Ep 51 | Why is there so many Christian Denominations?

They're maybe known for , like one big moment , randy Johnson , who played for the Seattle Mariners , the Astros , the Diamondbacks . One of the most dominant left-handed pitchers of all time , not as as Nolan Ryan he still had like a thousand less strikeouts as him but a hall of famer world series winner .

Randy Johnson had one of the greatest backdoor sliders of all time . Okay , and a backdoor slider is where you think the ball is going to hit you in the face and then it crosses the plate anyway . Great player .

But what Randy Johnson is most well known for is , during a spring training game , throwing a fastball at the exact same time as a bird was flying across the field and by the time the ball hit the bird , there was no bird left to be found and feathers went everywhere , creating one of the most . It was viral before things were viral .

So maybe you're listening to this and you , you don't know the difference . A religion is , uh , there , there's a God in which you are worshiping that has a belief system . Okay , so a religion is a belief system . So Buddhism is a religion , not a denomination .

Christianity is a religion , but then you have this umbrella of Christianity and all the denominations that fall upon that . So different Christian denominations are Catholicism , presbyterians , methodists , baptists , pentecostals . So you have all these different forms of belief .

If you ever hear the word Calvinist , or Reformed , or Arminian , those are all different belief systems that fall under Christianity .

So when we say a Christian denomination , these are all denominations that we are saying fall into the belief in one God , the God that we read about in the Christian Bible , and then Jesus Christ , the Father , son and the Holy Spirit .

But within those denominations there are a lot of different beliefs and all you got to do is just drive around in town in Texas and you will see that there are a lot of different denominations . So why are there all these denominations ? What are some common things that we hear people say ? When they talk about denominations ?

I mean just kind of like help us , let's get this conversation started a little bit .

It wasn't the first question after I got saved , obviously , but it was one of the first questions . I'm like , okay , I know for a fact GBC , gbc , that's all you hear . Georgetown Baptist Church , like that's what you hear . Okay , well , what does it mean to be Baptist ? Well , I know a friend of mine who goes , so Lakeway Methodist .

I know another Baptist church . Why are there two Baptist churches in Pottsboro ? Like , like all these things ? And so it's just , it's one of the very first questions that we ask of like what is it ? And so I , simply because I'm a nerd and it's fine studied each kind of denomination . I'm like , okay , why on earth do they even exist ?

When did they start it ?

I knew from school that like Catholicism was in Europe and like live there , and part of the reason we even came over to America was for religious freedom , the Protestant movement , and I did know that Baptists were Protestant , so I knew there was a difference between Catholicism and Protestant , but even in Protestant , that's where , like you said , all the different

denominations of Methodist , presbyterian , lutheran , all these things , so what started it ?

Like if we're all claiming that we are Christian , then why can't we all just come together ? I mean , you know , in Pottsboro we have an event every year . We gather with all the churches in you know , most of the churches in Pottsboro and we gather for a Thanksgiving service .

But , truthfully , that's really the one time of the year that you can say that we all worship together . And some people may think well , couldn't all God's children just meet in one building and worship together ?

There's a lot of reasons , there's a myriad of reasons why there are denominations and , um , you know Jesus in the scriptures , you know we read that the end times are near , that there's a time coming when Jesus will return .

And you know I always make a joke that you know , when we all get to heaven , jesus isn't going to be standing there with a clipboard and going okay , all the Baptists get in this line , the Methodists get in this line . You know things like that . And , um , you know , you even hear the jokes and maybe there's a denomination .

You know , I heard a joke one time that you know the joke about St Peter walking somebody around heaven and there's this one room and they said who's in that room ? And they said , well , that's that denomination , because they think they're the only ones that are allowed to be here .

And we make all these jokes , but there is confusion and and I mean with even with children like well , why , you know ? And then I , you know , I'm in a family where some members of my family go to one and some go to another , and it can create a little bit of tension .

So we have people in Georgetown , many people in Georgetown that came from a different denomination , many different denominations that found their way into Georgetown . And I don't know how many Baptist churches you've been to , maverick , but does Georgetown feel like a really Baptist type of church , even though that's on our name ? What do you think ?

The stereotype is you go to an FBC , first Baptist church of whatever town and uh , that feels like in comparison to us , like we feel not close to baptism when it comes over there Like , stereotypically , the first Baptist church is the more traditional church . Stereotypically , not always but just saying .

