rationalskepticism.org

carl wrote:

THWOTH wrote:

carl wrote:

THWOTH wrote:Carl,

Would you agree that the biblical interpretation and the beliefs and practices of many nominal Christian denominations are wrong?

Not really. Name which belief or practice you have in mind and I will try to address.

There are too many Christian denominations to name, but your answer would imply that (just to take some examples) you think Baptists, Presbyterians, The Amish, Methodists, Seventh Day Adventists, Greek and Russian Orthodox, Jehovahs Witnesses, Roman Catholics, Quakers, Mormons and Anglicans are all essentially correct in the matter of their biblical interpretation and the beliefs and practices which distinguish each of them from the others?

Is that your position carl?

No. 'Christian' means to follow Christ, so I would simply compare what the Bible says to what their doctrine says. There are items of doctrine for which there is specifically called out in the Bible (primary doctrine) and there are some other aspects which are not specifically called out (peripheral or secondary doctrine). There are areas on which to disagree and allow for that (peripheral areas) and areas of disagreement which separates truth from error (primary areas).

For example, there are primary doctrinal differences between the Bible and the WatchTower teachings of the Jehovah's Witnesses. For Christianity, the Bible is primary. Everything else - teachings of various organizations, traditions, etc. are tertiary.

But for Jehovah's Witness the Bible is primary also. There is no significant difference here between that particular denomination and all the others - as you say, all Christian denominations have the Biblical texts at their core.

And yet, interpretations of those text do vary widely within the Christian tradition, along with the beliefs and practices which are laid down, doctrinally, as a condition of membership for each sub-set.

Now I'd grant that there are often similarities of interpretation and certain other commonalities between Christian denominations - they are all 'Christian' after all - but Mormons aren't Catholics, Baptists aren't Presbyterians, and Anglicans aren't Methodists etc, precisely because they significantly depart from each other with regards to Biblical interpretation and doctrinally authorised beliefs and practices.

So the question remains, and although I have no idea about which branch of the Christian tradition you would consider to be your natural perch, as it were, do you not think that some people are mistaken, misguided, or just plain wrong to build their nests in other branches of the tree of Christian faith?


edit:fixes & spellig.