Are Christians supposed to be like-minded?

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Accepted answer

It is obviously the will of Jesus Christ, the builder of the Church, that Christians should live in one accord. However, if we can belief that everything is controlled and monitored by God, then I do not think we should take our present splintering situation negatively. This might be the will of God, who knows?

There are some reasons why new denominations are born.

  1. The mother church goes off the right track.
  2. Disagreement in political or management inside the church.
  3. Commotion among the members.
  4. Disagreement in specific doctrines. etc.

When the mother church is clearly in the wrong and is not in a position to repent, there is no choice but to form a new group. Sometimes, political disagreement is the will of God to extend His kingdom as in the case of Paul and Barnabas, who splitted party which in fact was God's plan to reach out to Gentiles in Macedonia, for a greater ministry. It is also the work of Satan to divide the church by stirring the members to fight among themselves. Disagreement in doctrine is a serious issue where the power of Satan is usually at work. Satan brings confusion and doubt to the truth.

There is no doubt that some denominations are planted by the Devil as we see in the parable of the Weeds. But God allow the true and false church to grow together.

Matthew 13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

Everything is in God's hand. We must trust in Him.

There are some preachers who try bring denominations together and deliver good sermons towards unity in Christianity. Also, these days we have many non-denominational christians, who takes less interest in denominations but focus more on ministry and unification.

Actually, we are not that different from each other. Each of us are but a single organ in the Body of Christ and Christ is the Head of us all.

Upvote:-1

This is from an ACC perspective: Brotherly love is essential to be called a disciple of The Lord. That is: brethren of The Lord, are to love one another as He has loved them. And The Master defines His Brethren as those who do the will of my Father

So, we are called to love those who do the Will of the Father - who are consequently like-minded.

Protestant denominations are devisive. There has been no real progress in bringing them together. Too many "rice bowls" would have to be broken.

The splintering of the Episcopal Church since the 70's until today is an example of how new denominations are created - a difference of opinion on which text to be used in the liturgy, and of the spiritual meaning of the text. There is no central authority to interpret the text in the Episcopal Church, just as there is none in Protestant organizations. Everyone seems to be free to interpret God's Word as they see fit - even to change God's Word to fit their cause.

Among the Catholic Churches, East and West, Roman, Orthodox and Anglican, there have been and are ongoing discussion to heal the loss of Communion between them. We see some progress in agreements between the Latin and Greek theology but still no agreement on Holy Orders (credentialing of clergy,) with a few exceptions. Mostly the divisions are caused by misunderstanding of each other's language. The Latin theological terms are not easy to translate into Greek theological terms. The English clergy always have been trained in theological Latin, and the disagreements here are rather about Church hierarchy (who is in charge,) celibacy of clergy, and the infallibility of the Church to interpret scripture. The English Church split with the Roman Church on these issues while retaining the Apostolic traditions and the doctrine of the Church up to the 6th. cent. or so.

Of course Protestant churches, for the main, have ignored the teaching of the Church Fathers, discarded tradition, and rejected any central authority for the interpretation of scripture. Do you see a connection between these decisions and the fragmentation of the churches?

The Son of God knows what is happening always, there will be no surprise.

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If I am ordained, begin preaching around my neighborhood, then people are attracted to the message and want to meet regularly, is that starting a new denomination? What is the negative? How am I and this new congregation at odds with Christians worldwide?

I am suspicious of those who say multiple denominations proves that we do not love one another, or are not like-minded.This seems to be a fallacy.

Of course, there will be differences of opinion, but that doesn't mean that every single denomination is opposed to every single other denomination, which seems to be the contention. Number of denominations is not the same as number of disagreements. They are not the same thing.

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