how is it that Christianity can be based upon one text specifically the Bible and yet be divided into many dif

Question

different denominations

Answer 1

Two reasons.

First, the Bible is long and was written over many years by many people. Much of it was written to refer back to itself and included popular interpretations of the day and other popular myths. It is full of self-contradiction and vagueness. Therefore, depending on which part of the Bible you like best and how you interpret it, you could have a totally different religion. The most obvious example is the Catholics and Protestants. The Catholics tends to follow James more while the Protestants favor Paul's teachings.

The second reason is that there are no real gods around to set everybody straight on which religion is the correct one. All religoins are based on fictional beings, so each sect can make up its own god.

Answer 2

Most of the divisions have come from disagreements on interpretation.
Some believe that the Bible is 66 books written by 40 authors and they were not inspired by God or the Holy Spirit.
Others believe that the entire Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit.
Some believe that Paul was not an apostle, although the book of Acts says that Jesus called him to minister to the Gentiles.
Others disagree over the interpretation of the book of Revelation.
Is it a book that was fulfilled in the first century?
Is it a book that tell us of the future?
Is it metaphors or is it literal?
Is anyone other than your denomination going to heaven?
Several believe that.
All these things have caused splits in churches that ended up creating another denomination.
You can find out what I believe at www.kingdom-principles.org.

Answer 3

Firstly, the Bible isn't one text, but many.
Secondly, there isn't one single version of the Bible, but many. The smallest canon (list of books in the Bible) is the (I believe) Samaritan version which contains just the first 5 books. Then there is the Jewish, which contains basically the Old Testament. Then, the Protestant containing the Old Testament and the New Testament.
The Catholic Bible contains a more complete version of the Book of Daniel, and some intertestamental books.
The Egyptian Orthodox Bible contains even more books.
There are even more Canons than this.
Each group claims inerrancy in their Bible. If there is this much disagreement over which books actually constitute the Bible, there is even more as to how these books are to be interpreted. Little wonder why there is division.

Answer 4

The Bible(KJV) is 66 volumes if you will. I have had Bible discussions with many people over the years and people have different takes on different doctrines. Hence, many different Churches.
You can look at it this way.
The denominations are like scaffolding at a construction site. When the building is done the scaffolding is removed.
When the church is complete the denominations will have done what they were supposed to do.
I Cr 13;8a

Answer 5

I think your complete question would end "and yet be divided into many different churches (or groups or denominations, etc)". Is that right?

If that is right then I would answer this way:

with the explosion of bibles, bible reading, bible translations in the 16th and 17th century, william tyndale's (himself a bible translator) words came true:

"If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy who drives the plough to know more of the scriptures than you do.'

He was martyred in 1536.

As people read and studied and translated the bible themselves
(instead of simply listening to clergy preach, etc), they formed their own understandings, slants on certain doctrines, etc.

by the 18th century, this tendency towards personal and individual application of scripture was rampant. groups splintered off from one another, denominations were formed, etc.

and so today we have thousands upon thousands of different groups, each holding to slightly sifferent understandings of scripture and encouraging others to join them.

is this bad?

I think the old expression is true: In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, diversity; in all things, charity (love).

In the essentials of the faith, there is unity. But many many different doctrines are what i would call peripheral to the truth - it is not essential to adhere to them to be considered a believer ( at least IMHO). But in ALL things, there must be love - love between the believers, love in spite of differences.

god is a god of great diversity - you just have to look around and see how many different types of people there - or plants, or animals, or any created thing!! incredible creativity and diversity!!

there is no reason why God would somehow alter that and demand for everyone to think and act and believe the same along every line. there is room in his kingdom for great diversity.

god bless!!

Answer 6

There is an active supernatural person with an army of beings trying to deceive and confuse humans from searching for and knowing God. His/their deceptions have resulted in many false Christian denominations. If we search we will find God, but we have to follow God's prompting in our lives and He will guide us each step of the way to find truth. Studying the Bible with prayer for God's help is the way to find truth. God will lead anyone who wants to follow Him. There is one Christian denomination who follows the Bible where ever it leads. If you want to know about that denomination go to amazingfacts.org.

After reading most of the answers above, I see these people are mostly confused and have no idea what they are talking about. There is only one widely accepted canon of the Bible and it has 66 books. It is very well standardized and accepted by all Christians as the one and only true and complete word of God. Yes there are other writings but they are not part of the one true canon. Yes the New Testement of the canon is not accepted by the Jews. Yes the Catholics include other writings that are not part of the canon, but those writings are just that, other writings that are not inspired. There is only one canon which is the official Bible. And there are no other writings that are the word of God or that should even be valued on the same level as the one and only complete source of the words of God for our world. All other writings or ideas or words from people must be tested by the one true word of God for the world which is the one official canon of the Bible. Don't let the above mis guided souls deceive you.

Answer 7

the new testament and the jewish canon are in fact many texts. there are also other canonical writings, for example the writings of early leaders of th church such as augustine. also are many texts that were used in the early church but failed to make the cut into the biblical texts ue to various political reasons. now, i'm not a christian but just saying that you might want to investigate a bit more what is indeed a rich cultural tradition

Answer 8

because the bible has been interpreted to mean different things. mostly they take something out of context and mess with it till they think they know what it means. then they buid a church on that belief. if they would read the Bible as a whole book they would get the true meaning and know what to follow. most of the churches have similar beliefs but have one or two things that conflict with each other.

Answer 9

Just like people I guess, based on one gene code but divided into so many different types

Answer 10

there are a number of diverse interpretations of the Bible, and the ecu religious Wars customary that Christians might desire to create their own denominations. as a result, diverse interpretations persist with diverse denominations.