Is it necessary for all Christian denominations to agree on every doctrine to properly follow Christ?

In my experience denominations, at their core, tend to be divisive, separatist, oft times Pharisaic groups. While I will grant you that within these groups we do find true disciples of Christ, the mainline denominational rhetoric almost always boils down to: "I follow the Pope (Catholicism)" or ""I follow Martin Luther (Protestantism) etc, etc. and my group got all the doctrinal issues right... yours didn't!"

Though there weren't established Christian denominations in the early days of Christ, we do get a glimpse that denomination type factions were rising up. The apostle Paul, who through inspiration of God wrote down much of the New Testament, addressed the idea of Christian factions, offshoots and denominations in his first letter to the Corinthians:

1 Corinthians 1:10-13; 30-31 ~ 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. 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. 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. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?... But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

In my personal journey to find a place to worship, I found a greater feeling of spiritual unity in a NON-denominational church. In the one I attend, the main slant and focus of the followers of Christ is to not only KNOW Christ but to know Him crucified. This is what Paul strove for as he ministered to the Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 2:2 - For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

Denominations claim to seek unity, but all too often they separate themselves from other believers over things we only see dimly now and/or lesser largely vain and divisive doctrines like how one should be baptized or what day of the week one should worship God. This is NOT scriptural as scripture plainly tells us to avoid such things:

Titus 3:9 - But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.

In Revelation Chapter 2 and 3, the apostle John is given a message to individual church factions. Each message acknowledges the positives with "I know thy works..." and decries the negatives with "Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee..." Why? Because the message, in Christ, is not religious division and/or elitism, but righteousness, peace and joy IN THE HOLY SPIRIT"! It is only in and through our Lord Jesus Christ that we have unity of the brethren. It isn't a denominational affiliation that gives believers unction, but the Holy Spirit (1 John 2:20). It isn't a denominational creed that gives believers utterance, but the Holy Spirit! (Luke 12:12), it isn't a pastor, a pope, or bishop that intercedes for us but the Holy Spirit... working in and through believers!! (Romans 8:26)

Now I'm not saying there aren't legitimate, Biblically sound core doctrines that are indisputable. What I am saying is that the motivations for denominational separatism too often stem from a selfish need to be right rather than a desire for unity of the brethren. If people would learn to pray that their brothers and sisters in Christ would receive wisdom and correction from the Father above rather than trying to club people over the head with their personal understanding of doctrinal truth, there would be far fewer denominations and far more unity in Gods church.

The Bible tells us those who follow Jesus Christ are changed from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18). This means all believers are a work in progress at various stages of spiritual development. As we allow God to reveal Himself to us more and more... change us more and more... we must be ever mindful not to allow the measure of faith and discernment we've been given to deceive us into thinking we have "arrived" spiritually or to cause our brother to stumble:

Romans 14:10,13,19,21-22 ~ But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ... Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way... Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.... It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak. Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.

For answers to these and other questions, READ YOUR BIBLE & PRAY!

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There are so many denominations of the Christian faith that some people, especially new believers are confused and wonder why there is so much division in the body of Christ. This was actually one of the things that I used to have a problem with.

Basically denominations exist because of different interpretations of the bible. While the bible is the inerrant word of God the many books of the bible are written in different styles and for different purposes. Some are meant to be taken as literal historical accounts or biographies, while others are songs, poetry or full of symbolism. The context always has to be taken into consideration as well because many verses or even whole passages can lead to different conclusions if taken on their own merit without considering the context. Another problem is with the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek text. Words in these languages often have more than one meaning so the English translations of the bible have a hard time translating certain words or phrases to retain their original meaning and sometimes the original meaning is also disputed. The modern bible, however is more than 90% accurate to the original text and can therefore be trusted.

