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Plain Talk for Teens
Lesson #2
Question: Why are there so many different churches?
Opening Discussion:
Q - How do you think the different denominations got started?
Ask them if they have heard of people like John Wesley (Methodist), Martin Luther (Lutheran), John Calvin (Presbyterian), John Smyth (Baptist), Joseph Smith (Mormon), and Charles Russell (Jehovah's Witness). These men were all founders of Denominations and beliefs.
Q - Why do you think they got started?
People over time began to believe things a little differently in the Bible and others would join them and soon it would branch off into a group or form a denomination. The differences ranged from when and how baptism was performed to whether the gifts of the Spirit were for today or not. Some were differences on how the order of the service was to be performed. Most denominations however all agree to the foundational teachings of Salvation through Christ alone, Heaven, Hell, and the inerrancy of, and the completeness of the Bible. There is a major difference in a denomination and a false teaching such as Mormonism, Jehovah Witness, and others. False teachings do not follow the above criteria or distort it and usually have another book they add to go along with the Bible. They also usually put emphasis on the founder of the belief as a means of Salvation.
Did this occur in the Bible times?
1 Corinthians 1: 10-13
10: Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
11: For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
12: Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.
13: Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?
Luke 9: 49-50
49: And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbad him, because he followeth not with us.
50: And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us.
Galatians 3: 26-28
26: For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
27: For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Q - From reading the last scripture in Galatians do you think that separation among God's people was what God wanted?
Denominations do not make people bad it just prevents them from being completely united as Jesus had originally intended for His Church. Look at the following statement from Jesus regarding this:
John 17: 20-23
20: Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
21: That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
22: And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
23: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
You can see that even though there are different denominations that those that believe the 'foundational teachings' are "one" in those beliefs but differ in views on other things. As long as we remain on this earth there will be differences in interpretations and beliefs on what the Bibles says. The most important thing to remember is to never stray from the "foundational" teachings.
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