One Bible, Yet Many Denominations

By Lois Amari

There are many different Christian denominations and cults that claim adherence to the Bible. All these various groups, however, disagree with each other on issues related to doctrines, faith, and practice. Many disagree on major doctrines, such as the trinity, the deity of Christ, the bodily resurrection of Christ, nature of salvation, eternal punishment of the wicked, and the list goes on. Why there are so many denominations when there is only one Bible? Is the presence of such diversity in the Christian faith a reflection of the ambiguity of the biblical message? In other words, is the Bible so vague that anyone can use it to support his or her own particular system of beliefs?

Some believe that the Bible is not written in a simple style for the laymen to understand it, but is designed to be interpreted by a single organization chosen by God to be his representative on earth. For example, Jehovah Witnesses believe that the Bible is so vague that “a person would go into the darkness after two years of reading the Bible alone” (Watch Tower 9/15/1910, p. 4685)[i]. They believe that “the Bible is organization-minded and it cannot be fully understood without our having the theocratic organization in mind” (Watch Tower 9/1/1954, p. 529)[ii], and that “God has not arranged for the Word to speak independently or to shine forth life giving truths by itself. It is through his organization God provides the light” (Watch Tower 5/1/1957, p. 274)[iii]. Today, Jehovah Witnesses are not encouraged to read the Bible; they are only permitted to read it through the lenses of the Watch Tower Society.

The Catholic Church agrees with the Watch Tower Society that the Bible is not designed to be interpreted by the laymen, and must be interpreted only by God’s official church. The Catholic Church, however, believes it is the true church that God has entrusted with the transmission and interpretation of the Word of God:

“The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God, whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition, has been entrusted to the living, teaching office of the Church alone…This means that the task of the interpretation has been entrusted to the bishops in communion with the successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 85.)[iv]

Are Catholics and Jehovah Witnesses correct in teaching that the contradictory teachings of the different denominations resulted from laymen attempting to interpret a book designed to be interpreted only by an infallible organization? Is the Bible so complicated, and contradictory in its teachings that it may be interpreted in many ways, and unless we seek help from the true living church (whoever it might be), we all will be lost in the dark? If the Word of God is clear then why there are so many denominations with so many contradictory teachings?

Here are 20 reasons that may explain why there are so many denominations:

1. Not All Churches Believe In The Bible

Not all churches that claim to believe in the Bible do believe in the Bible. Take the Mormon Church (known as The Latter Day Saints Church), for example; it believes that the Bible is corrupt. Orson Pratt, a Mormon apostle, said about the Bible:

“The Hebrew and Greek manuscripts of the Bible from which translations have been made are evidently very much corrupted…. The learned are under the necessity of translating from such mutilated, imperfect, and, in very many instances, contradictory copies as still exist. This uncertainty, combined with the imperfections of uninspired translators, renders the Bibles of all languages, at the present day, emphatically the word of men, instead of the pure word of God.”[v]

To the American public, it appears that the Mormon Church is a Bible believing church since it puts adds on TV offering free King James Version Bibles. But the truth is it uses this as a method to appeal to the American Public. Once a person joins the church, he is encouraged to read only the Book of Mormon.

2. Not All Churches Believe That The Bible Is Alone The Word Of God (Sola Scriptura)

Although some denominations claim to believe in the Bible, they, however, don’t believe that the Bible is alone the word of God. We have mentioned the Mormons earlier. They believe that “The Book Of Mormon” is God’s word. Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon Church, said, “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than any other book.”[vi]

Jehovah Witnesses put the Watch Towers’ Studies of Scriptures above the Bible: “A person would go into the darkness after two years of reading the Bible alone; would be in the light reading the Studies of Scriptures alone” (Watch Tower 9/15/1910, p. 4685)[vii].

The Catholic Church doesn’t believe that the scripture alone is the Word of God. It believes that tradition and the teachings of the church is also the word of God. In his book Where We Got the Bible, Henry Graham writes:

“Venerable and inspired as Catholics regard the Bible, great as is their devotion to it for spiritual reading and support of doctrine, we yet do not pretend to lean upon it alone, as the Rule of faith and morals. Along with it we take the great Word that was never written, Tradition, and hold by both the one and the other interpreted by the living voice of the Catholic Church speaking through her Supreme Head, the infallible Vicar of Christ.”[viii]

Many doctrines that Catholics believe in, such as the belief in purgatory, prayer to Mary and the saints, the practice of kissing of the pope’s foot, the canonization of dead saints, celibacy of the priesthood, praying the rosary, transubstantiation and confessing sins to a priest, and belief in the seven sacraments, are not found in the Bible, but are found in the Catholic Tradition and the ex cathedra pronouncements of the popes.

