Questions On Other Churches

Question 1. I am a southern Baptist, and have been for the most part of my life. I have a lot of friends who are different "types" of Christians. Some are Catholics, Methodists, and so forth. How am I to know who is right when it comes to my beliefs and theirs? Could you please help me to try to understand why there are so many different religions that are trying to accomplish the same goal?

Answer To begin, let me start in the century in which Jesus was born, died, was buried, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. In contrast to what we see today, many different "churches" teaching many different things and all claiming to follow Jesus, at that time, there was only ONE church and all who obeyed Jesus in the way revealed by the apostles belonged to that church, assembly of called-out people. There were no other "Christian" groups for them to become a part of.

Jesus said that He would build His church, that is His assembly of called-out, saved people. He did not promise to build many churches that would fight against one another. He desired that His church (assembly) be unified upon the Word that the apostles taught. And, in the first century, this was the case, one church with people following one Word.

MAT 16:13 ¶ Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He began asking His disciples, saying, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"
MAT 16:14 And they said, "Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets."
MAT 16:15 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"
MAT 16:16 And Simon Peter answered and said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."
MAT 16:17 And Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
MAT 16:18 "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it.
MAT 16:19 "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

JOH 17:20 "I do not ask in behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word;
JOH 17:21 that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me.

ACT 20:28 "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.

ACT 2:29 "Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
ACT 2:30 "And so, because he was a prophet, and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants upon his throne,
ACT 2:31 he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay.
ACT 2:32 "This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses.
ACT 2:33 "Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear.
ACT 2:34 "For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: 'The Lord said to my Lord,"Sit at My right hand,
ACT 2:35 Until I make Thine enemies a footstool for Thy feet. "'
ACT 2:36 "Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ-- this Jesus whom you crucified."
ACT 2:37 ¶ Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren, what shall we do?"
ACT 2:38 And Peter said to them, "Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
ACT 2:39 "For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God shall call to Himself."
ACT 2:40 And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation!"
ACT 2:41 So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
ACT 2:42 And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
ACT 2:43 ¶ And everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.
ACT 2:44 And all those who had believed were together, and had all things in common;
ACT 2:45 and they began selling their property and possessions, and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.
ACT 2:46 And day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart,
ACT 2:47 praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.

EPH 1:22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church,
EPH 1:23 which is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all.

EPH 4:4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling;
EPH 4:5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
EPH 4:6 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

But, even before the end of the first century, the apostles were warning Christians, especially the leaders (elders, bishops) in local churches, there would be some even from their own ranks who would present false teaching and lead others after them.

ACT 20:28 "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
ACT 20:29 "I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;
ACT 20:30 and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.
ACT 20:31 "Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.
ACT 20:32 "And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

1TI 4:1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,
1TI 4:2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron,
1TI 4:3 men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods, which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth.
1TI 4:4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it is received with gratitude;
1TI 4:5 for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.

Whatever groups and so-called churches that have come about down through the years all, in some way, began to spring from these sources. Men, especially those with authority over local groups, began to become corrupted not only in their teaching, but in how they exercised authority over the Lord's people. One elder began to take charge of the other elders in a local church. Then, over time, that elder would take charge over other local churches. Finally, in 606 A.D., the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church was officially recognized. But, God had not instructed or intended any of this. When the apostles were alive, they appointed elders for each congregation and their authority was to be over that congregation only and not every any other local church.

ACT 14:23 And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

1PE 5:1 Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed,
1PE 5:2 shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness;
1PE 5:3 nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock.
1PE 5:4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

Then, as time passed, people began to react to the corruption and false teaching of the Roman Catholic Church and from this came all of the Protestant churches that we know such as Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist and so on. To their credit many of these men had the intention of rejecting Catholic authority and false teaching and depending only on the bible as their source of authority, however, too often, Catholic tradition was simply replaced with Protestant tradition. Therefore, instead of one corrupt church, now there were many by the end of the 18th century.

