Why So Many Different Christian Views?

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.
S

Seeking-Christ

Guest
#1
For several years, something hit me in the head. It felt like someone threw a brick at me! It was like someone started annoying me and won't leave me alone!

The Bible seems to be saying that we Christians, have the same "Holy Spirit" that guides us in all truth. I heard a pastor say, that unbelievers can't understand the Bible because they don't have the Holy Spirit. And yet at another Church I met a guy who claimed that even before He became a Christian He knew the Bible better than most Christians, simply because He enjoyed reading a lot. He became a Christian, therefor God did get a hold of him! But according to that one pastor, it was backwards.

When I log into Christian forums, I see an awful lot of "interesting" views. I wonder, if everyone has the same "Holy Spirit" then why does all these views exist? Some of these views set me on edge. Because of all the different Bible teachings I have ever heard, I've never come across some of these ideas. And other thing. I do the best I can. I listen to an audio Bible while I work. I've been through the entire thing from Genesis to Revelation, probably 4 or 5 times, and some of these ideas never even entered in my mind once! So when I read them, I'm like where on earth are these ideas coming from? When I look at the provided scriptures, at first glance, it looks like people are reading in between the lines, or taking things out of context to form their views. But why on earth, anyone who has the "Holy Spirit" would do such a thing? I suppose we could have some wolves in sheep clothing, but then again, we would have an awful lot of self deceived people. Which would make it really hard to determine who is and who isn't deceived. Because people who are deceived, don't know they are the deceived. That is what deception is...

So I guess, I'm curious, why do you think "Spirit Filled" people are messing up so bad?

Below are just scripture verses that I found before I started writing this post.

John 14:26
26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

Romans 8:26
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.

John 16:13
13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.

1 Corinthians 12
4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.
 

2ndTimothyGroup

Well-known member
Feb 20, 2021
5,883
1,952
113
#2
In my opinion, you've already addressed the problem. We're supposed to have the same Holy Spirit that teaches us what we are to know, hence the Laws of the Spirit of Life. The problem, as you stated, is that few have the same theology. Therefore, what are we to conclude other than the obvious, which is that very few actually possess the Holy Spirit.
 

JesusFreak1992

Queen of Hearts
Apr 26, 2022
240
125
43
32
Kansas City
#3
I think that many possess it but it is human nature to sin. If we weren't sinners then we would be Jesus whom is the ONLY person who did not and will not sin. Just because you have the Holy Spirit doesn't mean you will not sin. It helps you to do better on that subject though.
 

Pilgrimshope

Well-known member
Sep 2, 2020
14,018
5,688
113
#4
For several years, something hit me in the head. It felt like someone threw a brick at me! It was like someone started annoying me and won't leave me alone!

The Bible seems to be saying that we Christians, have the same "Holy Spirit" that guides us in all truth. I heard a pastor say, that unbelievers can't understand the Bible because they don't have the Holy Spirit. And yet at another Church I met a guy who claimed that even before He became a Christian He knew the Bible better than most Christians, simply because He enjoyed reading a lot. He became a Christian, therefor God did get a hold of him! But according to that one pastor, it was backwards.

When I log into Christian forums, I see an awful lot of "interesting" views. I wonder, if everyone has the same "Holy Spirit" then why does all these views exist? Some of these views set me on edge. Because of all the different Bible teachings I have ever heard, I've never come across some of these ideas. And other thing. I do the best I can. I listen to an audio Bible while I work. I've been through the entire thing from Genesis to Revelation, probably 4 or 5 times, and some of these ideas never even entered in my mind once! So when I read them, I'm like where on earth are these ideas coming from? When I look at the provided scriptures, at first glance, it looks like people are reading in between the lines, or taking things out of context to form their views. But why on earth, anyone who has the "Holy Spirit" would do such a thing? I suppose we could have some wolves in sheep clothing, but then again, we would have an awful lot of self deceived people. Which would make it really hard to determine who is and who isn't deceived. Because people who are deceived, don't know they are the deceived. That is what deception is...

So I guess, I'm curious, why do you think "Spirit Filled" people are messing up so bad?

Below are just scripture verses that I found before I started writing this post.

John 14:26
26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

Romans 8:26
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.

John 16:13
13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.

1 Corinthians 12
4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.
“John 14:26
26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”

instead of taking this out of context

If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth;

whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.