If we take all these sects who are lumped under the Christian religion, we notice that the greatest variations in doctrines are among those who do not espouse the doctrine of Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone). As a matter of fact, the greatest heresies were a result of undermining the authority of Scripture. All those who deny the basic truths of the historic Christian faith, such as the trinity, the deity of Christ, the death and resurrection of Christ, the Virgin of Birth, and so on, do not believe that the Scripture is the sole authority for doctrine and faith.

3. Not All Churches Uses The Same Canon Of Scripture

The Bible is a collection of books. The term “canon of scripture” refers to “all the biblical books that collectively constitute God’s Word.” The Protestant Bible has 66 books. The Catholic Bible has additional 11 books. These additional books are known by the Protestants as the “Apocrypha”. Catholics refer to these books as deuterocanonical, which means “second canon.”[ix]

The apocryphal books were added to the Catholic Bible “sometimes after the Protestant Reformation. In fact, the Catholic Counsel of Trent (A.D. 1545-1563) canonized these books some 1,500 years after they were written, largely as the result of the Protestant Reformation, under circumstances that are highly suspect.”[x]

These apocryphal books contain support for the Catholics belief that justification is by faith plus works, and not by faith alone as the Protestants believe. The books also support other Catholic beliefs that are not supported by the historically accepted Canon of Scripture.

Should the laymen use the Catholic or the Protestant Canon of Scripture? In his book Reasoning From The Scripture with Catholics, Ron Rhodes provides us with five tests of canonicity: “1. Was the book written or backed by a prophet or apostle of God? 2. Is the book authoritative? 3. Does the book tell the truth about God and doctrine as it is already known by previous revelation? 4. Does the book give evidence of having the power of God? 5. Was the book accepted by the people of God?”[xi]

Do the Apocrypha pass the above tests of canonicity? Ron Rhodes writes,

“Measuring the Apocrypha against these tests shows that the Apocrypha falls far short of the Old and New Testaments. The books were not written by prophets or apostles of God. The books do not ring with the sense of “thus saith the Lord.” The books contradict doctrines revealed in the pages of the Old and New Testaments. While some church fathers used the books for devotional purposes, the books nevertheless fail to have the transforming effect of the Old and New Testaments (as many church fathers admitted). And the books, for the most part, were not accepted on a broad scale by the people of God – at least not until 1500 years later when the Catholic Council of Trent pronounced them canonical.”[xii]

4. Some Churches Use Poor Translations Of The Bible

The original text of the Bible is written in Hebrew and Greek. The English texts are mere translations. Today, we have many English translations: the King James Version, The New International Version, the New American Standard Version, etc. Although these translations have minor differences, these differences do not affect any doctrine of the Bible. One translation, however, that is significantly different from the others is the New World Translation used by Jehovah Witnesses.

The Jehovah Witnesses version of the Bible is simply a bad translation. The translation committee was unqualified. “Four of the five men in the committee had no Hebrew or Greek training whatsoever (they had only high-school education). The fifth- Fred W. Franz- claimed to know Hebrew and Greek, but upon examination under oath in a court of law in Edinburgh, Scotland, he was found to fail a simple Hebrew test.”[xiii] Today, Greek scholars agree that The New World Translation is a mistranslation of the Bible.