The problem is that while all Christian denominations agree on the major doctrines of Christianity, it is usually the secondary doctrines that cause disagreements. While some people will dispute this, the way I see it is that the bible tells us to put our complete trust in Jesus Christ for salvation...not our works but in Christ alone. In our sin, we deserve God's judgment but because Christ died for us and was raised from the dead he is the only way to be saved. God in his grace, draws all people to himself and actually gives us a choice... but if not for his grace no one would believe since we are all slaves to sin. Good works are the fruit of salvation not the means. The Bible also clearly teaches the doctrine of the trinity which means that there is one god which is in three persons. God the father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This is important because a person cannot really have faith in Christ unless he or she believes that Jesus Christ is the unique and only begotten son of God therefore he is the second person of the trinity. The same goes for the Holy Spirit because the bible clearly teaches that he is also fully God and by his indwelling the Christian is born again. If you truly believe these things all other doctrines, while important, are also secondary.

Will all Christians agree on everything? No, never because they are fallible people and have individual personalities. However, your question is whether all Christians should agree on doctrine and the answer is definitely YES! The Apostles had their differences for sure, but they did not disagree on the core Christian doctrine. They all believed that Jesus was God in the flesh (post-Crucifixion), that salvation was thru obedience to God's Word (repentance of sin, baptism in Jesus' name, and the infilling of the Holy Ghost). Acts 2:42 says, "And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers."

There were never any changes to the original Christian doctrine of the early church...changes didn't start appearing until after the apostles had all died and corruption entered the church. These are the "grievous wolves" that Paul said would enter the flock and deceive many (Acts 20:29). Fear not, the true Christian doctrine is still preserved in His word and if you are truly seeking, you will find it there. Nazism, Communism, Paganism, and Atheism couldn't snuff out the Bible for the last 2000 years...God's still moving!

All Christian denominations ARE agreed on the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith; just compare all the Creeds and you will see huge agreement. Jehovah's Witnesses set up a straw man argument here, giving the impression that there are thousands of denominations all at each other's throats. But just ask those JWs what the Creeds say and they will flounder like fish out of water. None of them have ever made a study of the major Creeds, let alone compared them, one with the others!

Catholicism and Protestantism hold to major elements of the Christian faith. Yes, Protestantism split from Catholicism and once the first split occured, there was nothing to prevent myriad mini-splits thereafter. Yet even JWs will agree that the Protestant split was a move in the right direction! They are themselves a split from many other splits. The JWs initially had much in common with the Adventism of the 19th century; they deviated from it but held to some common beliefs with Baptists, then they deviated further from Baptists. It just goes on ad infinitum, but for JWs to criticise denominationalism within Christendom is for the kettle to call the pot black!

God looks at the heart condition of those worshipping Him. “God does not show favouritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right” the Bible says in Acts 10:35. It is faith in Jesus Christ that brings sinners into the congregation of God.

Actually, pretty much all the Christian denominations agree that everyone else has to agree with their particular interpretation and abandon their own to properly follow Christ. One of the reasons I'm no longer Christian is that it seemed to me that those people worshiped themselves more than anything else and only wanted other people's agreement, obedience, and money. There was very little of the teachings of Jesus or of any attempt to achieve a relationship with God in the sermons I was hearing.

First, I'd like to clarify that I am currently an atheist (I realize some will stop reading immediately), but I have a strong religious background in Christianity. I will not inject anything about unbelief for the rest of this answer.

In my experience, having been raised Catholic, having many friends of many different denominations, and later belonging to the Orthodox Christian church, it seems that a lot of Christians quarrel over relatively insignificant passages in scripture. Each denomination takes a biblical teaching and focuses on it to form the basis of a unique church.

That doesn't necessarily mean, however, that they have an overall different interpretation of the Bible. In terms of actual worship, these individuals would most likely fit in quite well at most other Christian churches. Certainly, the atmosphere is different in many of them; I can tell you that my first visit to an Eastern Orthodox church was awe-inspiring in terms of the historical accuracy of their services, and a visit to an Evangelical church sort of befuddled my notion of where such ancient tradition should fit in. Overall, though, they tend to preach the same inclusive, well-meaning doctrines that Christ did, albeit in different frames of reference.

well think about that for a minute. what are we trying to accomplish in our christian life? To follow Christ, right? Is Christ divided? Did he give any options for us, that if we do not like certain teachings, we can just follow the road by another direction?

