by EnnisP

Created on: February 14, 2009

Confronting the divisions of Christianity

Unfortunately, religion is something Christians do wrong, not partly but completely. They can't even agree on the purpose and have argued over which of the following is most important sometimes to the point of death:

* Provide and maintain a moral framework in society

* Baptize people and teach them about God

* Evangelize the world

* Glorify God

* Provide protection for God's people

* Resist evil

* Help those who are desperate and so on

None of these is wrong but religionists don't agree on which one is primary? When some do agree on a purpose they don't agree on how to achieve it or what constitutes evidence that it was done.

All of this, of course, comes from the perspective of religious people. This describes how Christian people understand their purpose. What about the non-religious? How would they define the purpose of religion and how would they characterize its effect?

Well, they see God as One Person and Christian religion as one group representing this One Person. They expect religious people and their churches to be God's kingdom on earth, His institutional "body" so to speak. One non-religious person noted that Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary says the word "religionmeans to bind together." He considered that an important tenant of religion, especially the Christian religion and pointed to their division as evidence something was amiss.

Non-religious people expect religious people to work together mending the faults in society, uplifting people (that is one reason religious institutions are exempt from taxes) and intriguing the lost. The Christian religion in particular has the numbers to do this. They represent a third of the population of the world but instead of making a unified effort, Christian religious groups can't even get along.

Non-religious people look at the world of religion and see nothing but confusion. They don't understand how so many Christian groups, all of whom claim to represent the same person and are so similar, can be antagonistic toward one another at the same time. They see Christian religion as fractious and Christian individuals as contentious (self serving and self absorbed) and they label the Christian religion as divisive. Not only is this observation correct it is substantiated by data.

Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary says there were 39,000 different Christian denominations in 2008 and they estimate the number will grow to 55,000 by 2025. That represents a growth of over 40%

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