These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
‭‭John‬ ‭14:15-17, 21, 23-26‬ ‭KJV‬‬

if we were to all learn the things jesus taught we would all believe the same things

If the spirit is here we have unity

“It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”
‭‭John‬ ‭6:63‬ ‭

if the knowledge of the truth is here

“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
‭‭John‬ ‭8:31-32‬ ‭KJV‬‬

and life is found here

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”
‭‭John‬ ‭5:24‬ ‭KJV‬‬

if we all heard and learned from Jesus words our doctrine would agree instead of this though

“Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.”
‭‭John‬ ‭18:37‬ ‭

What we have is this after it has flourished many years in the world

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”
‭‭2 Timothy‬ ‭4:3-4‬ ‭

“But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.”
‭‭2 Peter‬ ‭2:1-2‬ ‭KJV‬‬

the way of truth is spoken forth already we just believe and share it
 
P

pottersclay

Guest
#5
Different views but one God.....different views but one teacher.
As the scriptures tell us if we took all the works and wonders of jesus and wrote them down there would be not a library big enough to contain them.

But what is our view on calvarys hill? Are we standing far off as to not impose? Are we off to one side or another only to witness a portion. Do we cover our eyes because of its gross brutality? Are our eyes winden by its glory?
Are you a witness of death or victory.
So many views one God....so many views one teacher.
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
59,984
29,350
113
#6
That people vary in their views on what the Bible is really saying should
not be a problem for those who do their best to live by Godly principles.
 

Eli1

Well-known member
Apr 5, 2022
4,708
2,026
113
46
#7
Do you REALLY want an answer to this?
After 2000 years of schisms and denominations?
 

arthurfleminger

Well-known member
Aug 18, 2021
1,405
780
113
#8
For several years, something hit me in the head. It felt like someone threw a brick at me! It was like someone started annoying me and won't leave me alone!

The Bible seems to be saying that we Christians, have the same "Holy Spirit" that guides us in all truth. I heard a pastor say, that unbelievers can't understand the Bible because they don't have the Holy Spirit. And yet at another Church I met a guy who claimed that even before He became a Christian He knew the Bible better than most Christians, simply because He enjoyed reading a lot. He became a Christian, therefor God did get a hold of him! But according to that one pastor, it was backwards.

When I log into Christian forums, I see an awful lot of "interesting" views. I wonder, if everyone has the same "Holy Spirit" then why does all these views exist? Some of these views set me on edge. Because of all the different Bible teachings I have ever heard, I've never come across some of these ideas. And other thing. I do the best I can. I listen to an audio Bible while I work. I've been through the entire thing from Genesis to Revelation, probably 4 or 5 times, and some of these ideas never even entered in my mind once! So when I read them, I'm like where on earth are these ideas coming from? When I look at the provided scriptures, at first glance, it looks like people are reading in between the lines, or taking things out of context to form their views. But why on earth, anyone who has the "Holy Spirit" would do such a thing? I suppose we could have some wolves in sheep clothing, but then again, we would have an awful lot of self deceived people. Which would make it really hard to determine who is and who isn't deceived. Because people who are deceived, don't know they are the deceived. That is what deception is...

So I guess, I'm curious, why do you think "Spirit Filled" people are messing up so bad?

Below are just scripture verses that I found before I started writing this post.

John 14:26
26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

Romans 8:26
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.

John 16:13
13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.

1 Corinthians 12
4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.

Why so many different Christian views? Great question. I suspect the main reason is that individuals want Christianity and Scripture to conform to themselves, their lifestyles, and not to Christ or the Gospel. So they cherry pick what they want to believe and they distort Scripture to their way of thinking. Of course, when you distort/manipulate Scripture it is no longer God's Word but your word instead.
 

soberxp

Senior Member
May 3, 2018
2,511
482
83
#9
For several years, something hit me in the head. It felt like someone threw a brick at me! It was like someone started annoying me and won't leave me alone!

The Bible seems to be saying that we Christians, have the same "Holy Spirit" that guides us in all truth. I heard a pastor say, that unbelievers can't understand the Bible because they don't have the Holy Spirit. And yet at another Church I met a guy who claimed that even before He became a Christian He knew the Bible better than most Christians, simply because He enjoyed reading a lot. He became a Christian, therefor God did get a hold of him! But according to that one pastor, it was backwards.
.
The problem you point out is the same problem. The word of the Bible is guided by the Holy Spirit.If a person spends a lot of time reading the Bible, He's actually been guided by the Holy Spirit.
 

John146

Senior Member
Jan 13, 2016
17,111
3,687
113
#10
For several years, something hit me in the head. It felt like someone threw a brick at me! It was like someone started annoying me and won't leave me alone!

The Bible seems to be saying that we Christians, have the same "Holy Spirit" that guides us in all truth. I heard a pastor say, that unbelievers can't understand the Bible because they don't have the Holy Spirit. And yet at another Church I met a guy who claimed that even before He became a Christian He knew the Bible better than most Christians, simply because He enjoyed reading a lot. He became a Christian, therefor God did get a hold of him! But according to that one pastor, it was backwards.

