One thing that was brought up in the original post is the idea that people must belong to "the Church of Christ" or else will be lost. In a culture saturated with denominationalism, it's easy to characterize according to name.

In the New Testament, the church that Jesus purchased is described in a variety of ways. "churchesof Christ" happens to be one (Romans 16:16)... as does other terms such as "the body of Christ", "the kingdom of God, "the church of God", etc. Too many people, IMO, get caught up focusing on the name on a sign - rather than investigate what's believed/taught/practiced by a particular group. As long as a church utilizes a biblical name, God/Christ either accepts/rejects it based on its adherence to the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Because it's so infused into this thread, however, a study into denominationalism would probably be helpful. So far as we can tell from the NT, there were no such things as "denominations" in the first century. Yet, we live in a religious culture that rampantly accepts the idea.

Last edited by Bamarich2; 10/09/15 04:53 PM.