Rockmom is the view of Catholics, too. I, for some reason, thought they did not feel this way per the Pope and not individual Catholics?

 

Doesn't the Jehovah Witnesses believe that only 144,000, the number in the book of Revelations, are getting in. Thus, why they do so much work.

Yes I have heard that! If this is true that road to Heaven is a Narrow one!

Man making calls on the word of Jesus Christ that bests fit their situation rather than what the Bible says.

 

Not to put this on the feet of the Catholics...

It's good that you're not putting this at the feet of the Catholics. As you point out, it was the Protestant followers who made the call that fit their situation and split from The Church. :thumb:

The first church at Pentecost in the Book of Acts has been referred by Church historians as the "Orthodox Church", this continued this way for several centuries and through several councils to fight off heresies. I might be mistaken but the Great Schism is the title given to separation between the Western Church (the Roman Catholic) and the Eastern Church, (the Orthodox), which took place in the eleventh century. Relations between the two great traditions of the East and the West had often been strained since the fourth century. Yet, unity and harmony was maintained in spite of differences in theological expression, liturgical practices, and views of authority. By the ninth century, however, legitimate differences were intensified by political circumstances, cultural clashes, papal claims, and the introduction in the West of the Filioque phrase into the Nicene Creed. The Filioque affirms that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. Both the papal claims and the Filioque were strongly repudiated by the East.

 

Although it is difficult to date the exact year of the schism, in the year 1054 official charges, known as Anathamas, were exchanged. The Crusades, and especially the sack of the city of Constantinople by the western crusaders in 1204, can be considered the final element in the process of estrangement and deepening mistrust.

 

Why do we have so many different denominations? Man gets in the way. If the Greek Orthodox of today is still practicing and worshipping the way, Peter, James, John and other Apostles did, should'nt we also?

 

Just a question but a valid one. No name on a door is going to get you into heaven. People have different views of scripture, different views on worship, some would rather rely on emotion and not spirit...the list goes on and on, but IMO, which is not much, I do not believe that having all these denominations is what God intended for us here on earth. We must worship in spirit and truth regardless of the church we attend

Some people are followers and need ONE to lead them . Some listen instead of reading for themselves. One question: Can the bible be understood ? I do not know my self.

The Crusades, and especially the sack of the city of Constantinople by the western crusaders in 1204...

Didn't historians later review the facts of that situation? Apparently they discovered that, at the time of the attack, the arm of the Byzentine army under the control of Alexius V was moving forward (running for their lives) through the city gates.

 

Since Alexius' arm was moving forward while the Venetian navy was attacking by sea, it was ruled an incomplete passage. Therefore the Crusaders were not awarded the sack.

 

Although to this day, most people think the Byzentines just dropped the ball. I don't know -- that's just what I heard somewhere.

The Great Schism and the Protestant Reformation both came during troubled times in the Roman Catholic Church. The Church of England came about because Henry VIII didn't care for Rome's rules. I think the biggest reason for splits in the church is because of a leader acting outside of the will of God. None of the Christian sects are perfect, but I think for the most part they do their best to follow the will of God.

I am not going to argue this with you, but any history book, world almanac, Encyclopedia, will tell you that the Great Schism was between the Orthodox church and the Roman Catholic Church (East vs West) the other splits came later on in time.

I am not going to argue this with you, but any history book, world almanac, Encyclopedia, will tell you that the Great Schism was between the Orthodox church and the Roman Catholic Church (East vs West) the other splits came later on in time.

Who are you not arguing with?

Paul says in Philippians that man may preach a different Gospel, but as long as the bottom line is Jesus Christ thats the key. I have studied different types of beliefs and each one does something that Man has started in his church. There is no perfect church, and why is that?

Paul says in Philippians that man may preach a different Gospel, but as long as the bottom line is Jesus Christ thats the key. I have studied different types of beliefs and each one does something that Man has started in his church. There is no perfect church, and why is that?

Do you have a exact verse?

We must worship in spirit and truth regardless of the church we attend

 

Most important point in this thread, IMO.

Yes I do...Philippians 1:17:18..."The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in Chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice". What Paul is saying some were preaching just to be in competion with him and had the wrong motives. Paul was in prison. These preachers message was sincere but motives were wrong. The message is more than the medium.

 

He was rejoicing that people were still speaking of Christ. Some of these preachers were just wanting the crowd to praise them and isn't that true for even today. Telling senior citizens to send us a little more money. Hope this helps.

Send me a dollar and you'll recieve a free Miracle. Now isnt that an oxymoron.

Good question, Adopted Admiral. In the book," What People Ask About The Church," by Dale A Robbins, he poses the question, Why are there so many different churches? In answer to that question he points out several things that were helpful to me and I hope that will be helpful to you.

Regardless, of how closely various churches may agree with each other doctrinally, there will never be two churches exactly alike. This is largely due to the fact that there are no two people exactly alike. Churches are made up of people. The combined individual personalities in a congregation, creates a distinct "congregational personality." Sometimes people mistake differences in church personality as differences in belief or doctrine. A denomination is a cluster of separate congregations, which due to their agreement or disagreement with viewpoints of other churches, have unified together. According to Church Historian, Dr Bruce E. Shelley, the original usage of the term "denomination," actually stood for unity, not division. It was used to describe cooperation with other churches without compromise of fundamental convictions.

Denominations probably were not Christ's first choice for His church.

John 17:20-21 NIV "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me."

But denominations came to help serve the purpose of God in many important ways; they helped to divide and scatter the influence of the Gospel to a wide spectrum of people, helped to filter out the spread of harmful heresies and false doctrines, and have unified significant portions of the body of Christ. Wise denominational leaders have used their influence to help their flock see the larger family picture of Christianity.

There's really only one true church-every church which is based on Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is part of the true church.

You have:

Moses

1054 Schism

Martin Luther

That Scientology guy

Anti-Popes

Colonel Sanders