Core Christian Value
Christians may be united or divided but there is only one Body of Believers. There is only one true and living God and only one Holy Word of God.
How many denominations or religious groups can you name? Make a list, out loud. Having done that, doesn’t it seem that there are too many if there is only one true God? What do the Scriptures have to say about who is a member of the Body of Believers worshipping this one true God? Listen: For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free — and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. 1 CORINTHIANS 12:12-14 NKJV
Paul places the Son of God, Jesus, in the middle of this issue. He says we are all one body who are baptized into one body, no matter what our race or economic standing. What is that body? It is the Body of Believers, the Church. What does Paul say about someone who is a true member of the Body of Believers? Does he say they are of a particular denomination or religious group? No, what does he say is the common denominator of all Believers? …we “have all been made to drink into one Spirit”.
The argument then is not whether we disagree about the rituals and traditions of churches, some which have been advanced by men, but that we are all born of the same Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Christ that abides in the heart of all believers. The yardstick between right and wrong has nothing to do with what people call themselves, it has to do with whether they have declared Jesus as their personal savior, the only One with the power to forgive sins and to present us to the Holy Father, wrapped in the righteousness of Jesus.
As to people who believe they have a corner on the truth, listen to the word of God: “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men”.’ MATTHEW 15:8-9 NKJV
The Bible makes it clear that adding to or subtracting anything from the Bible is a major mistake. Listen: If anyone adds to these things (to the Book of Revelation), God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. REVELATION 22:18-19 NKJV
Discuss which of the denominations that you named are adding the words of man to the Bible or subtracting from the primary teachings of the Bible. Then live a life that is an effective witness of your love for your heavenly Father and for all men.