Why are there 33,839 different Christian denominations?

[Zzyzx]

If Christianity is based upon the Bible, and if the Bible is “the infallible word of god” (or even the fallible word of god) why are 33,830 different Christian denominations recognized by the World Christian Encyclopedia?

Supposedly these denominations are all worshiping the same god from the same (or similar) ancient text. How can one god be “infallibly correct” in 33,830 different ways?

If there are at least 33,000 different “interpretations” of “god’s word”, it seems as though any interpretation can be just as valid as any other and words can be “redefined” to mean exactly the opposite of their common meaning.

[adlemi]

If Christianity is based upon the Bible, and if the Bible is “the infallible word of god” (or even the fallible word of god) why are 33,830 different Christian denominations recognized by the World Christian Encyclopedia?

Supposedly these denominations are all worshiping the same god from the same (or similar) ancient text. How can one god be “infallibly correct” in 33,830 different ways?

If there are at least 33,000 different “interpretations” of “god’s word”, it seems as though any interpretation can be just as valid as any other and words can be “redefined” to mean exactly the opposite of their common meaning.

The answer is simple, the bible is a book of testimony to the reality of the existence of the Lord God who is the One infallible. The bible on the other hand is not infallible for it has no life in it like that of the Lord God who is alive and real, the Almighty One who is omnipresent, omniscience, omnipotent, etc. The real word of God is with the Lord God himself and not all in the bible is the word of God. If we want to know which from among the bible verses are truly of God, then we need God himself to point and tell to us those which are His from the bible, but stil, it does not make the bible infallible for it is only God who is the infallible One.

The 33,830 different Christian denominations recognized by the World Christian Encyclopedia is easy to understand for they are just the fruits of biblical interpretations of men and most of the time, they are in conflict with one another. The true Church is the One in which the Lord God Jesus Christ himself is the Good Pastor and Leader and for anyone to be in to this Church, he/she needs to encounter the Lord himself. It is the Lord himself who will put him/her in to the said Church whose exact number of members only the Lord knows including their locations in the face of the globe.

[arunangelo]

Mc:

Where in the world do you find all this stuff?
Your graph and breakdown does a great job in differentiating. But is there any way to tell why each denomination split from the mainstream one or the sub mainstream of another?

These denominations exist, because, people broke away from the main Church for a multitude of reasons. Each one claimed to be guided by the Holy Spirit made their own interpretation. Obviously there is only one truth and one true interpretation, which was handed down by Jesus Himself to the apostles; and through the apostles to the successive generations of apostles. Their teachings on matters of faith, is the same as the early apostles. The teachings of the early apostles are found if one reads the writings of the fathers of the Church.

[bernee51]

Mc:

Where in the world do you find all this stuff?
Your graph and breakdown does a great job in differentiating. But is there any way to tell why each denomination split from the mainstream one or the sub mainstream of another?

These denominations exist, because, people broke away from the main Church for a multitude of reasons. Each one claimed to be guided by the Holy Spirit made their own interpretation. Obviously there is only one truth and one true interpretation, which was handed down by Jesus Himself to the apostles; and through the apostles to the successive generations of apostles. Their teachings on matters of faith, is the same as the early apostles. The teachings of the early apostles are found if one reads the writings of the fathers of the Church.

Which fathers of the church hold the 'truth'. Wow do you know there writings have not been added to by others? I posit that it is impossible to knwo 'what Jeus passed down to the apostles'. All you have is hearsay, upon hearsay of a supposed faith from a mythical figure.

In that sense either there are no true christians or everyone is a true christian.

[MagusYanam]

Which fathers of the church hold the 'truth'. Wow do you know there writings have not been added to by others? I posit that it is impossible to knwo 'what Jeus passed down to the apostles'. All you have is hearsay, upon hearsay of a supposed faith from a mythical figure.

In that sense either there are no true christians or everyone is a true christian.