5. Some Churches Believe That They Are God’s Voice On Earth

Some Churches believe that they are God’s “visible channel” for receiving new revelations from God and transmitting them to the people of the earth. The heads of these churches are supposed to be infallible. Whatever they say must be accepted as God’s truth and must be obeyed. Consider the following claims by the Watch Tower Society:

“Is not the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society the one and only channel which the Lord has used in dispensing his truth continually since the beginning of the harvest period?” (WT 4/1/1919, p. 6414)[xiv]

“It is through the columns of The Watchtower that Jehovah provides direction and constant Scriptural counsel to his people…” (WT 5/1/1964, pg. 277)[xv]

Catholics also believe that the Catholic Church is the living church of God and that the popes are infallible. Any time the pope makes a pronouncement ex cathedra on issues related to doctrines and morality, he is infallible, and his pronouncements are then considered equivalent to the teachings of the Bible. As a matter of fact, many of the distinctively Catholic doctrines were results of popes ex cathedra pronouncements. The Second Vatican Council says regarding this issue:

“The Roman Pontiff…enjoys this infallibility in virtue of his office, when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful…he proclaims in an absolute decision a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals. For that reason his definitions are said to be irreformable by their very nature and not by reason of the assent of the Church, in as much as they were made with the assistance of the Holy Spirit promised to him in the person blessed Peter himself; and as a consequence they are in no way in need of the approval of others, and do not admit of appeal to any other tribunal. For in such a case the Roman Pontiff does not utter a pronouncement as a private person, but rather does he expound and defend the teaching of the Catholic faith as the supreme teacher of the universal Church, in whom the Church’s charism of infallibility is present in a singular way.”[xvi]

Any time there is a church, such as the Vatican or the Watch Tower Society, that claims infallibility and the power to add new teachings to the Bible, we will end up with so many different contradictory doctrines. History has proved this. Many popes of the Catholic Church disagreed among themselves on many issues related to doctrine and moral. Similarly, the Watch Tower has changed its positions on many issues over time.

6. Not All Churches Believe In The Inerrancy Of The Bible

Inerrancy is the belief that the Bible, in the original autograph, is true in everything that it affirms, including doctrines, ethics, history, geography, physical and social sciences, etc.

Some liberal theologians, such as those of the Jesus Seminar, don’t accept the notion that the whole Bible is inerrant in everything it affirms. Consequently, they don’t believe that every verse is inspired by God, and thus is infallible. This led to the reduction of the canon of scripture. This reduction is achieved not be eliminating books but by eliminating verses within each book. The tests for canonicity that these theologians use are based on their personal worldview. The most common worldview is that of naturalism. Theologians with such worldview reject anything in the Bible that is supernatural, as R.C. Sproul writes,

“The crisis of Canon today is a crisis of world view. It is the result of ongoing struggle between naturalism and supernaturalism. The modern hermeneutic is an attempt to recover a naturalistic Canon from the supernaturally conceived message of Scripture. All that smacks of anything supernatural is ruled out from the start. The new ‘Canon’ is the rigid Canon of naturalism. Brunner was correct when he observed early on that the real issue we face in this debate is a crisis of unbelief. Bultmannianism and post-Bultmannian theology are a monument to such unbelief where the ‘Christ of Faith’ has little to do with the Christ of history or the New Testament.”[xvii]

When you take the Gospels and strip them from all the miracles that Jesus performed, and from his miraculous resurrection, you will unquestionably end up with a different Jesus than the Jesus of the historic Christian faith.

7. Some Churches Follow After Their Founder’s Footsteps Or Espouse A Particular System Of Theology

Most denominations have a founder or a spiritual leader, such as John Calvin, Martin Luther, John Wesley, Darby, and the list goes on. The tendency among people is to remain faithful to the leader’s teachings, whether or not the founder’s teachings are biblical. The Apostle Paul founded many churches. Yet, he encouraged all the members not to take his words for granted, but to test everything he said in light of the scripture.

Some churches don’t follow a particular leader, but follows a system of theology such as Calvinism or the Armenian system. They tend to interpret the Bible in the manner that is consistent with their system of theology. For instant, some people reject the doctrine of eternal security because they reject the doctrine of predestination. When one interprets the Bible, he or she should not choose the interpretation that best fits their system of theology, but the interpretation that best fits the intention of the author. I have seen people more zealous towards their particular denomination than the true teachings of the scriptures. The system of theology that one espouses should not have higher authority over the Bible. In other words, we test our systems in light of the word of God, rather than interpret the Word of God in light of our system of theology.

In fact, the founder’s teachings and the systems of theology become traditions to many of these denominations. So that the principle of Sola Scriptura is not really practiced even by those who believe in Sola Scriptura. Yes, even Protestant churches have traditions, and these traditions somehow are responsible for the variation of the teachings among the Protestant churches.

