[mvparis128]

How has christianity divided into so many denomination?

[southamerica]

Throughout history, religious leaders have sprung out of rebellion to the corruption of older religious sects. For example Martin Luther rejected the corrupt Catholicism in Germany in the 16th century, and his movement began the Protestant denomination.

The bible has been interpreted in a myriad of ways, and differing opinions on how to practice according to the law of God has caused many different sects of Christianity.

[Fr_Chuck]

Because of man and his desire to have things the way HE wants

[hauntinghelper]

Yup, it really boils down to man corrupting the perfection that God sent in Christ Jesus. Most of the time we forget the simplicity that is Christ and His work of the cross. Denominations are by man and for man.

[Fr_Chuck]

And of course we have to remember Martian Luther did not want or plan on starting a new denomination, He was left with little choice. But he really got the new church going when Germany used him and his popular teaching to break the political control that Rome had on their nation.
Had Germany and their government not needed to use him for their own personal gain, Luther would not even be a foot note in history

[dwashbur]

The cause of denominations is the same as the cause of all the world's problems, and it can be summed up in one word:


Selfishness.

[ebaines]

dwashbur - are you suggesting that the very existence of any denomination is by definition "selfishness?" In other words, any attempt to build a church organization is an act of selfishness?

[dwashbur]

dwashbur - are you suggesting that the very existence of any denomination is by definition "selfishness?" In other words, any attempt to build a church organization is an act of selfishness?

No, I'm saying the vast differences that led to so many denominations generally result from selfishness: group X wants to do it this way, group Y wants to do it the other way, and neither will budge, so we end up with two different denominations, and each thinks they're the only one that's right. It would be helpful if you would define what you mean by "church organization" since that's not what the original question was about.

[Wondergirl]

The existence of so many denominations is because of man's search for truth, for the "right" way to perceive God and the Bible. For instance, the Lutheran Church isn't one big denomination in which all members agree. It's made up of subdivisions or sub-denominations, some of whose members can hardly stand to be in the same room with each other. For instance, the Wisconsin and Missouri synods are very conservative, whereas the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), which officially came into existence on January 1, 1988, partly because of dissatisfaction with conservative Lutheran beliefs, is considered liberal. Three areas of dissension between Lutheran conservatives and liberals are the ordination of women and the acceptance of homosexuality and abortion.

I once asked a Lutheran minister why he belongs to the Missouri Synod branch of the Lutheran Church. His answer: "Because it seems to have more truth than any of the others."

It's all in how each church body interprets the Bible.

[ebaines]

It would be helpful if you would define what you mean by "church organization" since that's not what the original question was about.

I was trying to use a synonym for "denomination." A denomination is a group of religious congragations with its own organization.

I personally do not think selfishness is the root cause of the development of multiplle denominations. "Selfishness" implies that the root motive is disinterest in working with others, or for personal gain - perhaps of power, prestige, or monetary gain. I believe that the majority of denominations were established by well meaning people who had fundamental differences of opinion as to the "right way" to be a Christian.

[elpadg]

If the question is really to be taken literally as it is written, I believe it is "How has christianity divided into so many denominations?" This is somewhat confusing to me because of the word "how". Is the question phrased like that for a certain purpose? Does the question, then ask; "What is the mechanism that has divided a large group of people who have as individuals, each chosen to place himself or herself into a single category labeled Christianity, but then, after having a billion or so people in the group, we want to know how the billion people did not all agree on all of the various parts and operations so that the billion people all thought with one brain? You can probably see from the way I have worsded what I have written, that I am confused as to what we are trying to determine. At the same time I wonder how anyone could determine how the division of 1 billion people into many subsets over the course of 2,000 years on a worldwide basis took place. That answer would, if done correctly, fill several libraries I imagine. I doubt it could be adequately answered by one who had not devoted an enormous amount of time to the study of the history of Christianity. Like maybe 30 years. I'm tempted to delete this but since I wrote it I am going to post it. If it does not make sense within the context of the question asked, I apologize. I thought I could answer the question until I got started and discovered an unending answer. But maybe I have interpreted wrong. I think the question is valid, I am just deficient in this area so I'll be quiet now.

[gromitt82]

How has christianity divided into so many denomination?

Fr. Chuck has given you a nice answer.

Ever since man is man, he has always attempted to impose his opinion to others on the grounds that he knew better and the rest were probably wrong.

Shortly after Jesus Christ died, the so called first Council of Jerusalem took place (1st century AD), and it gathered on one side St. Paul of Tarsus and his followers and on the other Saint Peter and Saint James.

The basic purpose of the meeting was to resolve a disagreement about circumcision and the need to adhere to the Law of Moses. However, other matters arose as well.

Subsequently, in 325 AD, the First Council of Nicaea took place in present Iznik (Turkey) convened by Constantine I. Through a number of theological discussions and disagreements, it was finally closed by establishing the relationship of Jesus to God, the Father, plus the first part of the Nicene Creed. Although the council did not define the doctrine of the deity of Christ, it did settle in a way the several debates and theories that had been going on in the early Christian communities, regarding the divinity of Christ.

This, of course, proves what I said at the beginning about man’s haughtiness, because, if we want to be logical about it, we must admit that no matter how intelligent, learned and important any bishop, archbishop or even Popes can be, all they can talk about, when they refer to our Creator, is just what they think, on a “bona fide” basis.

According to the O.T. God appeared several times to men and spoke with them on several matters. However, with the exception when God gave Moses the Commandments of the Law, practically all these contacts were supposedly referring to clear cut instructions the Jews were to follow.

Other than that, and as far as I know, God never revealed us anything directly except through Jesus’ Message.

You should not be therefore surprised to see how Christianity has evolved since Jesus. There are 3 basic branches: Protestantism, Orthodox Church (the Eastern one) and the Roman Catholics.

Each one of these branches can subdivide in several others, although Protestants are those who had split more often.

Hence, the tremendous amount of interpretations and translations we can find of the Holy Scriptures.

Yet, in my opinion, what really matters is that we believe in one and only God and in Jesus, His Son, who left with us His Message by telling us how we are to behave to achieve the final prize, i.e. our Salvation.
Gromitt82