Denominational Debauchery: Conclusion

I had a lot of material for my treatise on the Presby's. But I decided to scrap the fourth round (maybe it was the overwhelming influence of all those three point sermons I heard as a kid).

Why do you ask? Mostly because each consecutive entry has gotten harder to write, and not because there was a shortage of ridiculous aspects of any of the denominations I honed in on. I guess I realized more and more that doing one entry, summarizing the whole denominational issue would have been more productive and beneficial.

Besides, the Presby's "God's Smartest Children"...that's my team. The one denomination I haven't every held membership with but agree with the most as far as doctrine goes (the baptism of babies is the only thing that I find to be questionable so far, but I've only read the shorter catechism).

Is arguing over the whole Armenian/Calvinist thing unproductive? I would say yes, if that is all you're doing. But I think that in maturing your discipleship the question begs to be answered. If not directly, than at least the doctrines of the two sides should be mentioned as they will surely come up naturally (total depravity, predestination, atonement, sovereignty are good meaty doctrine for church-folk to chew on).

I'll stop trying to educate all you Armenians (my definition of an Armenian? A Calvinist who is still very early in the sanctification process...joke! aim your fiery darts elsewhere...seriously though, calm down ) long enough to wrap up the denominational debacle.

My point all along has been to say that our fractiousness as believers is not unbiblical, but our isolation from each other is.

Paul says it doesn't matter which baptism you follow, as long as it leads to Jesus. He doesn't discount the possibility of disunity he only condemns the self-righteous separatist nature of those who followed different "baptisms" (read denominations).

Stop getting behind a man, and making that your identity. Get behind the God-man and let him shine through you, identifying you as a true follower.

I don't think denominationalism will cease to exist. I don't know if I want it to. If you look at the denominations I mentioned they all were like pieces of a puzzle, if you fit them together they would combine to form a more effective Christ-glorifying whole.

The problem is that the puzzle pieces keep fighting amongst each other so nobody can see what the picture is that they create.

If you combined the doctrinal values of the Baptists with the discipling leadership of the Church of Christ, set it on fire in the Holy Spirit that works so powerfully in the Assembly's of God while growing deeper roots with the theological and Scriptural dedication of the Presbyterians you would have something that looked a lot more like Jesus (that sentence is a grammatical nightmare but I'm too tired/busy to sort it all out).

I'm either going to start working on transcribing the Gospel message in my own words (as I've started in my journal) or go over the 5 Calvin/Armenian doctrines. I'll probably do both but which one first? I don't know

I love you all...