Hey guys,
This week we had a sermon about different denominations. The following post try to cover it, and also a little about the history of the Christian Church. As this is a wide topic, it will only be touched briefly, but there will be links to wikipedia (:p) for the individual things in this post.
We begin from the early church of course, as in the Bible, they didn't have tall majestic buildings like we see now. Rather, they gathered secretly. This was because the followers of Christianity were persecuted by the Roman government, as Christianity spread quickly and it posed as a threat to the power of the Roman leaders. Many things happened, after many years it came a time where the Roman Emperor became Christian. This guy called
Constantine the Great, and changed the church greatly. Many things happened from this point, 312 A.D.
Time flew, and like always as time passes people tend to thwart things. The structure of the church changed. People used religion to do bad stuff, like rage wars in 11th century A.D. called the
crusades. Many things will happen, but we zoom to the 16th century.
By this point in time the Roman Catholic Church had changed too much, the leaders were corrupt and all that. Christianity had spread like crazy, but the translation of the Bible had not been able to keep up. Many believed in the Church, but not many could read, much less understand the Holy text. the "Word of God" would have to come from the mouths of the bishops, popes, and other religious heads. At the time, the "way to heaven" and everlasting life was to buy
Indulgences. They were like a sort of certificate saying "________ has been forgiven for his/her sins and is entitled to eternal life in heaven!" Not being able read the Bible for themselves, the people bought the indulgences. While the money was supposed to be put into building the church, some went into pockets instead.
Then came
Martin Luther. Not the one that had a dream. Yes he did had a dream as well, but another type. He saw the corruption in the church and he wanted to change it. Salvation stated in the Bible is gained by faith, not money. So he wrote books about it and also started the
Protestant reformation. He also translated the Bible to German so that the citizens could read it. Thus came the the Protestants. These Christians believed that the Bible was the only Authority in Church, and that Salvation is through faith.
From then more denominations and part-denominations came up. Most of them were similar, but had a difference in organisation, different emphasis and different practices. A few that fall under the protestant denomination will be touched below.
Lutheranism
These were the churches which stuck to most of Luther's ideas, beliefs, practices and such.
Calvinism
These Churches followed the Belief of John Calvin, Another Leader in the Protestant reform. Stressed heavily on the sovereignty of God in everything.
Anglican
These churches started in England (hence Anglo-). Their doctrine is similar to Protestants, but practices were retained from the Roman catholic Church. The main Religion of England.
Methodist
Started from a revival movement of the Anglican Church. But had a heavy emphasis on missionary work.
Presbyterian
Followed Calvinist theological tradition. System with no bishops, lead by elders.
The Yio Chu Kang Gospel Hall was once a Brethren Church. The Brethren Church started with the
Brethren Movement. Brethren Churches avoided traditional Christian Symbols, and rejected the idea of clergy in church, meaning that tere was no ministers, priest, bishop, or pastors. Our church belongs to a smaller part in the brethren church called the
Gospel Hall Brethren. They believed that they should not have names that identified themselves in any denomination or sect, and did not name themselves after historical figures like Luther or Calvin. They simply called themselves Christians and named their buildings Gospel Halls. to distinguish the gospel halls, names of the street or road would be put in front. Hence the name Yio Chu Kang Gospel Hall.
I'm not quite sure what denomination we belong to now, most probably because I was tired and wasn't paying too much attention. Sorry :(
What's our view of other denominations:
Well, we view them based on the teachings of the Bible. Mostly categorized in three groups. Firstly those that adhere to the teachings of the Bible faithfully. That's good. Second are those who adhere to the teachings of the Bible, but may have put too much emphasis on somethings instead of others. Some charismatic churches perhaps. Lastly are those who go against or change the Teachings of the Bible. Extremists, perhaps. Extreme charismatics maybe.
We like to believe that we are in the first group, but we need to constantly reflect on God's word. That's why we should never stop learning about the word of God. :)
Labels: sermon, 异端邪说
