It doesn’t matter.
When two or more people come together in HIS name, that is church. That is the One True Church, that is the church founded by Jesus Christ.
How many cafeteria Catholics are there? Billion and billions....
Is this some sort reactionary catholic statement?
I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. So I ran over and said “Stop! don’t do it!” “Why shouldn’t I?” he said. I said, “Well, there’s so much to live for!” He said, “Like what?” I said, “Well...are you religious or atheist?” He said, “Religious.” I said, “Me too! Are you christian or buddhist?” He said, “Christian.” I said, “Me too! Are you catholic or protestant?” He said, “Protestant.” I said, “Me too! Are you episcopalian or baptist?” He said, “Baptist!” I said,”Wow! Me too! Are you baptist church of God or baptist church of the Lord?” He said, “Baptist church of God!” I said, “Me too! Are you original baptist church of God, or are you reformed baptist church of God?” He said,”Reformed Baptist church of God!” I said, “Me too! Are you reformed baptist church of God, reformation of 1879, or reformed baptist church of God, reformation of 1915?” He said, “Reformed baptist church of God, reformation of 1915!” I said, “Die, heretic scum”, and pushed him off. — Emo Phillips
Your Pope and many Archbishops want to lecture the world about the “gifts and talents” of homos?!?!?
And you want to disparage Protestants???
Please, clean your own house first!
So tired of this stupid "statistic" FRoman Catholics spit out as if it is gospel truth and can refute any or everything a "Protestant" might say to dispute the errors of Roman Catholicism. If you are going to post a vanity thread based on your own ignorance, don't be shocked when others call you on it and link, yet again, to better and more reliable sources for the truth. Such as The 33,000 Denomination Myth
I have to tell you that this claim has always sounded disingenuous to me. It makes it sound like there are tens of thousands of Protestant denominations which condemn each other as heretics when that is simply untruthful.
A great many denominations have fellowship with each other, and the differences in beliefs don’t prevent us from recognizing each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.
And how many non-Catholic denominations are in your local phone book? That tens of thousands figure, again, isn’t honestly arrived at. It divides all non-Catholic denominations when denominations might be in fellowship with each other. An independent church in Africa or Asia can be considered its own “denomination” when its believers would be in fellowship with many other Christians. Let’s actually see and examine such a list, and how it’s made up, and if it actually represents insurmountable differences between different Christian groups. Overall, though, the claim reminds me of the patently false type made by atheists.
How many protestant attack threads can Catholic FReepers post per day, while claiming that they are the ones suffering bigotry around here? Can you count that up for us next?
Do not allege that there are 33,000 Protestant denominations. This tally comes from the 2001 World Christian Encyclopedia, and it includes all denominations and paradenominations which self-identify as Christian, including Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants, Old Catholics, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists, Gnostics, Bogomils, etc. And even so, the number is too high. The World Christian Encyclopedia artificially inflates the number of Catholic "denominations" by counting Eastern Churches in communion with Rome as separate denominations. It likewise inflates the number of Eastern Orthodox "denominations" by counting Churches in communion with each other as distinct........even if we could arrive at an accurate tally for Protestant denominations (20,000?), we still could not blame the whole of that number on Sola Scriptura. Some of these churches share substantial unity in faith, even if they are juridically independent (perhaps due to geography). And much of the disunity of faith within Protestantism, at least in the developed world, stems from efforts to subordinate the authority of Scripture (e.g., to various sexual perversions). In reality, if every Protestant denomination were serious and consistent in affirming and applying the rule of Sola Scriptura, the spectrum of Protestant belief would be significantly narrower. It bears emphasizing: the only thing for which we can directly blame Sola Scriptura is the extent to which it fails to provide unity in true faith and morals to those who sincerely adhere to it, e.g., "orthodox" Lutherans, Presbyterians, Baptists, Anglicans, Methodists, Pentecostals, Campbellites, etc.