When I log into Christian forums, I see an awful lot of "interesting" views. I wonder, if everyone has the same "Holy Spirit" then why does all these views exist? Some of these views set me on edge. Because of all the different Bible teachings I have ever heard, I've never come across some of these ideas. And other thing. I do the best I can. I listen to an audio Bible while I work. I've been through the entire thing from Genesis to Revelation, probably 4 or 5 times, and some of these ideas never even entered in my mind once! So when I read them, I'm like where on earth are these ideas coming from? When I look at the provided scriptures, at first glance, it looks like people are reading in between the lines, or taking things out of context to form their views. But why on earth, anyone who has the "Holy Spirit" would do such a thing? I suppose we could have some wolves in sheep clothing, but then again, we would have an awful lot of self deceived people. Which would make it really hard to determine who is and who isn't deceived. Because people who are deceived, don't know they are the deceived. That is what deception is...

So I guess, I'm curious, why do you think "Spirit Filled" people are messing up so bad?

Below are just scripture verses that I found before I started writing this post.

John 14:26
26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

Romans 8:26
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.

John 16:13
13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.

1 Corinthians 12
4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.
Failure to rightly divide the word of truth, mainly, failure to divide Israel from the body of Christ.
 

BeeThePeace

Active member
May 2, 2022
443
135
43
#11
I don't think we're meant to be like the Borg.
All having the same experience.
 

Amanuensis

Well-known member
Jun 12, 2021
1,457
460
83
#12
There might be a disproportionate representation of mentally ill people on this site. That would explain the bizarre interpretations.

Some people might not be able to pass a college entry level reading comprehension skills assessment test and therefore can't use these same common sense skills to interpret scripture that you and I take for granted.

And some people might be living in known sin and not repenting of it, and so their understanding has been darkened and they don't realize that the light they think they have is darkness.

Some people aren't right in the head, some aren't right in the heart. Internet sites like this collect a disproportionate amount of both types.
 

GRACE_ambassador

Well-known member
Feb 22, 2021
3,210
1,612
113
Midwest
#14
op: why so many different views?
Precious friend, yes, it is difficult to understand how even "trained theologians"
Disagree with each other. The Biblical Fact is, the each of us will only give an
account of our own self To God (Romans 14:12), Correct?

In the meantime, with prayer and Careful study, I would recommend these
BIBLE study Rules, which may or may not be helpful to a diligent student.

Please Be Very RICHLY Encouraged, Enlightened, Exhorted, And Edified In
The LORD JESUS CHRIST, And In His Word Of Truth, Rightly Divided!

God's Simple Will!
 

Diakonos

Well-known member
Jan 19, 2019
1,381
434
83
31
Anacortes, WA
#15
It's because people fall for the oldest trick in Satan's playbook:
"Has God really said...?"

People entertain that question and make assumptions about God's word, believing things He never said.
This leads to contradictory, unbiblical systems of doctrine.
 

soberxp

Senior Member
May 3, 2018
2,511
482
83
#18
Why So Many Different Christian Views?

The difference between thinking about problems from a larger point of view and looking at them from a relatively small point of view.

From a personal point of view

From someone else's point of view.

From a national point of view

From the perspective of the world,

From God's point of view,
 

2ndTimothyGroup

Well-known member
Feb 20, 2021
5,883
1,952
113
#19
From a personal point of view
Here's a classic example of what you've stated:

Matthew 7:21-23 NKJV - 21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' 23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!"

These theoretical people believe they were in proper alignment with Christ, though obviously, they are not. Therefore, how would they interpret Scripture compared to someone who has been Purified by Christ?

I KNOW for a fact that for the first 49 years of my life, I was exactly one of these people Christ mentions above. I Truly believed that I was Saved. But after receiving the Circumcision of Christ (the Operation of Faith that is undeniable), I came to realize how utterly lost I was. And this is why I have a completely, totally, drastically, and dramatically different view of God's Word.
 

Blik

Senior Member
Dec 6, 2016
7,312
2,428
113
#20
Why So Many Different Christian Views?

The difference between thinking about problems from a larger point of view and looking at them from a relatively small point of view.

From a personal point of view

From someone else's point of view.

From a national point of view

From the perspective of the world,

From God's point of view,
Yes, we are flesh, living in the kingdom of the world. We are given scripture telling us about another kingdom that is operated with very different ways and rules, and asked to understand from God's point of view. It would be surprising if all flesh could understand scripture, written from the kingdom of heaven instead of the kingdom of the world.