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I agree, but it would be very difficult. When you look at the beliefs of all those who believe Jesus is the way to the father. They agree on 90+% the same thing. Its that small 10% which is the reason for 38,000 denominations, that differ on Sabbath Days, Dietary Laws, Tithing, Homosexuality, Baptism, Rapture, how we should refer to God and a few other areas. I'm still amazed that small percentage can have that many different variations.
Add to that the fact that the vast majority won't even let Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses and other less loved denominations won't be allowed in. After that, it will devolve into an argument about who can get ... and the whole thing will fall apart before it even starts.
Christianity is too bigoted and self-righteous presently for a mass-unity of Christianity to work.
There is already one church, it is the body of Christ. It is God's doing as He washes those that come to Him in faith with the shed blood of His Son. It isn't created by a religious institution, it exists in spite of such. It meanders in and out of these man-made groupings; an individual believer belonging to one of these groups isn't a believer because of the group, nor does belonging to any group negate his being a part of the body.
Conversely, there are many that are adherents of all of these religious structures that are not part of the body. They are devout, hold to dogma, but are not born again believers. Their faith is in the institution and their activity within it and not within the work of the cross done by Jesus on their behalf.
Nice idea of one unified structure, but God's idea is much better.
I think that it's impossible to create that giant church in the present climate of Chrisendom. Doctrinal orthodoxy is far too important to virtually every denomination, and all of them think they're the only ones who got doctrine right. And the Roman Catholic Church is so much larger than anyone else, any grand union puts the Catholics in charge by default. Everyone else is so overwhelmingly outvoted that they might as well just give up ever getting their way on anything. And the RCC honestly believes that it is their God given right to rule over all of Christianity, making such a union even less attractive to everyone else.
Is the idea a good one? Yes!!!! So how do you get there??
A less formal union could work, so long as it is understood that nobody can ever boss everyone else around. Freedom of doctrinal belief must be guaranteed. Freedom to operate and act however you want would need to be pretty much limitless. But if you just lump all Christendom together like that and call it a Church, is it significantly different from where we are today? I can see a lot of benefits, but I can also see a lot of folks being afraid of joining the party.
You could at the very least unite all Protestants together by saying:
Dogma doesn't matter, grace is what saves you.
Also, I'm pretty sure this is how the Unitarian church formed.
I'm pretty sure the average Lutheran couldn't even tell you how they differ from the average Methodist.
Good luck with getting the religious people to agree with that.
Right. I grew up Southern Baptist. They can't even get along with themselves. One of the main reasons Baptists have grown in the south is because of church splits. Growth by cell division, lol. Go to most southern towns of any size and you will find the First Baptist Church and then you will find several around town that split off of it for any number of crazy reasons.
You could at the very least unite all Protestants together by saying:
Dogma doesn't matter, grace is what saves you.
Also, I'm pretty sure this is how the Unitarian church formed.
I'm pretty sure the average Lutheran couldn't even tell you how they differ from the average Methodist.
Yay, handy graph!
Keep the debate going, its very interesting to hear everyones opinions and at the end of this debate we will know whats gonna happen to the future of Christianity....
Just wanna add my two cent, if you take out everyones personal opinions, additions and explanations of what Jesus's message is, all you have left is a very simple message.."Be a good person, love God, love your neighbours as thy self, be kind, be humble, respect your parents and everyone, dont kill or hurt anyone, feed the poor, and live live happy". To me its basic common sence.
The problem is those who used Jesus's message to gain financial benefits for themself by adding their own opinion into the doctrine so tthey branch out and start their own version. Religion is a quick money making business if you know how to do it.
Thats why I dont attend any religion anymore. But I still wish that one day, all those who loved Jesus would come together and just Unite under a very simple message. Im sure if Jesus is here today he would want the same thing.
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