If "sola scriptura" is valid: why is there so much division in Christianity?

Question

The fruits of sola scriptura has been division. There are now many denominations (see below) and more than one is too many. They have serious differences in fundamental issues

Division is against the Bible:
• Jn. 10:16 - there shall be one flock and one shepherd
• Jn. 17:20-21 - I pray ... for those who will believe in me ... that they may all be one
• 1 Cor. 1:10 - I urge that there be no divisions among you
• 1 Cor. 14:33 - he is not the God of disorder

So, "sola scriptura" must be a false doctrine

Partial list of denominations:

Adventists
African Methodist Episcopal Church
Anabaptists
Anglican
Assemblies of God
Baptists
Calvinism
Christian Churches and Churches of Christ
Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
Christian Reformed Church
Christian Science
Church of God
Church of Ireland
Church of Scotland
Church of the Brethren
Church of the Nazarene
Churches of Christ
Churches of God in North America (General Eldership)
Congregationalism
Disciples of Christ
Episcopal Church

list (continued):

Evangelical and Reformed Church
Evangelical Synod of North America
Evangelical United Brethren Church
Free Church of Scotland
Free Methodist Church of North America
Harmony Society
Holiness churches
Hutterian Brethren
Jehovah's Witnesses
Lollards
Lutheranism
Lutheranism - Pietism
Methodism
Moravian Church
Mormonism
Nonconformists
Pentecostal Churches
Pietism
Plymouth Brethren
Presbyterianism
Primitive Methodism
Quakers
Ranters
Reformed Church in America
Reformed Churches
Roundheads
Shakers
Society of Friends
Socinianism
Swedenborgianism
Unitarianism
United Brethren in Christ
United Church of Canada
United Church of Christ
United Methodist Church
Universalism

Jael: you are on the right track - God bless you

Dulos & Jonathan: very good, what you point is right, but that just demonstrates the fact that you need an authority -the apostles and their successors- :
1 Jn. 4:6 - We belong to God, and anyone who knows God listens to us, while anyone who does not belong to God refuses to hear us. This is how we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit.
Here John is talking of himself as a teacher since he is an apostle, not as an ordinary Christian, who can read the Bible and interpret it thinking he is inspired by the Holy Spirit. So you prove my point: sola scriptura is a false doctrine

The authority is the Church not any individual:
1 Tim. 3:15 - the Church is the pillar and foundation of the truth

Pastor John
Thanks for your words. However let me clarify a point. The fact (it is true) that many Catholics differ in opinion (i.e birth control) is a personal matter that does not make each a different denomination. Just makes them bad Catholics.
The Catholic Church has a doctrine established since 30AD which has not changed, but only developed (i.e. the concept of the Trinity, the divinity and hypostatic union of Christ, etc.), as scripture and Sacred Tradition are studied and comprehended. It is in our Cathecism.
That is a far cry from doctrines such as "sola scriptura" and "sola fide" which were not taught before the reformation.
Just take birth control: ALL protestants denominations believed it to be a sin before 1930. The Anglican Church opened the floodgates for it at the Lambeth Conference that year. Now ALL protestant denominations accept it. Only the Catholic Church has held the original position.
So who honors Mal. 3:6 "For I am the Lord, I change not", and Heb. 13:8?

Answer 1

I don't have an answer for you but this is a very good question. It has given me another reason to study. Thank you.

I do not believe in having different denominations.

Answer 2

My brother, I am grateful that you are proud of your Catholic faith and believe it. That is as it should be.

The truth is that there are denominations because people differ. People who are Catholic differ (look at the issue of birth control in America). In former days, the Catholic Church put to death people who differed. They were tortured and imprisoned - their property taken. No criticism intended, just an honest statement.

Sadly as long as Christians exist in this world there will be differences in interpretation of the scripture. The important thing is that in matters of importance we agree: Jesus is our Savior; Jesus will return in glory; Evil will be destroyed and God will triumph, etc.

Pastor John

Addendum: What I would ask you to remember is that we also share those doctrines. When the early church closed the canon of scripture they said that this was the "rule" by which all writings (including the fathers) must be judged. This is sola scriptura in its simplest form - that if something can not be demonstrated in scripture then it needs to be carefully examined.

There has never been unity within the church. Even the Bible records the disagreement between the Jewish Christian church and the Gentile Christian church. When the Council reached its conclusion, Paul continued to do what he felt was right.

The early post scripture church also suffered dissent. Among the church fathers were brilliant men of scripture who interpreted the scripture in a different way from the bishop of Rome. These men are not church fathers because their teaching was rejected by the church. In other words, the church fathers the Catholic Church interprets scripture by were the "winners" in the early scripture struggles. That decision would lead to the first division in the church which was not the reformation - it was the Orthodox Church.

Martin Luther was a good Catholic who examined the abuses of his age and came to the conclusion that they needed to be reformed. The Catholic Church was behaving in improper ways - the use of indulgences, etc was condemned by Martin Luther. He examined the scripture and found there was no grounds for these teachings.