8. Some Churches Uses Wrong Interpretation Tools

Like any book in the world, the Bible is a book subject to interpretation. Some employ wrong methods of interpretation. The first rule of interpretation is to use the “grammatical-historical” method. In this method, the reader must ask such questions: “What was the author’s meaning? What is his intention? His audience?” To answer these questions, one may need to “do careful research in the text of scripture using proper historical, linguistic, and lexicographical tools. Exegesis, after all, means ‘to take out of.’ It never means to add to what is not there.”[xviii]

A common error of interpretation is reading more into the text than one should. For instant, Revelation 14:6 reads, “Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth--to every nation, tribe, language and people.” Mormons interpret this verse as a prophecy about the appearance of the angel Moroni to their founder Joseph Smith, which they claim it happened in 1823. Of course, there is nothing in this verse that mentions Joseph Smith, and they are just reading into the text things that are not there. If this text is read in its context, the reader can easily conclude that it talks about an angel appearing to everyone to proclaim the end of the world. The following verse (verse 7) reads, “He said in a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.’”

Not only the cults employ such methods of interpretation, other churches do. Take for instant the doctrine of infant Baptism, the verses the supporters of such doctrine use to support their beliefs don’t talk about infant baptism. For instant, consider Acts 16:32- 34: “Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God--he and his whole family.” Teachers who believe in infant baptism use this verse to support their beliefs by claiming that the household of the jailer must have included an infant. The problem is that they are reading too much into the text. But if we read the text carefully, we can see that all who got baptized, also, believed in the message; so most likely none of them were infants. Of course, this is not the only verse that is used to support infant baptism, but all the other verses are similar in nature. They require making speculations and reading things into the text are not really there.

A third important rule for Biblical interpretation is that one should not create doctrines from verses that are not clear, such as the verses given above. Doctrines must be based on clear verses. What about the difficult passages of Scripture? Pieper writes, “These obscure passages either do not pertain directly to the Christian doctrine, but give chronological, topographical, archaeological, etc., data, or, if they do pertain to doctrine, the same matter is elsewhere stated in Scripture set forth clearly and explicitly.”[xix]

Does the fact that it is possible to make mistakes in interpreting of the Bible means that we have to have an infallible organization to guard us from wrong interpretations? No, on the contrary, such organizations were responsible for many heretical teachings. The Bible teaches that everyone should read the Scripture. All major doctrines are taught clearly in the scripture. Disagreements on these major doctrines are not a result of poor interpretations, but of lack of faith in the inerrancy of the Bible and lack of respect to its authority as the sole authority on issues related to doctrine, faith, and practice.

9. Some Have Poor Knowledge Of The Bible

Some churches and teachers have poor knowledge of the Bible. Just because a person claims adherence to the scripture, it doesn’t mean that he knows the scripture, even if he was a godly person. Take for example Apollos. We read about him in Acts 18:24: “Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.”

Although Apollos was a leaned man and is said to know the scripture thoroughly, he had some inaccurate teachings that needed corrections. Thankfully, Apollos had a teachable spirit. Today, there are many Apollos in the churches. Few teachers, however, have the teachable spirit of Apollos. Today, many teachers don’t know the word of God and are not willing to spent time learning it.

11. Some Teachers Introduce Doctrines Based On Their Personal Experiences

Some teachers base their doctrines on personal visions, or special visitations from Gods. Most cults start this way. Other teachers don’t claim seeing visions or having visitations from angels, but they claim receiving revelations from the Holy Spirit. We are all familiar with the expression, “God told me so.” This language is prevailing among the teachers of the Faith Movement. Take Benny Hinn for example; he once said, “Man, I feel revelation knowledge already coming on me here. Lift your hands. Something new is going to happen here today. I felt it just as I walked down here. Holy Spirit, take over in the name of Jesus...God the Father, ladies and gentlemen, is a person; and he is a triune being by himself separate from the Son and the Holy Ghost. Say, what did you say? Here it, hear it, hear it. See, God the Father is a person, God the Son is a person, God the Holy Ghost is a person. But each one of them is a triune being by Himself. If I can shock you - and maybe I should - there's nine of them. Huh, what did you say? Let me explain: God the Father, ladies and gentlemen, is a person with his own personal spirit, with his own personal soul, and his own personal spirit body. You say, Huh, I never heard that. Well, you think you're in this church to hear things you've heard for the last 50 years? You can't argue with the Word, can you? It's all in the Word. (Benny Hinn, Praise The Lord, October 3, 1990). Here we have an example of a person coming up with his doctrine of God based on the special revelation from the Holy Spirit. To be fair to Benny Hinn, he recalled this statement later. If he didn’t recall his statement and continued to teach it, I am sure we would have a new denomination with thousands of followers.