You came to a non-Dom church and then you come here , then yeah're gonna feel super baptist because you know , like so it just really kind of depends and uh , it's the thing like we're gonna hit on is like why we might feel like this , we might not . Like the whole reason we go to church is because of the denomination .

Do people come to our church because we have baptists in our name , whether they do or not ? Why we should come to the church is because we're preaching the gospel . Sure , like that is what we have unity in , correct ?

You know , when we say we're trying to understand him , in a lot of ways he's very difficult to understand because there's so much to him and even though scripture reveals so much , we can't even . I mean , I think , if we truly , truly understood everything about God , we probably have to be in heaven .

But you know , when I go anywhere else in the world and I meet other Christians , I will see Christians believing the same Bible that I read , but carrying out how they walk with God in a completely different way , and then I realized there's a really big God .

God is such a big God he you know the gospel of Jesus that he came and died on the cross for us and he gave us new life and that we can be forgiven of our sins enters every culture , every neighborhood , everywhere , and it's a never changing message , but it reaches different people .

Oh yeah , so you know , one of the things that I think about oftentimes is you know , if we all met in one church in every town , how difficult it would it be to offer personalized ministry . You know what I mean , but you know really what I just want to share with our listeners and the people that ask this question regularly .

Is man like when you start looking at denominations ? I want to tell you something yes , like you can have a decent understanding of a church based upon the name that's on its door . We there's probably people that would struggle coming to Georgetown Baptist church If our name was Georgetown church .

They might struggle less because maybe there's something from the past or maybe they come from a different faith background , whatever that may be . But here's the truth you really don't know a group of people until you get to know the people and and , and . I'll just joke about Baptist .

I'm only going to joke about my side of things , even though I could totally make fun of you Methodists . I'm kidding , Um , but Baptist I mean .

Two weeks ago we had the Southern Baptist convention that met in Indianapolis . Uh , 16,000 people from across the country came . Uh , 11,000 of those people were messengers from specific churches that voted on different decisions that we made . We voted on a president of our convention .

There were some amendments that all the churches voted upon , but even within the Baptist umbrella . So in a lot of ways , if there's the Christian umbrella , we're like the umbrella within that umbrella .

There are so many different types of Baptists and I mean , I grew up going to what you would call an independent Baptist church and you could almost make the case that it's a different denomination . I mean , we dress differently , we believe something similar to a Southern Baptist , but it was different . But here's the real truth when you walk into a church .

What should we be looking for ? When we walk into a church , no matter what name is on the front door , what are some things that you just immediately need to be paying attention to .

When me and Mal were kind of in this way back when we were looking at churches , that was the first thing , what , that was the first impression of , where people were like , hey , man , we're so glad to see you , all this stuff . Were they pointing us to this ? Were they just shaking our hands like , hey , what's your name ?

They weren't afraid to ask our names To us . That was super godly , because I feel like if I meet Jesus , he's going to be shaking my hand and spend time with me . Another thing to look at is their worship . Even their worship songs . We talked about it I don't remember if it was on a previous podcast or just in a conversation we were talking about .

A lot of people's theology comes from even worship songs , because , like , we're constantly listening to that . So what is their worship song singing about ? If they're singing about Jesus , checkbox , you know . And then what is the pastor preaching ? You know , like I'm not , to be honest with you , my preaching .

To be honest with you , my human nature wants to look at the style of the preaching and all this kind of stuff . But what is he preaching ? Is he preaching the gospel message we were studying in our Sunday school , galatians 1 , and I'm going to read two verses for you . I'm astonished . This is what Paul is saying .

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who has called you into the grace of Christ and turning to a different gospel . Not that there is another one , but there are some who trouble you with distorting of the gospel of Christ . Oftentimes we can see these denominations like oh my goodness , are they distorting ?

Are independent Baptists distorting the gospel ? Are we distorting the gospel ? Like no , I mean one . There might be churches that are , but like that's what we should be on guard for .

You know Titus , chapter two , verse one , but you are to proclaim things consistent with sound teaching . If I walk into a church , you know , I always imagine someday I may not be a pastor . You know , maybe I retire or , you know , y'all just get tired of me or whatever .

