Food for Thought
????-Denominational
by George Sinkie
Sometimes
we hear or see ads for religious groups that claim they are NON-denominational,
but as we examine them they teach man-made denominational doctrines.
They teach that man is saved by faith only
which is contrary to James 2:24. Or that babies are born
lost because of the sin of Adam, which God shows to be false
in Ezekiel 18. When they make that claim they are NON-denominational,
I am reminded of a line from the movie The Princess Bride
that goes, You keep using that word. I do not
think it means what you think it means.
Lets consider the meaning
of some common prefixes that would go with denominational. Denominational
itself means causing to divide or denominate, it refers to a
part of a whole. NON- means not.
INTER- means between, among, or
reciprocally. PRE- means before
or prior to. UN- can mean not
like NON-, but also can refer to a reversal of
some action or state. ANTI- means against
or opposite of.
So the groups that we mentioned
at the beginning, that claim to be NON-denominational, while
in fact they promote and support denominationalism are not really
NON-denominational, they are INTER-denominational.
The Lords church that we
read about in the Bible is PRE-denominational because
it came before all the division that we see in religion
today. The Lords church is NON-denominational
because it is not dividing the whole into parts. It
is UN-denominational in the sense that it is trying
to reverse the dividing that has happened by eliminating
the man-made doctrines that divide people and getting back to
simple following the Word of God. And the Lords church
is ANTI-denominational because it believes in the
Lords prayer for unity and therefore is against
division.
Congregations of the Lords
church, the churches
of Christ (Romans
16:16) seek to restore New Testament Christianity that is
PRE-denominational, so that it is UN-denominational and NON-denominational
(John 17:20-21) because it is ANTI-denominational (1
Corinthians 1:10-13). Jesus built His church, as He
promised (Matthew 16:18), it was, and is not a denomination,
as He prayed for unity (John 17). The apostles and
First Century Christians were never members of a denomination
and were against division. Are you interested in the original
Christianity? If so please contact us.
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