Having been brought up in a protestant world, I often wondered why our neighbours went to a different protestant church. Our minister, when questioned, would indicate that ‘their’ church was wrong on the interpretation of the Bible and that ‘ours’ was the correct interpretation.
I went to Christian schools and bible studies were a big part of my life. During my twenties (more than 50 years ago), I started to wonder why there were so many Christian churches: Roman Catholic, Latin Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Catholics, CFC Catholics (Catholics for Choice), Protestant Adventists, Anglicans, Baptists, Reformed, Lutherans, Methodists, Pentecostals, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Unitarians, and others, not to mention many non-denominational churches. The variety of Christian belief is stunning to consider. So, if you are a Christian, which “kind” of Christian are you and to which ‘correct’ church do you belong?
Among Christians there is a belief that God speaks to humans through the bible and uses, for example, ministers, priests, pastors and rabbis, who explain that their opinion is the will of God and therefore they assume the earthly authority of their heavenly father. Doesn’t it make you wonder why God speaks differently to all those diverse denominations? It is a wonder how God keeps it all straight in his mind. He must take great care to speak to each congregation differently, emphasizing one thing with one church and a subtly different one to the church next door. (BTW, Islam has the same problem: Sunnis, Shiites, Fatimids, Almoravids, and more).
The only thing which would make sense, if there was a god, is to ensure that his spokesmen all conveyed the same message. The fact that so many different churches have different opinions and approaches to the rituals and disciplines of their brand of worship indicates they are all man-made concepts and therefore do not indicate the existence of the kind of god as depicted in the religions which are practiced. What do you say?
I went to Christian schools and bible studies were a big part of my life. During my twenties (more than 50 years ago), I started to wonder why there were so many Christian churches: Roman Catholic, Latin Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Catholics, CFC Catholics (Catholics for Choice), Protestant Adventists, Anglicans, Baptists, Reformed, Lutherans, Methodists, Pentecostals, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Unitarians, and others, not to mention many non-denominational churches. The variety of Christian belief is stunning to consider. So, if you are a Christian, which “kind” of Christian are you and to which ‘correct’ church do you belong?
Among Christians there is a belief that God speaks to humans through the bible and uses, for example, ministers, priests, pastors and rabbis, who explain that their opinion is the will of God and therefore they assume the earthly authority of their heavenly father. Doesn’t it make you wonder why God speaks differently to all those diverse denominations? It is a wonder how God keeps it all straight in his mind. He must take great care to speak to each congregation differently, emphasizing one thing with one church and a subtly different one to the church next door. (BTW, Islam has the same problem: Sunnis, Shiites, Fatimids, Almoravids, and more).
The only thing which would make sense, if there was a god, is to ensure that his spokesmen all conveyed the same message. The fact that so many different churches have different opinions and approaches to the rituals and disciplines of their brand of worship indicates they are all man-made concepts and therefore do not indicate the existence of the kind of god as depicted in the religions which are practiced. What do you say?
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