4/10/24 Word count – 589 reading time – 2.5 minutes

Within the broad blanket of the Christian community there are multiple versions of Christianity. Frequently referred to as churches, these various denominations typically have different viewpoints on how to do Christianity. To be truly Christian there are certain basic beliefs that must be core to the philosophy of the denomination. However, beyond the core beliefs the process of incorporating them into the vast array of cultures, races, political environs, languages, spiritual traditions and world views that have been embraced by Christianity must certainly create the need for some adaptation. Additionally, the challenges of onboarding these diverse peoples requires constant assessment of the condition of Christianity against the backdrop of our changing world. Debates will undoubtedly arise from such examination by Christian scholars. You can check out the core Christian beliefs in my previous blog post found in this site’s archives.

So, from my perspective most of the differences in denominations stem from differences in point of view on, and interpretations of, the Bible. I’m not sure this is necessarily a bad thing. God provides us with a pretty clear understanding of what we are supposed to be doing to gain salvation. Most disagreements are about how to do what we are supposed to do. To me, it is important to continuously be examining how our ever-changing cultural situations align with our spiritual beliefs and world view. From the perspective of sparking self-examination and provision of unique perspectives, we benefit from the variety of viewpoints that are provided by different denominations. Disagreements about how to do Christianity have been going on since the disagreement between the Apostle Peter, who was one of the original disciples of Jesus, and Paul, who was responsible for spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the Roman Empire.

Known as the Incident at Antioch, the dispute between these 2 giants of the Bible took place in A.D.49 over the way to integrate gentiles into the Christian faith. While Peter’s capitulation to Paul’s point of view laid the foundation for the Christian practices we follow to this day, the important part to me is that they were able to reconcile their differences. This is my biggest take-away from the whole denomination thing. Within the Christian community we seem to be better at focusing on our differences than our similarities. This has become so pervasive that it provides fodder for the Atheists who are constantly trying to denigrate our faith. One of their arguments against Christianity is why should anyone take Christianity seriously when Christians can’t even agree among themselves on what Christianity is.

As I mentioned earlier, the core beliefs of Christianity are all agreed upon by all true Christians, so arguments to the contrary are erroneous. Nevertheless, although it is important to seek unity among fellow believers it is also important to be vigilant in preserving our core beliefs. The reason for vigilance is that there are some denominations that profess to be Christian but do not adhere to the basic core values and beliefs of the faith. True Christianity holds that Jesus and God the Creator and God the Holy Spirit are all one in the same Person. Some denominations present Jesus as a God separate from the Creator. Other denominations view Jesus as a prophet but not God. These differences may seem like minutia to the casual observer, but they are significant to the Christian belief system.

In Part 2 of this series we will glimpse the backstory of denominations and in Part 3 we will look at some of today’s major denominations.