and Sisters in Christ don't know any sophisticated Bible terminology and doctrines, but they are ROCK-SOLID SAVED AND BELONG TO JESUS FOR ETERNITY!

I know that we are to grow, mature, study God's Word, and become workmen that are not ashamed of the Word of God. What if a part of us could always keep that simple, childlike faith and attitude about JESUS in our fellowship with other Brothers and Sisters in Christ? Some say this is impossible because of differences, but JESUS disagrees.

Proverbs 3:3-4 NASB  Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart.  So you will find favor and good repute In the sight of God and man.

John 17:21-23 NASB  that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. "The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.

I'm thinking that it would be a good thing to have that simple, childlike faith as a part of our entire lives. I really think this is the part of us that makes us known to others with the same heart. The Holy Spirit of God does live in our heart, and we belong to JESUS for Eternity. Further, we will spend eternity together with JESUS, and all of our differences will be gone after this short life on earth. Brothers and Sisters, please think about this for a moment:  Doesn't God really give us a way to many times discern that simple, childlike faith in another person before we ask them what denomination they belong to or what the name of their church is??  I know that ONLY GOD knows the heart of man, but haven't you noticed the simple, childlike faith of others and simply recognized them as being in CHRIST? I have, but I'm not claiming any special gift or revelation. It's just something that you can feel many times about another person.

There won't be any denominations or differences in Heaven for Eternity. AND, NOW - there are no denominations or differences in members of the CHURCH WHICH IS THE BODY OF CHRIST! If we are still living in this short life, we might think there are differences - BUT THERE ARE NONE!! The members of the BODY OF CHRIST all have the same Holy Spirit living in their hearts and the SAME JESUS CHRIST as Lord and Saviour, THE LORD OVER THEIR LIVES! This is the only way to enter through the door into this CHURCH not made with human hands. This is a CHURCH not made with brick and mortar, and it is THE ONLY TRUE CHURCH!! There are NO men's names or men's doctrines associated with this ONE AND ONLY TRUE CHURCH! NOW, we are back to the very basics: MEMBERSHIP in this ONE TRUE CHURCH requires a simple, childlike faith in JESUS CHRIST and JESUS CHRIST as THE LORD of our lives.

Let's try something every chance we get and see what happens:

Let's Try Just Being

HAPPY CHILDREN IN JESUS!

Love in Christ,
Tom

1 Corinthians 1:9-10 NASB  God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.