More on Skirts

[Jason B]

Originally Posted by Esaias

You must not get out much.

About 2/3 of all professing Christians believe only the Roman Catholic Church is God's church.

Of the remainder, a large number are Eastern Orthodox, who believe there is no salvation outside of being in good standing with one of the Orthodox churches or perhaps the Roman church.

Of the ones that are left:

Most Calvinists believe you are probably not saved unless you're a Calvinist.

Baptists for the most part believe salvation and church are different things, but LOTS AND LOTS believe God's church is a BAPTIST church.

Church of Christ, and many of their cousins in the Christian Church, Disciples of Christ, and "Community Churches" believe THEY are the church, and nobody gets saved outside of their way.

Many Church of God denominations each believe THEY ALONE are God's church. Many go as far as to believe NOBODY ELSE is saved.

All you have left, compared to "Christianity at large", is a smidgeon of evangelical and charismatic and pentecostal churches who generally have no doctrine beyond "believe you're a Christian and you are one". Oh, and the Unitarian Universalists, Quakers, and some others who don't even believe in being saved anyway.

So, who's claiming a monopoly on truth?

Pretty much everybody is.

You included.

I'm aware. There has always been this tendency to divide, even the apostles sought to forbid someone doing God's work because they weren't part of their group. The problem was bigger by the writing of Corinthians and different factions that were developing, and as history tells us, has always been a blight on Christianity.

Yet many Christians, especially since the beginnings of the refirmation, back into the 1100s-1200s had fellowship with other believers despite differences of opinion. There were exceptions, such as Luther being a jerk to the Zwinglians despite their being united against the errors of the RCC. The persecution of early anabaptists, and other instances.

Just because some condemn all except their own doesn't mean that Christ diesn't have sheep amongst their various fellowships.

Do you really believe all baptists are lost? All Methodist? All Church of Christ? Etc.

Do you really not know any other true believer, save those who are of your own stripe?

Sad. You must not get out much.

I enjoy fellowship with pentecostals, Reformed, Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodist. Its a great thing to get outside the bubble.