The Bible admonishes us to be careful from those who teach things that are contradictory to Gods words and to test any spirit or special revelation in light of God’s word. Paul writes in Galatians 1:6-9, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-- which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!”

12. Certain Passages Of Scripture Are Not That Clear

There are passages in the Bibles that are difficult to comprehend. Take the book of Revelation, for instant. It is written using symbolic language. My personal belief is this was done by design because God doesn’t want the church to focus on the end time theology, but to focus on the cross of Jesus Christ and the message of salvation. I like how Dr. John Armstrong puts it, “It is a strange time indeed when believers know more about the Antichrist and the Beast in the Revelation than they do about justification, original sin, election, the cost of true discipleship and eternal judgment. Yet we are told repeatedly that these rather speculative prophetical matters are the ‘deep truths of the Scripture.’”[xx]

Other passages are difficult because what they teach is difficult for human to place in their own particular system of theology. For instant, we can see verses that teach about the human free will and verses that teach about predestination. For our human mind, we think it is either one or the other. God transcends us and as human we cannot fit him and his works in doctrinal statements and systems of theology. Sometimes, we have to accept his word and believe it even if it doesn’t fit into our system of beliefs.

Having said this, all major doctrines required for our salvation are clearly taught in the scripture. We read in 2 Timothy 3:15-17, “… the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Also Psalms 119: 105-130 reads, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path…The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.” The message of scripture so clear that Jesus expected people to search and understand the scriptures (Luke 24:25).

The doctrines that are not explicitly taught or easily understood from scripture, such as end time theology, are not critical for our salvation. We don’t have to divide over them, but we can enthusiastically debate them.

13. Some Teach False Teachings Because Of Public Fear And Acceptance

Some preachers they are more interested in saying that things that people want to hear rather than what the Bible teaches. At one point Peter was one of these teachers. In Galatians 2:11-14, Paul rebuked Peter (Cephas):

“When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.

When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?”

Why did Peter make such a mistake in a matter of faith? The above text clearly teaches that he was afraid from “certain men,” who were Jews.

Today, many teachers are afraid to teach biblical doctrines because of peer pressure or because they don’t want to offend others. The message of the gospel is never intended to fit into everyone system of theology, to sanction everyone’s philosophy, to approve of everyone’s lifestyle, or to please everybody.

14. Some Teach False Teachings In Order To Profit Financially

The Bible warns of people who will use the Bible for their profit. Many teachers through out history introduced false doctrines in order to make money from their followers. We are all familiar with the Catholic Church selling indulgences to its followers.

Today, Some Faith Movement teachers sell “Holy Water” to their followers, claiming that the water will heal them from their diseases.

15. Some Teach False Teachings To Gain Power

The Bible teaches that some teachers distort the truth in order to have their own disciples, and, hence, be in powerful and leadership positions. In Acts 20:29-32 Paul tells the Ephesians elders, “I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”

16. Some Teachers Are False Teachers Deceived By The Devil

Some teachers are simply false teachers. They might be sincere in the sense they do believe what they teach, but, nonetheless, their teachings are false. Timothy 4:1-3 reads, “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.”

17. Some Teachers Don’t Have The Gift Of Teachings

Although the Bible is designed to be read by every one, and although it is clear enough for the laymen to understand it, it is not designed to be taught by anyone. Teaching is a spiritual gift (1 Corinthians 12). Not every person who can read and write English can be an English teacher. Similarly, not everyone who can read the Bible and understand it can teach it. There are Bible teachers out there who are simply bad teachers, similarly to having bad English or math teachers. They may not have the training or the gift of teaching. I personally see a lot of errors in teachings when evangelists try to fill the shoes of teachers. Just because a person is a good evangelist doesn’t mean he is a good teacher. Unfortunately, evangelists tend to have more popularity with the people than teachers, and thus they to tend to shape the doctrines of the people more than they ought to.

