Comments on: Help - Which Denomination Was Jesus?

By: j m

j m — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:41:58 +0000

Hello, I just prayed and opened my bible and read this, now bear in mind that I have alot to learn. Maybe this will help someone.

EPHESIANS Chapter 6 verse 23 and 24

23 “peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

24 “Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.”

I think as long as we all do whats right for ourselfs through God and Jesus Christ and listen, really listen, through prayer, thats the way someone should go. I belive God judges with what’s in our hearts, and what’s right for one person is not for another.
-J.M.

By: Jonathan Brink

Jonathan Brink — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 04:42:55 +0000

That was awesome John. More beer.

By: John Arndt

John Arndt — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 01:03:48 +0000

It’s clearly obvious that Jesus was a Lutheran.

Luther’s tipping point (new marketing buzzword) was expressed in Paul’s letter to the Romans: “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’” Every day and every breath should be in line with trust in and reliance upon Christ to govern lives.

Another significant yet diminutive contribution that Jesus would recognize is Marty’s love for the hops. Quoth Marty: “Whoever drinks beer, he is quick to sleep;whoever sleeps long, does not sin; whoever does not sin, enters Heaven! Thus, let us drink beer! (there is no beer in heaven, so let us drink it here)” This apparent contradiction to the life of grace exemplifies the tension between law and gospel. Do we live better because we are saved? Or do we live better to become sanctified? Or do we live better because we have to?

Would Jesus hang out in beer gardens? Would he hang out where people like to hang out? Does Jesus like tuna with noodle casserole?

As Walter Martin (Bible Answer Man) used to say, we are all worshiping one God…denominations can be seen as divisive, or they can be seen as different facets of the same jewel…a diamond that reflects the Glory of God in many ways. I appreciate the diversity of my denominational brothers and sisters, and accept the stretching of my doctrine based on their values.

Our choice is to accept the differences and unify on Christ in the essentials, or to dwell on the differences and focus on doctrine rather than Christ.

Those things that do not contribute to the matter of salvation are “adiaphora” — that is, those things that do not contribute to the message of Salvation. “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:17 NIV)

Solo Gracia.

- John

By: Randall Oddo

Randall Oddo — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 19:10:43 +0000

First let us look at Matthew 16:18. The latter mentions the Pope and we all know that he is Catholic. Then let us read the footnote and see where the Bible takes us from that Gospel. It suggests we refer to Isaiah 22:19-22. The latter being found in the Old Testament virtually describes what we read in the New Testament. This lends credence to the fact that the cross-over from Judaism to Christianity was prophesied and sanctioned by our Jewish brothers/sisters.

The Jews used circumcision to bring their young men to acceptable status within their Faith; this was a bloody experience to those seeking confirmation into the Faith. But then the oldest Christian religion in the world sought the right of Comminion and the Eucharist as a means which was not a bloody affair.

The first Catholic Mass was the Last Supper. This is where we can find the only CONSECRATED Body and Blood of Jesus. Jesus said: “Eat this, (THIS IS) my Body . . . (THIS IS) my Blood.” Given that Jesus cannot lie, we can only conclude that the Eucharist (IS THE REAL PRESENCE) and one (again) cannot find the latter in a Protestant environment. Jesus was known to have believed that too many denominations would be confusing to His people, thus, since Catholicism was the only religion around - it is a given what religion He was. Certainly He was raised Jewish and is from the House of David, but that very House forsaw the cross-over.

In order to find the true Church of Jesus Christ, one must go back to the life and times of Jesus. There we find Apostolic Doctrine, History, Tradition, and Succession. The Protestant Reformation did not occur until 1571, when Martin Luther introduced his (own) redition of Scripture, leaving out, however, many verses and Books to suit his own agenda. His effort to squash indulgencies were well founded, but that was his only positive message. We must remember, Jesus lived and died 1,571 years before these 30,000 religions of today even existed.

Respectfully, while all roads can lead to Salvation, I would choose the home-cooked meal over the fast-food burger any day - albiet we can survive on both. The home-ccoked meal (The Catholic Church) offers 7 Sacraments; the fast-food burger, however, only recognizes 2 - that being baptism and marriage.

So the question should not be “what religion was Jesus?” It should be: “what religion would Jesus have wanted for us?” Could it be the one He reflected upon while hanging on that cross . . .?

Randy Oddo
Memphis

By: Why Denominations Don’t Work « Missio Dei

Why Denominations Don’t Work « Missio Dei — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:02:13 +0000

[...] Related Post: Help - What Denomination Was Jesus? [...]

By: Steve Grove

Steve Grove — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 17:05:51 +0000

I have no blog as yet. I like the weather better in Alberta. The census is not in yet about Saskatchewan, though. It is not nearly as humid, but I think the weather has more extremes (+40 in the summer and - 40 in the winter). Viva la spring and fall!

By: Verity

Verity — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 16:03:07 +0000

nice answer.

do you have a blog as well? I saw you went to school/lived in Ontario - I live in Sarnia….

