[QUOTE=micah6v8;50475]
Quote:
Originally Posted by Evangelical
Hi, you have conflated denominations with division.
The verses in the link from openbible.info are about division, not denomination.
I agree that God hates division amongst His children.
To avoid any misunderstandings, when I say "denomination", I am adopting the dictionary meaning
"a religious group that has slightly different beliefs from other groups that share the same religion"
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dict...h/denomination
(If you are using a different meaning of the word, do let me know).
Paul in Romans 14 allows room for slightly different beliefs within the Christians.
The names (e.g. Lutheran/Baptist/ Presbyterian) are short-form for describing these different groups with different beliefs.
Much like we use the terms (Poodle/Siberian Husky/Beagle) to describe different types of dogs. |
As a person who used to think like you on this matter, I can tell you that it is much harder to argue that a denomination is not a division, than to just accept that it is, and then consider whether it is worth doing something about it or not. That was my journey, at least. That a denomination is a division or that a division led to a denomination, should be obvious. At least to me it is. A denomination is essentially an organized and institutionalized division.
According to Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, a denomination is "a religious organization uniting in a single legal and administrative body a number of local congregations".
Baker's Dictionary of Theology, 1960, pp. 163, 164 says Denominationalism is "a class, kind, or sort designated by a specific name; ecclesiastically, a body or sect holding peculiar distinctives".
What denominations are (divisions), was evident to me well before I heard about Lee/Nee. So I will use some non-Lee/Nee sources that I would typically use as an evangelical Christian.
http://www.gotquestions.org/denomina...Christian.html
says
"the movement to “reform” the Roman Catholic Church during the 16th century, out of which four major
divisions or traditions of Protestantism would emerge: Lutheran, Reformed, Anabaptist, and Anglican."
"The point of these
divisions is never Christ as Lord and Savior, but rather honest differences of opinion by godly, albeit flawed, people seeking to honor God and retain doctrinal purity according to their consciences and their understanding of His Word."
"There seems to be at least two major problems with denominationalism. First, nowhere in Scripture is there a mandate for denominationalism; to the contrary the mandate is for union and connectivity. Thus, the second problem is that history tells us that denominationalism is the result of, or caused by, conflict and confrontation which leads to
division and separation. Jesus told us that a house divided against itself cannot stand. This general principle can and should be applied to the church. We find an example of this in the Corinthian church which was struggling with issues of
division and separation. "
Regarding your appeal to Romans 14. In Romans 14, Paul is instructing the Romans, to accept all believers regardless of their persuasions about certain days etc.
How does this match your concept of "different kinds of Christians"? It doesn't really.
For example, 7th Day Adventist will not meet with other groups because they do not hold to the Sabbath.
Other groups will not meet with 7th Day Adventist because they do not worship on a Sunday. Both groups have contradicted Romans 14.
There is really no precedent in Scripture for Christians separating themselves based upon their beliefs. The only kind of separation is between Christians and non-Christians.
Denominations are not simply different groups with different beliefs. They are structured organizations built around something other than Christ. If they were only believers with different persuasions about days or foods, perhaps your dog analogy would make sense. But even so, Paul's words would instruct them to be in union and connected, when clearly they are not.
So in short, if denominations are divisions and God hates division, logically, God hates denominations.
The feeling that God has towards denominations is one of hatred.
This may sound harsh to some, but the reality is that God often permits things that He hates because people's hearts are hard.
Consider that God hates divorce (Malachi 2:16), yet
in Matthew 19:8 (NLT version) Jesus said:
"Moses permitted divorce only as a concession to your hard hearts, but it was not what God had originally intended."
So you see, God permits things that He hates. He is very patient and tolerant.
But if we would ask Him his true feeling about this, He will tell us that He hates it.
Some have wrongly concluded that the existence and even success of denominations is proof of God's blessing.
This is not so. God leaves things alone until judgement day. He gives everyone the opportunity to repent and come back to the truth.
Does hardness exist today in Christianity? Of course it does.
Many people are blinded by religion that tells them that God loves everyone and everything they decide to do will be OK. We can see that this false view of God has led numerous denominations to conclude that God is accepting of homosexual marriage, in the name of "love". Many will bless and approve homosexual civil unions or marriages, and you want to defend that? Their imagined God is not the true God of the Bible who does care deeply about these things, who has feelings and hates and gets angry and jealous over His children.