I'm going to walk into a church someday and I promise you , the first thing I'm looking for is do they teach the word of God and friends , as a very open Baptist , a person who I am proud to say that I am a Baptist , there are probably Baptist churches out there that that's not happening , yep , and so sure , there are some denominations that I personally

disagree with , but at the end of the day , does the church offer sound doctrine ? Does ? Is there a person that stands in front of a congregation and offers a word that is biblical ?

This potentially could get me in trouble , but if I move to a town and there's a Methodist church and a Baptist church and a non-denominational church , sure , I would probably try the Baptist church first , because that's just what I grew up in and that's what I know .

But if another one of those churches had a person in there that was preaching sound doctrine , you want to know where I'm taking my family . I'm going to take my family to a place where there is sound doctrine . So at Georgetown we really don't rest on the laurels of the fact that we are a Baptist church . We have the values of a Baptist church .

We follow the Baptist faith and message 2000 . I mean , and if you don't know what that means , that's okay if you don't know what that means , but that's something that Baptists that we hold to , that we say we believe . And here's what that Baptist faith and message is . It's just scripture that's reiterated , saying we believe in scripture .

But can I encourage you with this , one of the questions people may say well , which denomination's right ? None of us are completely right .

Are we consistent to studying the word of God and proclaiming it in truth , and are we consistent in setting that example for the rest of the community ?

But here's one thing I do think is really helpful for people whenever they're thinking about denominations , we need to know the difference between a gospel-centered difference and just a non non-gospel centered different , just to make it simple . So here's what I mean .

If I go into a church and I hear someone say well , here's the deal , god loves you and he cares about you and you can live whatever lifestyle you want and you will be forgiven , um , and you can continue living in this lifestyle I immediately get up and I walk out of that church and I don't care what name's on the door , because they are preaching something

that is contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ . But if I walk into a room and they're preaching the gospel but maybe there's a form of of how they sing their worship song . That's different than what I think .

Or maybe it's an issue about how we go about doing I don't know some type of church function that it's different and I don't 100% agree , but it's not something that really changes the gospel or hijacks the gospel . Here's the truth . No matter what church you go to , that's going to happen . I promise you .

If you were to pull everybody at Georgetown Baptist Church and say what do you believe on these five things , we would not have 100% across the board . We would have people that believe different . But if we talk about Jesus being the Lord of the world and somebody says no , I think that there's another way to salvation . We got a problem .

We got a big problem .

It's because the things that we're doing what they disagree with us on is not this salvation issue . It's like , dude , we're offering discipleship , we are studying Bibles for ministry of all ages .

People come to our church for a different denomination because of what we do with our students and our kids and our families and our prime timers , whatever , whatever ministry it is , and like that's okay , like that's , that's the great thing , and so , like one of these deals is like when you find a church , and even if you're like I don't know if I'm Baptist ,

but if it's a church preaching a sound message , all that stuff , like you said , there's going to be things you don't like , but get plugged in , because any church that is preaching the gospel message , why wouldn't we get plugged in ? Because we want to further that gospel message , right ?

Here's the message I'm going to share with them . When a person in leadership shares something with you , do not accept it at face value as truth . You verify what that means and what it stands for . So , in other words , when you go to a church , look into their history , look into what they believe , but then ask questions .

So can we just end with kind of a silly story ? So I had a friend in a previous , in a previous life .

Okay , and my friend was in a denomination that historically okay I'm not saying they all do this , but historically they believe that no one else is going to heaven except for this one denomination . And we're playing golf and I'm driving and we're like on the back nine in the country , it's just me and him .

And I stopped the golf cart and I said , nathan , you and I have known each other for three years and we seem to be very good friends . I need to know something . Do you think I'm going to hell ? And he went um , no , I do not think you're going to hell .

And I went oh well , that's really good , because I was very concerned that you're willing to play golf with me , be my friend , and you could potentially believe that you think I'm not going to , you know , to heaven . I said I would . I would hope that if you really 100% believe that , you would tell me . And here's really what happened .

I just assumed he thought that because I'd had a conversation with somebody years before , from that same denomination , that believed that . Now again , like , does that mean that him and I , like , completely believe the same things ?

No , but by just simply asking a question I was able to discover , okay so , what he thinks about what I believe and what I think about he believes . It may not be exactly what we are assuming it is , and y'all , I'm just telling you .

I know it's confusing and I know people ask a lot of questions , but we have a great big God who's really good at organizing his own children , and I think when we get to heaven we're going to be able to see a lot more of how all this actually did make sense .