By: Steve Grove

Steve Grove — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 15:32:29 +0000

I think most times we don’t set out to start a new denomination. I think a lot of the drive is to renew the church from within (ie, Wesley and the Anglican Church; Luther and the “catholic” church. As organizations churches evolve over time and often lose much of their spiritual edge (from why they were started in the first place). The emergent church is doing the same thing - it is asking questions and trying to renew the church, but it will ened up taking on its own form and either start a new “association of emergent churches” (ie, the AEC denomination) or remain a collection of independent AEC churches. They will end up doing what they started off saying we shouldn’t be doing.
I also recognize that everybody is different, and people often gravitate to churches that reflect their personality and approach to worship that is comfortable to them. Because the nature of the church is not based on a lifestyle (like Judaism or Islam), the application of doing “church” is open-ended. The habit of the early church was to get together on Sunday. The love feast was done behind closed doors. Acts gives us a picture of the Jerusalem church that was about great expansion, a transient and temporary membership, and an upcoming dispersion. How we apply “as you are going into all the world DISCIPLE…” and love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind…” comes out of people a little bit differently. The gifting we have from the holy Spirit is different, and some gifts are definately for organization of the body. The diversity of denominations is about the grace of God working in different people, and in spite of different people! Wanting no denominations assumes there is a basic goodness in people, which sounds good but isn’t reality. We are all fallen, some sanctified, but all Christians are redeemed. Though the biblical norm expects unity of the Spirit, they had the same struggles in Corinth way back then as we are today.
So which denomination would Jesus go to today? It is a loaded question that gets people to think. If he acted the same as He did 2,000 years ago, He would probably start His own church!

By: A Generous Orthodoxy All Over Again « Missio Dei

A Generous Orthodoxy All Over Again « Missio Dei — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 15:04:46 +0000

[...] end choice was “other” for this reason. It was a good exercise [...]

By: WWJD…WTC Synchroblog « Missio Dei

WWJD…WTC Synchroblog « Missio Dei — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 16:38:06 +0000

[...] is a serious question and I wrestled with it before but it needs to be addressed. If His mission is about reconciliation, we don’t look very good [...]

By: Daniel Astgard

Daniel Astgard — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 18:15:32 +0000

I’m not sure that organization is so important. I think the answer is love. We can all be one, in love, no matter how we are organized. I like it in Ephesians when Paul tells us that we can know the heigth, depth, width and length of CHRISTS LOVE together with all the saints. It will take all of us to hold the fullness of Christ.

By: thelaymansjournal

thelaymansjournal — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 12:52:40 +0000

jonathanbrink,

“I like the idea of strengthened as one. So, why can’t we do that?”

I think we can sum that up in one word. Self-righteousness.

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 07:32:48 +0000

That’s a good question… maybe he attends all of them every week. Maybe the evolution of the church reflects the best/worst of us but also is part of the ongoing creative dynamic work of Jesus building his church? Whilst recent history has been littered with suscipion, scorn and a desire to be ‘the right’ church I think we are moving to healthier times which are not just about appreciating each others difference but starting seeing and celebrating those differences - whether in our learning or working together. It also helps us realise that ‘orthodox’ christians have a lot more in common than seperates them and invites them on that basis to form an alliance for the sake of the gospel. After all it takes all sorts of different churches to reach all sorts of different people…

By: Jonathan Brink: Help-which denomination was Jesus? « The Naked Church

Jonathan Brink: Help-which denomination was Jesus? « The Naked Church — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 04:46:38 +0000

[...] 22nd, 2007 Jonathan Brink over at his blog called Missio Dei asks, Help - Which denomination was Jesus?. I won’t try to give a direct answer to the question, but I do have a link to some resources [...]

By: astudent

astudent — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 23:16:47 +0000

Well, that does make one think and I like that.
Looks like an in valid question. It seems to me that the question should be “Which Denomination is Jesus” and the answer is all of them.
(Mat 18:20 NIV) For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” (It is great to know that when we are thinking about Jesus (Communion) that He knows we are)
I am not one to agree to disagree. It is pride in what one thinks he knows that causes disagreements; not the differences themselves. Take Baptism as an example. It either is required, or not and the subject should be explored until the truth is known, but at some point men decide they are right and because they know so much they only defend their position. Then they split and take all of those that they can convince of their great understanding with them.
Unity can only become a reality when we can all admit that we do not know everything and we lay our pride aside to really search out truth.
Until then God knows our weaknesses and He is able to make every one of us stand (Rom 14:4).

By: jonathanbrink

jonathanbrink — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 20:58:21 +0000

PB and J,

Can you imagine what the church would look like if we were truly one? Wow! That would be awesome.

By: PB and J

PB and J — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 20:52:28 +0000

jonathan

i love your conclusion. i think that is really THE point. Sh’ma Yisrael YHWH Elohinu, YHWH echad (Hear Israel…). God is ONE, and He desires we be ONE. in fact, how can Christ Himself be one in the world today, if we, the Body of Christ, are not ONE.

let us remember the words of our Lord, “By this all people will know you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

peter

By: jonathanbrink

jonathanbrink — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 20:30:34 +0000

Laymansjournal,

I like the idea of strengthened as one. So, why can’t we do that?

By: jonathanbrink

jonathanbrink — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 20:27:58 +0000

Tim,

Let’s hope we can find a way to love and build up. I like that part so much better.

By: thelaymansjournal

thelaymansjournal — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 20:12:56 +0000

I believe (and of course this is based on my beliefs) that he would use the process of elimination and start with whichever organization was teaching the truth, or at least find the one that was teaching as close to the truth as possible. Then perhaps he would help to strengthen that church and use it to correct the rest who were in error and then continue to build and strengthen them all as one.