-- from the thread Unsound Sticks, or, Arguments Catholics Shouldn't Use
When this figure first surfaced among Roman Catholic apologists, it started at 20,000 Protestant denominations, grew to 23,000 Protestant denominations, then to 25,000 Protestant denominations. More recently, that figure has been inflated to 28,000, to over 32,000. These days, many Roman Catholic apologists feel content simply to calculate a daily rate of growth (based on their previous adherence to the original benchmark figure of 20,000) that they can then use as a basis for projecting just how many Protestant denominations there were, or will be, in any given year........If the Roman Catholic apologist wants instead to cite 8,196 idiosyncrasies within Protestantism, then he must be willing to compare that figure to at least 2,942 (perhaps upwards of 8,000 these days) idiosyncrasies within Roman Catholicism. In any case, he cannot compare the one ecclesial tradition of Roman Catholicism to 25,000, 8,196, or even twenty-one Protestant denominations; for Barrett places Roman Catholicism (as a single ecclesial tradition) on the same level as Protestantism (as a single ecclesial tradition)....
....In short, Roman Catholic apologists have hurriedly, carelessly—and, as a result, irresponsibly—glanced at Barrett’s work, found a large number (22,189), and arrived at all sorts of absurdities that Barrett never concluded. One can only hope that, upon reading this critique, Roman Catholic apologists will finally put this argument to bed. The more likely scenario, however, is that the death of this argument will come about only when Evangelicals consistently point out this error—and correct it—each time it is raised by a Roman Catholic apologist. Sooner or later they will grow weary of the embarrassment that accompanies citing erroneous figures in a public forum.
-- from the thread 30,000 Protestant Denominations?
Who cares-A person’s salvation isn’t found in church, it’s found through a personal relationship with Christ based on nothing less than His Grace.
I was in San Fransisco once, walking along the Golden Gate Bridge, and I saw this guy on the bridge about to jump. So I thought I'd try to stall and detain him, long enough for me to put the film in. I said, "Don't jump!" and he turns... You've heard of the elephant man.
He was kind of like that, he had a, well, you could say he had the head of a horse. And my heart went out to him. I said, "Why the long face?"
He said, "'Cause all my life people have called me mean names like horses-head or Flicka or chess-piece or Trigger..."
I said, "Well, don't worry about it, Ed. It can't be that bad."
He said, "My girlfriend's suing me!"
I said, "For palomino?"
He said, "Why was I put on this Earth?"
I said, "My friend, anywhere else you wouldn't stand a chance."
He said, "Nobody loves me."
I said, "God loves you, you silly ninny."
He said, "How do you know there's a God?"
I said, "Of course there's a God. Do you think that billions of years ago a bunch of molecules floating around at random could someday have had the sense of humor to make you look like that?"
He said, "I do believe in God."
I said, "Are you a Christian or a Jew?"
He said, "A Christian."
I said, "Me too. Protestant or Catholic?"
He said, "Protestant."
I said, "Me too! What franchise?"
He says, "Baptist."
I said, "Me too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?"
He says, "Northern Baptist."
I said, "Me too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?"
He says, "Northern Conservative Baptist."
I say, "Me too! Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist or Northern Conservative Reform Baptist?"
He says, "Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist."
I say, "Me too! Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Great Lakes Region or Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Eastern Region?"
He says, "Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Great Lakes Region."
I say, "Me too! Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879 or Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?"
He says, "Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912."
I said, "Die, heretic!" And I pushed him over!
I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. So I ran over and said, “Stop! Don’t do it!”
“Why shouldn’t I?” he said.
I said, “Well, there’s so much to live for!” He said, “Like what?”
I said, “Well, are you religious or atheist?” He said, “Religious.”
I said, “Me too! Are you Christian or Buddhist?”
He said, “Christian.” I said, “Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?”
He said, “Protestant.” I said, Me too! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?
He said, “Baptist!” I said, “Wow! Me too! Are your Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord? He said, Baptist Church of God!”
I said, “Me too! Are your Original Baptist Church of God or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?”
He said, “Reformed Baptist Church of God!” I said, “Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915?”
He said, “Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915!”
I said, “Die, heretic scum!” and pushed him off.
I’m glad you posted this as “vanity”. It certainly is on your part.
Educate yourself a little bit about the Reformation of the catholic church. Read this.
http://weedon.blogspot.com/2009/01/are-lutherans-protestants.html
Notice
Catholic — 1
Excellent thread with Excellent research!
In fact, there is no charter in the Bible for governing bodies over and beyond the local churches outside of the local church. The whole idea of a "denomination" ruling a band of local churches is anti-christian.
Pffffffhtt.