It was only after the Catholic Church denied his reforms that he out of good conscience and after being declared a heretic and excommunicant formed his own church. The Catholic Church was wrong. They acknowledged that in the reforms a few years later. In these reforms everything Martin Luther challenged was corrected. The reason Martin Luther was excommunicated had nothing to do with Church doctrine - it had to do with politics.

Ultimately when the Catholic Church says that it uses tradition to interpret the scriptures, we must remember that "tradition" is nothing but the interpretation of scripture by the winners of the early scripture fights. Protestants also have great respect for tradition. I have well read copies of all the Ante and Post Nicene Fathers. But ultimately we believe what the early church said - that scripture alone must be the rule by which all is judged - including tradition.

This is not an argument to persuade you. Even if I could, I do not want to. You should have great respect for your church and its teachings. That is what it means to be a Catholic. I simply am explaining where I am. You are correct that denominations are not God's will. Unfortunately until the time of his return they will be a reality. At that time, we will know which of us is right! :)

Answer 3

Even the Bible teaches AGAINST sola scriptura in the following:

Jn 21:25 ... not everything is in the Bible.
2 Thess 2:15; 2 Tim 2:2; 1 Cor 11:2; 1 Thess 2:13 ... Paul speaks of oral tradition. Acts 2:42 ... early Christians followed apostolic tradition.
2 Pet 3:16 ... Bible hard to understand, get distorted. 2 Jn 1:12; 3 Jn 1:13-14 ... more oral tradition. 2 Pet 1:20-21 ... against personal interpretation. Acts 8:30-31 ... guidance needed to interpret scriptures. Heb 5:12 ... need to be taught.

Answer 4

Not every Christian church adheres to Sola Scriptura. The Roman Catholic Church for example also includes tradition and decrees ex cathedra of the pope. Additionally, the existence of many Christian denominations is also reflective of differences in emphases (education, mission activity, helping the poor, etc.) and church polity, i.e. how the body governs itself. Finally, it is possible to adhere to Sola Scriptura and come to different conclusions. Baptism, for example, is one holy rite which is interpreted differently by various groups. Baptists reject infant baptism. The more traditional churches (Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, Anglican, etc.) believe in the necessity of infant baptism. In spite of these many differences, all Christian churches proclaim salvation through the atoning work of Christ. This is what bonds them as the One Holy Catholic (universal) Church.

Answer 5

properly i became a uncertain christian for many of my teenage years. My ideas became nevertheless coming up and is now. i'm sixteen and have "switched over" to an agnostic/deistic view on existence, meaning i'd beleive in some form of god or goddess and rather an afterlife, yet am undecided. additionally I beleive this/those god(s) have not any impression on each and every day existence. besides... think of of the classic Romans around the time christianity became transforming into huge-unfold. How did they clarify a organic disaster? Their gods and goddesses. What i'm attempting to assert is that human beings back then did no longer comprehend their international as properly as we do immediately. we are able to describe tornados and earthquakes. would you place your faith in a e book devoid of information, written with the help of uneducated faith-blinded adult males? think of approximately this my way for in basic terms a minute. Does it make sence? The final theistic faith to look became Wicca back in 1951. yet even then it became a virtually direct derivative of a medievil pagan faith around the crusading circumstances (we are getting to grasp this in historic previous). on the grounds that we've mastered our international (just about speaking) and have not any ultimate information of the Christian faith yet blindness on my own (my alternative be conscious for faith), then what else? Do you already know my element? interior the tip, it is your own selection. it incredibly is anybody's own own selection. do no longer enable anybody replace your ideas, yet a minimum of evaluate what i've got typed... It took a collectively as.

Answer 6

1 Corinthians 11:19.... there must be heresies/factions among you to show those who are approved..... The reason for the divisions is that some believe scripture and others believe scripture + something else (tradition, another book, a list of extra regulations, etc). The 1 Cor 14 reference about 'disorder' was in reference to the misuse of spiritual gifts in the church services. Our unity is in the gospel (salvation by grace through faith)... some differences are heresies (separates true believers from religious people) and some differences are taste/style (which doesn't separate us from being brothers/sisters

Answer 7

"Only Scripture" or Sola Scriptura is not a valid doctrine of the faith. For one thing those who say this also deliver Sermons which attempt to explain Scripture. And that is an interpretation of Scripture. Which immediatly shows this to a wrong doctrine. Furthermore JESUS IS THE WORD OF GOD. and MOTHER MARY did not give birth to a book, but to a man who is GOD, THE SON OF GOD, and THE WORD OF GOD, JESUS CHRIST.

Knowing that and what Scripture says, that we must eat and drink of JESUS' BODY AND BLOOD. When we eat and drink of JESUS we are eating and drinking THE WORD OF GOD. We then who eat and drink of THE WORD OF GOD are united to THE WORD OF GOD. Which is precisely why we can say as Catholic we are not Sola Scriptura. But Protestants say the body and blood are only symbolic.

-LOVE your neighbor as yourself.
Amen.

Answer 8

For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you. - 1 Corinthians 11:19.

Answer 9

Roundheads. LOL.

Answer 10

You have it exactly backwards. Turn around and look at it backwards-you'll see the light.