Expert: Tom Smith - 10/6/2004

Question
Dear Mr. Toms777


 When I saw your creditials I knew I had to ask
you the following questions:

 You can give brief answers if you want to.  I
just want some explanation.

 1.  Why are they so many different denominations with so many differing views and
contradicting viewpoints?  I thought God was not
the author of confusion.  Even the so called fundamental and conservative Christian base has changed their minds and views on major issues.  why?

2.    Why have virtually every Christian group
changed their doctrines and beliefs from century to century?  For example, views regarding slavery,
racism, marriage, international relationships drastically changed since the 17th, and 18th century.

3.    Is the Word of God truly inspired or subject
to misinterpretation and subjective reasoning?
Is religion just somebody's own opinion?

4.   How can you prove the events in the book of Genesis really happened?

Thank you for your time and patience.

Sincerely,

Ashwin Rebbapragada  

Answer
Let me try to address each of your questions separately.

1.

(a)Why are they so many different denominations with so many differing views and contradicting viewpoints? I thought God was not the author of confusion.

ANSWER:

There are numerous different reasons for differing denominations and only a few have to do with differing views and even fewer have to do with differences which are on essential matters. Some of the reasons for denominations are:

i) Georgraphy: Churches within a specific region, country or city form together for mutaul support and fellowship

ii) History: In some cases there are historical reasons, for example perhaps churches were started by a specific person, or perhaps there was a division between the churches due to historical events.

iii) Language: Churches may join together because they speak the same langauge (i.e. in this country, there are specific denominations for Chinese speaking people, German speaking people, etc.)

iv) Differences in mission or focus of the ministry (( for example a church with a missions focus, versus one which aims to serve the local community)

v) Differences in methodloogy of doing things (i.e. baptism by immersion vs sprinkling)

vi) Differences in areas of doctrine which are not essen tials

vii) Differences in areas of doctrine which are essential. This is the one category in which a denomination may be classed as a cult rather than a sound church.

So, in most cases, the differences are minor enough that the denominations can work together. You also mentioned about God not being teh author of confusion. Good point. He is also not the author of denominations. You will not find any denominations in teh Bible, and the church which Jesus started was not a denomination, but rather a body of all who were believers. The word translated as "church" in the New Testament is the Greek word Ekklesia which means "the called out ones", thus referring to the believers, not the organization. We see this point further supported in scripture here:

Paul says that we are all individually members of the body of Christ:

1 Cor 12:26-27
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.
NKJV

So it is the indivdiuals, not the denomination. Denominatiosn were created by men, sometimes for good reasons, for fellowship or to provide mutual support, but there are certainly not a creation of God. All who are true believers are part of one body through the indwelling of all who are saved by the Holy Spirit.

(b) Even the so called fundamental and conservative Christian base has changed their minds and views on major issues. why?

ANSWER

Yes, this happened sometimes, but God gave us His word in the Bible and that is to be the basis of our beliefs. There are some organizations that have added to the Bible or chnaged thyings over the years and where those changes do not interfere with the teachings of the Bible, then it is not necessarily bad (i.e. having church memebership lists), but it can be bad if they add essentials on top of what God gave us in His word.

2.   Why have virtually every Christian group
changed their doctrines and beliefs from century to century? For example, views regarding slavery,
racism, marriage, international relationships drastically changed since the 17th, and 18th century.

ANSWER

That is a good question. I would suggest that in most cases chnages are motivated by men, not by a focus on Gopd's word. Men choose to try to bend God's word to make it agree with what they want to believe rather than taking the word of God and letting it bend their beliefs.

The other problem is that in Christian groups, you are not necessarily dealing with people who have been saved through the gospel, but rather may be dealing with groups that are Christian in name only. Many churches today have left the true teaching of the gospel and many groups (i.e. YMCA and YWCA) no longer have the gospel as their primary motive or in many or most cases the gospel is not even part of what their activity or focus at all.

The Bible (word of God) does not change, but the opinions of men do. We see in Acts 17:10-11 that the men of Berea tested even what the Apostle Paul said by going to the Bible and that is the approach that all Christians should take.

3.   Is the Word of God truly inspired or subject
to misinterpretation and subjective reasoning?
Is religion just somebody's own opinion?

ANSWER

I believe that the word of God (by which I interpret what you are saying to mean the Bible) is truly inspired because we are told in 2 Tim 3:16 and other places that it and that we can trust it fully. It has also withstood the test of timke. Now, exactly how one can substnatiated that is a very lengtghy subject and would be one that I could not cover in a short answer such as this because it literally could be and has been addressed in full length books.

Regardless, all writings whether inspired or not are subject to mis-interpretation and to suibjective reasoning. Now let me step back a bit here to state that when one is reading the Bible, there are teachings which are abundantly clear and there are other things which are vague. Those tyhings which are clear, we as Christians must believe. Many or most of these are essentials because they deal with the message of the gospel. The things which are vague are not things on which we should be taken absolute stands, but there are some who do.

On the essentials and those thinsg whicb are clear, the Bible should dictate to us what we believe, but there are those who add to the Bible and who choose to force their interpretation on the Bible. there are churches, denominations, cults and religions that will tell you that only they can properly interpret the Bible. That should be the first warning flag to stay away from them because no man or organization is over the word of God.

4. How can you prove the events in the book of Genesis really happened?

ANSWER

You cannot prove absolutely that it happened that way. There is considerable evidence in that direction, bbut because of the type of events that we are dealing with and the age of the events, absolute proof is unlikely to be possible. Just as proving evolution is impossible. I will say that having examined both sides, I find that the theory of evolution appears to have some serious and insurmountable problems from a scientific perspective (some non-Christian scientists have even spoken out on these issues), and the Biblical modle appears to have much more going for it from a scientific perspective.