I tend to see the Church (capital 'C') as a centred set, not a bracketed set. There is no 'boundary' that can clearly define who is Christian and who isn't. But we do have a centre - Jesus Christ and his teachings in the Gospel, as the light that has been set on a lampstand. And just as light diffuses through a dark room, the Word diffuses through humanity.

These denominations exist, because, people broke away from the main Church for a multitude of reasons. Each one claimed to be guided by the Holy Spirit made their own interpretation. Obviously there is only one truth and one true interpretation, which was handed down by Jesus Himself to the apostles; and through the apostles to the successive generations of apostles. Their teachings on matters of faith, is the same as the early apostles. The teachings of the early apostles are found if one reads the writings of the fathers of the Church.

I tend to take issue with this, because this can easily be contorted into an argument for hierarchy, which is not what Jesus wanted to create. Jesus wanted to overturn the hierarchy of his time and replace it with the counter-hierarchical Kingdom of God where the last come first and the first go last. Though the writings of the Church Fathers are instructive in matters of tradition, they are not authoritative on matters of faith. Why do I think so? Because later Church Fathers, like St. Augustine of Hippo, 'sold out' (for lack of a better word) to the political power structure of the time, the Roman Empire. So now, instead of a largely pacifist Christian Church, we have a Christian Church that largely accepts the need to go to war and countenances the idea of a 'Christian soldier' (which during the Early Church would have been oxymoronic). Instead of a cosmopolitan, internationalist Church where there is no Jew or Greek, no slave or free, no male and female, we have churches which revel in national pride, even some which are openly fascist.

[Biker]

Mc:

Where in the world do you find all this stuff?
Your graph and breakdown does a great job in differentiating. But is there any way to tell why each denomination split from the mainstream one or the sub mainstream of another?

These denominations exist, because, people broke away from the main Church for a multitude of reasons. Each one claimed to be guided by the Holy Spirit made their own interpretation. Obviously there is only one truth and one true interpretation, which was handed down by Jesus Himself to the apostles; and through the apostles to the successive generations of apostles. Their teachings on matters of faith, is the same as the early apostles. The teachings of the early apostles are found if one reads the writings of the fathers of the Church.

Which fathers of the church hold the 'truth'. Wow do you know there writings have not been added to by others? I posit that it is impossible to knwo 'what Jeus passed down to the apostles'. All you have is hearsay, upon hearsay of a supposed faith from a mythical figure.

In that sense either there are no true christians or everyone is a true christian.

Spoken by a true Hindu/Buddhist/Atheist/Philosopher? Have you figured out what you are yet?

Biker?

[bernee51]

Mc:

Where in the world do you find all this stuff?
Your graph and breakdown does a great job in differentiating. But is there any way to tell why each denomination split from the mainstream one or the sub mainstream of another?

These denominations exist, because, people broke away from the main Church for a multitude of reasons. Each one claimed to be guided by the Holy Spirit made their own interpretation. Obviously there is only one truth and one true interpretation, which was handed down by Jesus Himself to the apostles; and through the apostles to the successive generations of apostles. Their teachings on matters of faith, is the same as the early apostles. The teachings of the early apostles are found if one reads the writings of the fathers of the Church.

Which fathers of the church hold the 'truth'. Wow do you know there writings have not been added to by others? I posit that it is impossible to knwo 'what Jeus passed down to the apostles'. All you have is hearsay, upon hearsay of a supposed faith from a mythical figure.

In that sense either there are no true christians or everyone is a true christian.

Spoken by a true Hindu/Buddhist/Atheist/Philosopher? Have you figured out what you are yet?

Biker?

Why is it taking you so long to figure out I don't have a label?

Have you managed to work out why theism is the only non self defeating worldview? Many are waiting for your wisdom with bated breath.

[Biker]

Mc:

Where in the world do you find all this stuff?
Your graph and breakdown does a great job in differentiating. But is there any way to tell why each denomination split from the mainstream one or the sub mainstream of another?

