If I Ruled The World I Would...

Abolish Religious Denominations

If I ruled the world one thing I would do if I could, would be to abolish religious denominations. They encourage people to look for differences between them and their brothers rather than building on areas of common interest. They’re man-made, divisive, tribal, competitive and sectarian; they promote bigotry and kill off any hope of unity in the body of Christ. And they’re idolatrous, because charismatic leaders and belief systems become the focus of attention and worship; and God is relegated to the sidelines.

According to the World Christian Encyclopaedia there are somewhere between 20,000 and 33,000 distinct Christian denominations in the world, and each one believes it is right and the others wrong, or at least, just a little ‘more right’ than the others. The reason they don’t they join together is that there’s always just enough difference to keep them apart. However, there’s one thing most of them do have in common; while they say they believe that Jesus paid mankind’s penalty in full, there’s always something that has to be done to complete Jesus’ sacrifice – it’s a ‘Jesus and…’ faith, and it’s the ‘and’ that keeps them apart.

For example, some say that to be a true Christian you must, ‘Believe in Jesus – and don’t smoke,’ others say, ‘Believe in Jesus – and wear a hat in church,’ or, ‘Believe in Jesus – and be baptised,’ still others say, ‘Believe in Jesus – and speak in tongues’ – the list is as long as the list of different denominations and just as obscene.

So, here are a few questions; given that most of us are in the denomination we’re in because we were born into it rather than a matter of choice, how do we know our’s is right? In our need for group identity; that nice feeling you get when you’re in the company of people who believe what you believe, could it be that the search for truth takes a back seat? Why do we hide behind the curtains when the Mormons or the Jehovah’s Witnesses come knocking at the door? We believe they’re wrong, don't we? and yet how much do we know about them or what they believe? Our idea of tolerance is, ‘You worship God in your way, we worship him in his.’ And is it possible that there’s a fundamental flaw at the very heart of the religious system?  

Well, here’s what God has to say about it all; ‘I will make a New Covenant with my people. I will write my laws on their hearts. I will be their God…they will be my people. They will not need to teach their neighbours saying, “You should know the Lord,” for everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already’ – that’s in Hebrews 8.

That raises another question; since God was around before religion and religious denominations existed, do we need any of them to communicate with him?