If anyone thinks differing interpretations are 'their personal" road to Christ, and that others can (find) their own paths, then we should ask our self, is that the path to Truth? Will this method give me a success invitation from Christ when it is all over, and all accounts are due and payable? There is only one end for each and everyone of us, success or failure!! (heaven or hell!!) therefore I personally, want to be ensured that the road I walk does not come from my own ability to interpret a divine message even tho' I may ask for the help of the holy spirit in doing this, what is my personal guarantee of truth? Since all christians disagree on certain doctrines, it stands to reason then, that personal interpretation is not the road to success, since by the evidence of that road is {division and different sects} of a certain faith denomination.

Though people claim, well we agree on everything Except, there is division present, and Christ is NOT divided. He is ONE and He called us all to this Oneness through his message, his revelation to us, given 2000 yrs. ago, and taught and preached by the chosen Apostles (bishops).

The Bible should be our only authority, and the Bible makes clear that there is actually only one critical element to becoming a Christian - a born-again, spirit-filled, anointed Christian. You have to call upon the name of Jesus - he is our Lord and Saviour and we must bend our knee and accept him as such.

It is the work of the Holy Spirit to bring us to a point of repentance and forgiveness. It might take years, but the Holy Spirit opens our eyes, unstops our ears and softens our hearts so that we might receive the gospel message. At the moment we believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour we receive the Holy Spirit, as Jesus promised in John 5:3-16.

"And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor to be with you for ever - the Spirit of truth" (John 14:16-17). God "put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come" (2 Corinthians 1:22). The promise of the Holy Spirit is to ALL believers, not a select few. The promise of the Holy Spirit is not restricted so that some receive a full measure and some only a partial measure. And this is the point where Jehovah's Witnesses must decide whether to believe what God says in the Bible or what the Governing Body says in its literature.

99.9% of all Jehovah's Witnesses have been told they can not be anointed Christians, that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is only for 144,000 people since the time of Jesus. This is the fundamental truth of Christianity that cannot be compromised. If you are not a born-again, Spirit-filled and anointed Christian then you are not a Christian.

If the Holy Spirit convicts you and starts the work of regeneration in you, then nothing, but nothing, can stop that work of regenration. You belong to Christ and there is one flock, one shepheard, one hope.

There are only 9,000 spirit-filled, anointed Jehovah's Witnesses on the entire planet. They are the ones who would have us believe that they, and only they, have correct doctrine. They are the ones who insist that if you don't accept their doctrines you are part of false religion. Yet they refuse to bend the knee and accept Christ Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.

That's the critical difference between Jehovah's Witnesses and Christians.

A perfect example of why "religion" has NOTHING to with belief. ALL Christians, regardless of 'denomination' should agree on everything that is written in the Bible. Without the Bible, there would be no scripture or reference to teach us what we need to know. I vote for the discussion of who is really a Christian!

One reason there are so many different churches and denominations in our nation is because we live in a country that practices religious freedom.

This wasn't true several hundred years ago in many countries; then only one church was tolerated in most nations. But when people immigrated here from other countries they were free to bring their own religious practices with them, and they did. Many of our major denominations trace their beginnings back to their European roots—Lutherans from Scandinavia, for example, or Presbyterians from Scotland.

Other churches came into existence because of some minor disagreement over doctrine, or to meet the needs of a particular group of people. Sadly, occasionally churches have been started for less noble reasons—a conflict between members, for example. When that happens, Satan must rejoice; one of the things the Bible says God hates is "a man who stirs up dissension among brothers" (Proverbs 6:19).

In spite of this, all Christian churches agree on the central truths of the Gospel: We are sinners in need of God's forgiveness; Jesus Christ came down from Heaven to save us from our sins by His death on the cross; by His resurrection we can have eternal life. He alone is our hope, and He alone is the foundation of His people. Have you committed your life to Him?

David

believer_in_jesus37421@yahoo.com

We can be good Christians and still not agree on every theological point. We are certainly not required to leave our brains at the door of the Church. We should seek an understanding of God through the Indwelling Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will enlighten our souls!