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Denominational Confusion

Most churchgoers usually say one of the following: "This is the way! (my way)" or "I have finally found the denomination that has the most Light" or "I've finally found the denomination that is most compatible with my needs."

The Easy Part

I was an atheist until I had a hell-bound death-experience and at that point, I became an instant believer in God. God allowed me to return to the land of the living where I have since come to the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Hard Part

So now I'm in the land of the living and I see denominations galore. They all say words to the effect, "we are the way" or "our teachings are the most compatible." God has given me no revelation that one denomination is more correct than another.

Each denomination is unique and some have more peculiar teachings than others. I am currently attending a Seventh Day Adventists church, although I am not allowed to be baptized by them because I do not believe in soulsleep (due to my hell-bound death-experience, I know that soulsleep is a false teaching and is a misinterpretation of the scriptures). Soulsleep is the teaching that you cease to exist from the point of your death until the resurrection.

I'll digress for one moment to make one comment about Adventism: A man finds eternal salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, but the Adventists will deny him from making a public confession of his faith through baptism because he doesn't believe in soulsleep. I am rejected by the Adventists and am not allowed to be a church member unless I have faith in the doctrine of soulsleep (and make a confession of same). I ask you: Is something wrong with this picture?

The Journey

So here I am in the midst of all these different denominations, each claiming to have more light than the other. FACT: The body of Christ is one and, despite outward appearances, is not divided by regional location or denominational division. When Jesus returns for His elect, He is coming for one body. How will He know who belongs to Him? He has sealed us with His Holy Spirit. The body of Christ transcends denominationalism, ethnocentrism, race and national origin.

And I'm still not a member of an earthly church. But, as a member of the body of Christ, being sealed with the Holy Spirit, I am a member of His Church. It is an interesting earthly paradox.

Interesting Scriptures</FONT s>

That sounds pretty familiar to me...
http://stand318.com/ubb/Forum6/HTML/000024.html

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Michelle

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*lol*

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Michelle

Hey there Me again!!

There are over 600 recognized Christian denominations and offshoots. The odds of any one of them being 100% right is next to impossible. We do not have the apostles to teach us, only their writings to be read and interpreted by fallible humans. Steep yourself in His word and watch for false teaching such as the one you posted above, surround yourself with brothers and sisters who love God enough to not blindly follow every word uttered by a preacher or teacher but follow along, participate, study and grow in Christ!

May God richly bless you!
Steve

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When God is all you've got; God is all you need!

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I agree. I'm not preacing against the denomination that you are in right now. I don't know enough about it. But I will say that I don't know if I would be comfortable attending a church where they would not let me be a member if I did not renounce my belief in a certain area of theology. Maybe I'm way off on this, but I don't think that's what church membership is supposed to be about...I am in a sticky church situation right now too...but mine will change as soon as my living situation changes. Surround yourself with people who love God. Not people who love to be theologically "right". Just my humble oppinion...

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Michelle

hola me again... I came to a similar crossroads in my spiritual growth a couple of years ago. Having grown up from birth attending this one church (whom I believe, for the most part, has a good grip on the meaning/ interpretation of the scriptures), we ran into a situation in which it became increasingly openly oppressive of any other viewpoint of the scriptures, their way was the only way... arguing over the simplest scriptures about what exactly was meant where, I left that church, my church of 20+ years, to find a place that openly searched for the meaning of scripture. I could not be a part of a church that believed their way was the only true way and that everyone else was wrong. It's just not likely... There has to be a body of believers who study and search the scriptures for what God has for them, not what has been handed down to them by their forefathers, who had it handed to them by their forefathers, and on and on.... I have actually attended another local church ~20 times (not the one most of you know I go to), the last time I was there a preacher said from the pulpit that all the other churches had the anti-christ as their god, because they didn't teach a particular doctrine the way this church did... unbelievable that a church would allow some preacher to what I would term blaspheme God because other people believed a little differently... I haven't been back...

We discussed this very subject after stand tonight while eating. We are commissioned to search the scriptures for ourselves, testing everything spoken about the Word, to find the truth... to not take it blindly from someone else, but to study it for what God would have us learn from it... not the bits and pieces so often found to be in vogue that week. This is what I love so much about the church I attend now, the pastor is an excellent teacher, he brings the Word in a new light that I hadn't thought of, then gives us time to work together in small groups to discuss what it means to each of us, forcing us to read the scriptures ourselves and applying them to our own situations.

There's only One Way, and He doesn't have a man-made denominational name attached to Him.

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- Allen

<FONT size="3">Yes, you hit the nail on the head. That is exactly how it is. All I can do is rest upon the scripture, to wit:

"All things work to good to them that love God and who are called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28)</FONT s>

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<FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial">This message has been edited by me again on 03-13-2001 at 02:07 PM</font>

exactly...

I was reading a thread on a particular denomination's board I have done some work for... not only do they believe that their denomination is the only one going to heaven, but that only their particular flavor of that denomination is gonna make it... as if they have a special gift of discerning the scriptures the rest of the human race fails at... they refuse to "hangout" (BBQ's, Right-to-Life rallies, etc) with Christians of other denominations for fear that it will give a "stamp of approval" for their doctrine...

If they do make it to heaven, they will be sorely surprised, to say the least...

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- Allen