Are Her Aunts The Only True Christians?

     I read an article this week by a woman who was upset because her two aunts had refused to attend a family wedding.  The aunts had refused because the wedding was being held in a church building that was not part of their denomination.[1.  News & Record (Greensboro, NC), June 24, 2014, B4.]

     The two aunts said it was “against their rules” to enter a church building that belonged to “another religion.”  The woman writing the article was shocked to realize that some Christians won’t enter a “place of worship” that belongs to a different denomination.

     However, that’s quite common.  In fact, it’s been happening for centuries.  Many Christians are taught from childhood that theirs is the only true denomination, and that their members are the only true Christians.  So they grow up resenting the members of other denominations like the Black Plague.

     The truth is, denominations didn’t exist among the original Christians.  Jesus and His disciples never heard the word “denomination” and never saw a “denomination.”  The word denomination is a Medieval Latin term that means to name something and to set it apart as one of a kind.  In other words, if you “denominate” something, you separate it from the whole and declare it unique, special, private, and exclusive.

     Thus, today’s “denominations” are fragments, or broken pieces, of Christianity that have given themselves special names and set themselves apart as “members-only clubs.”  The problem is, that the Early Christians taught against that behavior.  They said that behavior was sign of Spiritual immaturity.[2.  Adapted from First Corinthians 3:1-4.]

     So where did “denominations” come from?  Here’s the answer:  They developed in Europe during Medieval times when a group of priests (Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, and others) dropped out of institutional Christianity after failing to “reform” it.  But after dropping out, they couldn’t agree among themselves on how to proceed and so, over the centuries, their various groups kept disagreeing – and dividing – until the fragments of their groups grew into today’s “denominations.”  (Which, by the way, are still disagreeing and dividing.)

     Sadly, because of that history, the members of today’s denominations continue to fear and resent one another, and Christianity continues to be shattered into hundreds of competing pieces.  That’s a tragedy beyond words.  That’s also why this blog is interdenominational.  Any Christian who attends any denomination, or who is a dropout from any denomination, or who has never attended a denomination, is welcome on this blog.  That’s also why we’ll pray with, and worship with, any Christian.  Anywhere, anytime.  And we hope you can say the same thing.