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Ct-5736-Bladez t1_j1koyw5 wrote

Hello and merry Christmas pastor,

Something I have been wondering since this evenings service and can’t get a straight answer from google and I hope you can answer this potentially complicated question.

What is the difference between all the different churches (catholic, Methodist, Protestant, United Methodist, etc etc etc); if it all Christianity then why the different churches if it is all coming from one book?

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revanon OP t1_j1kquks wrote

The practice of Christianity has had many different priorities over the centuries, and most of those splits have had to do with some combination of theological, political, nationalistic, etc. priorities.

We treat other books thusly too--we highlight what we think is important and minimize what we think isn't. Like, it is Christmas Eve--think of just how many adaptations of A Christmas Carol there are.

With the church, those differences have felt much more dramatic because we so often say that salvation is at stake, persecute the losers, and so on, to our detriment and disrepute.

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Ct-5736-Bladez t1_j1krrll wrote

Ah I see, that makes a lot of sense. Your analogy helped a lot; thank you very much for responding and again, Merry Christmas!

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