Therefore, there are so many churches because people have been given the choice as to what they will teach, believe and follow. And, unfortunately, many, who do not know any better, have followed the traditions of men, rather than what is written in the Word of God. The only way we can overcome this is to examine honestly the Word of God and our own actions to see if we are following that which has been given to us by God through the apostles. In this way, we can be Christians, members of His church, not belonging to any false church, but worshipping and working with those who are similarly seeking to only follow the New Testament as their source of authority and be called by His name, not by any other. We can be just Christians, member of the church of Christ and as far as God is concerned, that is enough for any of us in this life.

ACT 17:10 ¶ And the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea; and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.
ACT 17:11 Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so.
ACT 17:12 Many of them therefore believed, along with a number of prominent Greek women and men.

2TI 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
2TI 3:17 that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

ACT 11:26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And it came about that for an entire year they met with the church, and taught considerable numbers; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

GAL 3:26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
GAL 3:27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
GAL 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
GAL 3:29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

In short, I am pleading for all to examine the teachings of whatever church they are members of, compare with the Bible and if it is against the Bible, reject it and the authority behind it which perpetuates it. Although difficult, this is not impossible for, since the first century on, all generations have been faced with this dilemma. We should not be called or follow the Baptist, Catholic, Mormon or any other church because we can neither read of them directly nor infer indirectly that Jesus or His apostles authorized them in any way. They are the creation of the mind of men and although may follow some things that are in the Bible, the whole basis for their even existing is to be challenged by the simple Word that we can all read in the New Testament. Contact Gary

Question 2. I am a Christian. I would like to know and be informed about Catholicism. Where did it begin and how do you witness to persons who are of the Catholic faith?

Answer The digressive history of the Catholic church is not much different than that of other churches. Even during the lives of the apostles, Christians began departing from the faith of the gospel as the apostles preached it. Despite warning of dire consequences (Gal. 1:6-9, e.g.), people were perverting the gospel. The book of James was written in part to combat the notion that one is justified by "faith alone" (that is, without having to DO anything), while the book of Romans was written in part to combat the idea that one could be justified by "works" (by "doing good"), apart from the gospel's faith. The book of 1 John taught against the notion that some Christians had that Jesus did not really come in the flesh at all. The entire gospel had been revealed prior to the death of the last apostle, but once there were no apostles, men began "taking their places." For example, in Acts 14:23, we find that elders (plurality) were appointed in every church. It was the duty of the elders to guard, teach and pastor the flock. This was not to be the responsibility or authority of any one man, even in a local congregation. In Acts 20, Paul summoned the elders from Ephesus and warned them that among their own number savage wolves would come, not sparing the flock (Acts 20:29-31). Then, as now, the only remedy would be to hold fast the word that the apostles taught. But as certain elders grew more influential, there were appointed "chief elders," or bishops, of each congregation. Soon, among the collection of bishops there also arose those who were over the others. By the time of Constantine (300's) the church had digressed from leadership by local elders over local congregation to the sectarian system of most churches today.

The only way to be an effective worker for the Lord is to preach His word,and that alone, which means one must be diligent to learn it. It makes little sense to convert a Catholic to the Episcopal church, when both practice many of the same errors. Nor can one be converted to Methodism, Lutheranism, Adventism, etc. If any church uses a creed or doctrine beyond that of the Bible, then they are admitting that the Bible by itself is not sufficient to save men from their sins. In my latest article, "See For Yourself," some of the teachings of the Catholic church are noted and the answers which the Scriptures give in opposition to them. However, some of them are the same answers I would give to Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, or some other groups who go beyond Scripture. Your interest in this matter shows that you have a concern for the spiritual welfare of others. The best way to help them is by listening to what they believe, then going to your Bible and studying to see if it is what the Bible teaches. That's exactly what converted people to Christ years ago (see Acts 17:10-12). May the Lord bless you in your search for His truth. Contact Doug