Yes – and we get that permission from His divine word. Eph 3:3-4; 2 Tim 3:16-17

Have you ever wondered why there are so many churches in Borger, or anywhere for that matter? Yeah, me too! At least I used to wonder why, now I have a good idea why there are different churches. I will share with you my observations about Christian Churches.

There are 2 basic divisions among “churches”. We use church as a convenient term but it is generally misused. The word I will use in this article is “denomination”, which means division. The division lies in understanding how to determine scriptural authority. There are only two options:

1. We are at liberty to do anything not specifically forbidden. If The Bible says nothing about a subject, then we have permission to do it.
2. Speak and do only what the Bible teaches. This principle finds it’s authority in (1Pe 4:11 If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God.) This verse basically means, If anyone has anything to say, let it be as the words of God. Speak where the Bible speaks and silence where the Bible is silent.

You may have thought that the difference would be about works and grace. However, in order to understand works and grace you must first decide how you’re going to study the Bible. Will you do only what the Bible says, or because it is a living breathing, changing document we can do what we feel is right?

Which brings up another two ways you can divide the “churches”, by asking, “where do we get permission for our life and religious practices?”

1. Man– However, the scriptures demonstrate that man is a faulty source of authority. When each person does whatever seems right to himself, he dethrones God in order to enthrone his own will. ( De 12:8 “You shall not at all do as we are doing here today-every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes.)
2. God. Because God is Creator, we need to acquire a knowledge of His will. (Mt 28:18 And Jesus came to them and said, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.)

When choosing a church, one must first decide how they will treat the Bible, a God breathed document that has all authority for our lives, or a guide book that contains helpful wisdom. You may not notice much difference between these statements, but it becomes extremely clear as you begin to talk about salvation, church organization, political activities, church leadership, sin or a myriad of other topics that distinguish the denominations.

Franklin St. Church of Christ, Borger

We, at the Franklin st church of Christ, use the Bible as our only guide. No creeds, no man made doctrines. Pure and undefiled religion. (James 1:27) We believe (as well as the rest of the scriptures) ………

• All authority belongs to Jesus (Mt 28:18 And Jesus came to them and said, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth)
• Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. (Mt 16:16)
• In Love – (Joh 13:34 I give you a new law: Have love one for another; even as I have had love for you, so are you to have love one for another.)
• Scriptural (biblical) Salvation –
  • Hear (Mt 7:24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them,)
  • Believe (Mr 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.)
  • Repent (Ac 17:30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:)
  • Confess (Mt 10:32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.)
  • Baptism (Ac 22:16 And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.)
  • Remain Faithful (Mt 24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.)
• Heaven & Hell are real (Heb 9:24 Heaven) (2Pe 2:4-9 hell)
• One body (which is the church), Spirit, Lord, Faith, Baptism and One God (Eph 2:22-23; 4:4-6)

Please don’t mistake these as our own list or creed. These are listed because these are just a few things that have created denominations. Our hope and prayer is that this has helped you to see the truth about denominations, and that God desires all to be saved. (2Pe 3:9 ¶ The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.)

Let me leave you with this quote by Horace W. Busby……..

“No, we are not mad at anybody. We want everybody to go to heaven. We are not trying to send anybody to hell. We are not tickled when somebody is wrong, but we want everybody to be right. We want to treat them like our brothers if we can, and pray for them like Paul did for the Jews (Rom. 10:1-3). But we cannot afford to compromise the truth even with father or mother or ourselves, because it will not do us any good.”