Funny. I just found this elsewhere.....
Funny. I just found this elsewhere.....
Every Church on that chart is in union with the Church in Rome.
WHO STARTED YOUR CHURCH?
There are more than 30000 different Christian churches teaching different doctrines.
How did they split into so many?
Starting about 400 years ago:
If you are Lutheran, your religion was founded by Martin Luther, an ex-monk of the Catholic Church, in the year 1517.
The Anabaptist religion splintered from the Lutherans in 1520, founded by Nicholas Storch and Thomas Munzer.
The Menonite Church is an offshoot of the Anabaptist Church founded in 1525 and takes its name from Menno Simons, a former Catholic priest.
The Angelicans belong to the Church of England and your religion was founded by King Henry the VIII in the year 1534, because the Pope wouldn’t grant him a divorce with the right to remarry.
If you are a Presbyterian, your religion was founded by John Knox in Sctland in 1560.
Protestant Episcopalian? Your religion was an offshoot of the Church of England and founded by Samuel Seabury in the American colonies in the 17th century.
If you are a Baptist, John Smyth began it in 1605 in Amsterdam.
The Congregationalist religion was originated by Robert Brown in Holland in 1582.
Quakers began their religion in 1647 by George Fox in England.
If you are Amish, your Church was founded by Jacob Anman in 1693.
If you are Methodist, you religion was launched by John and Charles Wesley in England in 1744.
Unitarian religion founded in 1774 by Theophilus Lindley in London.
If you are Mormon (Latter Day Saints), Joseph Smith started your religion in Palmyra, N.Y. in 1829.
If you are Dutch Reformed church, you recognize Michaelis Jones as founder. Originated in 1828.
If you worship with the Salvation Army, your sect was began by William Booth in London in 1865.
If you are a Christian Scientist, 1879 was started by Mary Baker Eddy.
If you are a member of the Assemblies of God, your religion was founded by Charles Parham in Topeka Kansas in 1901.
If you belong to the Church of the Nazarene, your religion was started in 1908.
If you are a Jehova’s Witness, your religion was started by Charles Taze Russell in 1931.
If you are a Catholic , you belong to the Church that was founded around the year 33 by Jesus Christ the Son of God. Jesus appointed the first Pope (Mathew 16:19) and as Catholics we can trace our apostolic lineage from Pope Peter to Pope Francis.
For 1500 years Christians were united in one Church. The splintering that has taken place since the Catholic Church has been a failed experiment. Pray for Christian Unity
All Catholic! Just different rites, but all under Rome.
And you have seen this one:
The (Orthodox?) author of the first image argues,
Churches in doctrinal agreement with the Patriarch of Constantinople, are the actual direct descendants of the State Religion of the Roman Empire, founded under the authority of the Patriarch and the Emperor in Constantinople (starting with Constantine), while modern Roman Catholicism, far from being Christianity "fused with the Roman Empire," is the religion of the Bishops of Rome who repudiated the authority of the Roman Emperor and excommunicated the Patriarch of Constantinople.” (http://www.friesian.com/popes.htm#pope)
Another Orthodox voice states,
On the other hand, Roman Catholicism, unable to show a continuity of faith and in order to justify new doctrine, erected in the last century, a theory of "doctrinal development."
Following the philosophical spirit of the time (and the lead of Cardinal Henry Newman), Roman Catholic theologians began to define and teach the idea that Christ only gave us an "original deposit" of faith, a "seed," which grew and matured through the centuries. The Holy Spirit, they said, amplified the Christian Faith as the Church moved into new circumstances and acquired other needs...
On this basis, theories such as the dogmas of "papal infallibility" and "the immaculate conception" of the Virgin Mary (about which we will say more) are justifiably presented to the Faithful as necessary to their salvation. (“Father” Michael Azkoul, http://www.ocf.org/OrthodoxPage/reading/ortho_cath.html)
The author of the one on the left contends,
“The problem is obvious - Rome, sedevacantists, traditionalist Catholics, Pope Michael-ists, Eastern Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox, and various other churches with incompatible teachings all appeal to this set and limited corpus of Scripture and Tradition. It would appear that the criticism against Sola Scriptura of multiple denominations applies to the Roman and EO rule of faith as well.
The Romanist or Orthodox might object: "But we're not in communion with those schismatics/heterodox/heretics!" Now, what if I were to reply, as a member of a Southern Baptist church, that, have no fear my non-Sola Scripturist friends, my church holds that everyone who's not a member of a Southern Baptist church is a schismatic/heterodox/heretic too? Would that make our Romanist or Orthodox friends feel better?
Or would that make them criticise us even more strongly: "See? You Sola Scripturists can't even hold communion with each other!"? Yep, my money's on that one, too. We're darned if we do and darned if we don't, but somehow if the Romanists or Orthodox don't hold communion with these other churches, that's just fine. Such special pleading is just...special...
If you want to compare unity and disunity, compare the adherences to the competing rules of faith. Or compare churches, like the Roman Church to the Southern Baptist Convention or the Pope Michael Catholic Church to the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. What do we find, if we do this?” (http://beggarsallreformation.blogspot.com/2009/12/special-pleading-of-sola-ecclesia-ists.html)