Is the multitude of denominations in the Evangelical world just an Italian problem?

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Francesco

Italian Son of God
#21
Indeed. I would also agree with you there in your assessment.
Since our standard to measure things is Jesus Christ Himself, His life and His teaching than this case would be easy and obvious to see when someone pretending to be a believer of God is nothing more than a politician.
However i don't think you've seriously considered the implications of free-will here, something which even God himself respects and gives us because He wants free-willed creatures to follow Him not robots.
Because of free-will someone may approach God and express himself to God in different ways than what we might agree upon.
And because of this, i also am okay with certain "contradictions" or writing-styles in the Bible.
I think all these men were expressing their love for God and Jesus Christ and we should not see it as who among them was right but we should see different ways they expressed their love for God.
This is not the place to delve deeper into the discussion of free-will. I, however, agree with you on many things. But now I have to say goodbye. Here it is 11:58 p.m. and tomorrow is going to be a long day for me. God bless you.
 

Eli1

Well-known member
Apr 5, 2022
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#23
How many do you think it has?
I found those numbers online and i realize that they may not be correct, but i do know that it's a LOT compare to Italy or Greece for example where most of the population follows one denomination.
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
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#24
How many do you think it has?
I found those numbers online and i realize that they may not be correct, but i do know that it's a LOT
compare to Italy or Greece for example where most of the population follows one denomination.
I have posted this before so am simply copy/pasting from an earlier post:

That is a false number based on an egregious misunderstanding.

That misunderstanding gets thrown around as if it were truth when it is not.
Even under the most liberal definition of what constitutes a denomination, there are
nowhere close to 33,000 denominations. Many of these groups are merely subgroups
of larger denominational groups such as Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans, or Baptists.


Evangelical apologist Eric Svendsen exposes the falsehood of this fabrication. Briefly:

Svendsen shows that the source of this figure is the World Christian Encyclopedia (David A. Barrett; Oxford
University Press, 1982). Barrett cites a figure of 20,780 denominations. Still, not all of them are Protestants.
According to Barrett, Protestants account for 8,196 (and incidentally, Roman Catholics account for 223).


However, even this figure of eight thousand Protestant denominations is misleading, for Barrett defines
"distinct denominations" as any group that might have a slightly different emphasis than another group.
The distinction is made on the basis of jurisdiction, rather than differing beliefs and practices.


Barrett breaks down the Protestant bloc into twenty-one major "traditions" which are much closer to what we usually
mean by the word "denominations." It is interesting that Roman Catholics are subdivided into sixteen such "traditions."


Svendsen concludes, "In short, Roman Catholic apologists have hurriedly, carelessly - and, as a result, irresponsibly - glanced
at Barrett's work, found a large number (22,189), and arrived at all sorts of absurdities that Barrett never concluded."
source
 

Eli1

Well-known member
Apr 5, 2022
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#25
This is good to know.
Thank you Magenta.