Multiple Denominations Does Not Mean Divisions Within The Church

I will update as I look over it and find some areas I may need to expand on.

   I keep hearing the charge from many that they don't believe in the Christian church as there are too many divisions, just look at all the denominations. To a point that's true.  But denominations doesn't mean there isn't unity at some points either.

  Here is the heart of the Christian faith.   The quote goes like this:  "in essentials unity, non-essentials liberty, in all things love".   So what does this mean exactly?   The essentials of the faith are basically those components that if not held to differentiate those of the Christian faith delivered to the saints and those of false religions.   One of the earliest known creeds of the faith is called the Apostle's Creed as it was written fairly close to the writings of the New Testament:

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
    the Maker of heaven and earth,
    and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:

Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
    born of the virgin Mary,
    suffered under Pontius Pilate,
    was crucified, dead, and buried;

He descended into hell. [See Calvin]

The third day He arose again from the dead;

He ascended into heaven,
    and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
    from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost;
    the holy catholic church;
    the communion of saints;
    the forgiveness of sins;
    the resurrection of the body;
    and the life everlasting.

Amen.

*Note catholic church here means universal.  Not the Catholic church proper.

   Some others had to be added because of heresies that arose.    For instance the Athenasian Creed arose because of the heresy of Athanasius.  Because he tried to state that Christ had a beginning which is in contrast to scripture.  So the key centers about the nature of God and Jesus, the person and work of Jesus, and the good news of the gospel. 

   Most of the heresies and distortions come from misrepresenting one or more of these areas.   Some teach that God was born on some planet and became God.  Which totally ignores plain common sense and a distortion of what the Bible teaches.  Others teach that Jesus was just a man, no more or no less.  The logical conclusion of that is that he leads to all sorts of problems about his work and salvation at all.   The ironic thing is even with all the distortions out there you start to get a sense of what the true teaching is.  Since they distort one or more teachings they do have parts of the truth.  Which is what Satan does, he mixes truth with distortions and leads people away.   But if you took all the ones that mix truth with distortions you see what it is they try to distort and which ones many do repeat that for the basics.   But obviously the best way is get the truth undistorted.   I'll leave a lot of the details of the nature and work of God and Jesus for separate discussions.

    So why are there denominations?  From a simple perspective it's preferences.  But these preferences are on trivial matters that have nothing with the truth of the gospel itself.  For instance some churches lift up their hands and shout praises.  Others are more reserved and quiet.  Neither is right or wrong and I sure wouldn't be comfortable if it's not my way of worshiping.  Again falling back on "essentials unity" we can unite and call each other brothers and sisters in Christ if we follow the essentials.   Then on "non-essential liberty, while we agree on the essentials we an have our own way of living out that faith within the body of Christ just simply because of grouping ourselves with people that pray, sing, etc like we prefer.  Not a thing wrong with that and makes perfect sense seeing we're all different.  

   Some people equate different denominations with the Bible not being clear on it's teachings and that no one knows the truth so we have different denominations.   While most of that is clearly not understanding what denominations is there is cases also where that is the truth.   Some, while claiming to be another denomination is not just another denomination but not even part of the true church following sound doctrine.  These can fall under heresies, false gospel, and some even under one or more definitions of cult.   So when you look at these names it's easy to get confused as to who believes what and are they correct or not?   That question in itself was why I left the church when I was younger but then questioned later about how someone can know the truth or not.   That too would make another topic of discussion.  For instance the reliability of scripture and interpreting scripture.

  So when a person is looking for a church that is part of a particular denomination even that becomes a challenge as some churches even within a denomination may not hold to some of it's denominations foundations.  It's not until you ask a lot of questions and get to know what foundational teachings they hold to do you find out the truth.

 So denominations doesn't necessarily mean there isn't core teachings that aren't known as well as many teachings that people can vary on but aren't necessary in regards to salvation etc.