18. Some Teachers Are Not Spiritually Generated

We cannot ignore the role of the Holy Spirit in teaching the word of God. Many times Jesus said things to the disciples but they were not able to understand it. After his resurrection and after they received the Holy Spirit, they were able to understand his teachings. I know a lot of people who told me that before they became born again they were not able to understand the Bible, but once they gave their lives to Jesus, their eyes were open and they were able to understand the word of God.

When we read the Bible, the Holy Spirit illuminates our mind and makes us understand the word of God. One, however, need to regenerated in order to experience the work of the Holy Spirit through the Scripture. Dr. Armstrong puts it this way:

“It is most important that we understand that this internal witness of the Spirit is tied directly to the Gospel itself, i.e., the message of ‘Christ and him crucified’ (1 Corinthians 1:18 – 2:5). One must come to believe…in the vicarious satisfaction of Christ’s death for him as a sinner. Without this reality the inner witness of the Spirit to the truth of Scripture that does not bring the recipient savingly to the Gospel, and thus to Christ crucified in my place, is not the work of the Spirit and will not, therefore, give a person confidence in the authority of the Holy Scripture.”[xxi]

19. Some Denominations Disagreements Are Not Doctrinal In Nature

There are denominations that have the same doctrines but have different governing structure, different style of worship, different languages used in their services, different days of worship, etc. As far as these issues are concerned, God is not as picky as us.

20. God Allows Denominations

Sound doctrines are very important. But once we agree on the major doctrines of the Christian faith (i.e. the trinity, salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, etc.), I believe there is room for having different denominations. I am, personally, glad that we have many denominations. What is the alternative? Imagine every church is a Closed Brethren church or is a Pentecostal church. Furthermore, I don’t see any biblical prohibition for having different denominations. The large number of denomination, also, does not imply division within Christianity. People who object to having many denominations do so on the basis of their faulty understanding of the meaning of the Church of Christ. They believe that the Church of Christ is a theocracy or an earthly organization, and, if one is not a member of this earthly organization, he is outside the faith. The Bible teaches that the Church of Christ is not a single organization or an earthly organized Church, such as the Vatican or the Watch Tower Society, but it is made of everyone who is a born again Christian.

I believe God, himself, doesn’t mind the presence of the various born again Christian denominations (i.e. the Baptists, the Free Evangelicals, the Pentecostals, the Brethrens, the Nazarenes, etc.). And he works in and through each of these various churches. As a matter of fact, he is the one who allows the existence of these denominations. He allows this for his glory. Why would God allow them to exist? First, the presence of denominations is good for world evangelism and the growth of the local church. There is a desire among denominations to have a presence in every geographic area. If we have only one denomination, then we might end up with one church in a particular city. If we have ten denominations, we might end up with ten churches. More local churches means more Christian workers and resources for reaching the communities. Certain denominations, also, may be better at reaching a specific group of people than the others. Second, the number of denominations reminds us of the true meaning of the universal church of Christ, which is made up of people from every nation, every tribe, every tongue, and yes from different denominations. If there was only one denomination, it is possible that we would have made it a theocracy and gave it all our devotion. God wants us to be first devoted to the head of the universal church, Jesus Christ. Third, God permits the presence of number denominations in order to remind us that He transcends us and as humans we will never be able to understand Him fully. We cannot reduce God into doctrinal statements and denominational creeds. Fourth, and the most important reason, God allows the presence of the number of denominations just to continuously remind us of the sole authority of the scripture. The presence of these different denominations tends to send us back humbly to the Word of God for more thorough study and examination. God doesn’t want any earthly church to replace the scripture in any measure. Yes, the presence of these denominations is powerful witness to the sole authority of scripture.

Conclusion

There are many Christian denominations and cults. If we examine the different beliefs of these groups, we can easily notice that the major differences in the beliefs are attributed implicit or explicit to the rejection of the sole authority of scripture. One can reject the authority of scripture by outwardly rejecting the Bible as the infallible word of God or by adding a rival authority, such as Traditions, other unbiblical books, teachings of the church, pronouncements of the popes, personal experiences, personal philosophies or worldviews, systems of theologies, personal agendas, and the list goes on. The only safeguard against heretical teachings is the respect of the authority of scripture as the sole authority in all issues related to doctrine, faith, and practice.