These denominations exist, because, people broke away from the main Church for a multitude of reasons. Each one claimed to be guided by the Holy Spirit made their own interpretation. Obviously there is only one truth and one true interpretation, which was handed down by Jesus Himself to the apostles; and through the apostles to the successive generations of apostles. Their teachings on matters of faith, is the same as the early apostles. The teachings of the early apostles are found if one reads the writings of the fathers of the Church.

Which fathers of the church hold the 'truth'. Wow do you know there writings have not been added to by others? I posit that it is impossible to knwo 'what Jeus passed down to the apostles'. All you have is hearsay, upon hearsay of a supposed faith from a mythical figure.

In that sense either there are no true christians or everyone is a true christian.

Spoken by a true Hindu/Buddhist/Atheist/Philosopher? Have you figured out what you are yet?

Biker?

Why is it taking you so long to figure out I don't have a label?

Have you managed to work out why theism is the only non self defeating worldview? Many are waiting for your wisdom with bated breath.

I know, you don't have a world view. Nice and safe to hide in the weeds. You know you never were a Christian. So you haven't borrowed from that one. It takes one to know one, and you never were one. So how could you make an informed decision?
Bated breath, is that from fear, or much anticipation of profound eloquence!

Biker

[bernee51]

I know, you don't have a world view.

You obviously don't read to weel or is it just a matter of poor comprehension.

Nice and safe to hide in the weeds.

Better than hiding behind a wall.

You know you never were a Christian. So you haven't borrowed from that one. It takes one to know one, and you never were one.

Spoken like a 'true christian' (tm)

So how could you make an informed decision?

By seeking information. How do you?

Bated breath, is that from fear, or much anticipation of profound eloquence!

I have nothing to fear and eloquence is not something I have yet seen you display.

Now tell us, why is theism the only non self defeating worldview.

[spiritletter]

There are so many sects because there are so many theological points of argument. I have two suggestions here.

1. Get rid of churches altogether and try to live by Christ's teachings. Don't hurt people, help the poor, don't beat women, don't judge, don't let money be the only thing in your life, etc.

2. Stop arguing theology. Theology developed long after Christ and immediately became a snakepit of warring sects.

3. Pray, meditate, real and love your neighbor.

4. Undertake community projects like feeding and housing the homeless, not because your denomination does it better than the other guys, but because it needs to be done.

5. Stop adhering to dogma that doesn't have anything to do with our lives, or which recommends horrendous acts (stoning women, killing witches, whatever).

6. Respect all religions equally. They are more alike than they are different. There is no reason a Buddhist cannot understand a Christian and a Muslim cannot understand a Taoist. The sometimes lethal bickering among these religions has nothing to do with what God wants and everything to do with the egos of the leaders of the particular sects, or the psychoses of various fundamentalists.

[Biker]

There are so many sects because there are so many theological points of argument. I have two suggestions here.

1. Get rid of churches altogether and try to live by Christ's teachings. Don't hurt people, help the poor, don't beat women, don't judge, don't let money be the only thing in your life, etc.

2. Stop arguing theology. Theology developed long after Christ and immediately became a snakepit of warring sects.

3. Pray, meditate, real and love your neighbor.

4. Undertake community projects like feeding and housing the homeless, not because your denomination does it better than the other guys, but because it needs to be done.

5. Stop adhering to dogma that doesn't have anything to do with our lives, or which recommends horrendous acts (stoning women, killing witches, whatever).

6. Respect all religions equally. They are more alike than they are different. There is no reason a Buddhist cannot understand a Christian and a Muslim cannot understand a Taoist. The sometimes lethal bickering among these religions has nothing to do with what God wants and everything to do with the egos of the leaders of the particular sects, or the psychoses of various fundamentalists.

Two? Looks like six.
Here are two.
1) Repent
2) Accept what Jesus has done for you, and give your whole life to Him.

Biker