What
Is A Genuine Church? One Following The Doctrine of Christ
Since Christ is the Church, a
genuine Christian church is grounded on the life, death,
resurrection, and Gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ, whom is the only
begotten Son of God. It bases it's doctrine and teachings on the
Bible and follows the New Testament as the characteristics of life. It acknowledges that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are one, that there is a heaven and a hell and there is only one way to heaven and that is by receiving Jesus Christ as their Savior. If a church that you attend does not live by these truths than you
are being deceived and seriously need to think about finding another
church.
In the early church, creeds were often used to identify
the basic beliefs of Christians. What is known as The Apostles Creed,
has been recognized as perhaps the oldest historic statement of the
fundamental beliefs of True Christianity. Whether or not it was
actually composed by the Apostles as some have alleged, it can be
traced back as far as the late second century where it was used as a
baptismal creed in Rome.
Here
is the creed that all churches need to follow in order to be a
genuine Christian church:
"I
believe in God Almighty, And in Christ Jesus, his only Son, our Lord,
Who was born of the Holy Spirit and of the Virgin Mary, Who was
crucified and was buried, And the third day rose from the dead, Who
ascended into heaven, And sits on the right hand of the Father,
Whence he comes to judge the living and the dead. And in the Holy
Ghost, The holy church, The remission of sins, The resurrection of
the flesh, The life everlasting." All who accept this truth are
saved and going to heaven by their faith in God's gift of eternal
life, not by their works.
Remember, a church does not get you
to heaven, Jesus does, but the right church can be a big difference in the amount of blessings you receive as you learn all of God's Word.
Below
is a list of Christian, as well as those who claim to be, churches
and a brief description of how they follow or differ from a genuine
Christian church. Incidentally, the true church is a Baptist church.
Why? Because Jesus was Baptist. To learn more about the religions
practiced by these churches please, Click
Here
Baptists
Churches
Baptist
churches tend to be evangelical in doctrine and reformed in worship.
However, many Baptist churches do not have a central governing
authority, so a wide range of beliefs can be seen between one Baptist
church and another. A true Baptist Church is one that God alone is the authority of, hence the Word of God through the New Testament teachings.
Independent
Baptist Churches
An
Independent Baptist is not a denomination per-se, Independent Baptist
churches are Christian churches characterized by being independent
from the authority of denominations and conventions. They tend to be
more conservative than other Baptist churches. Most
Independent Baptist churches support the core beliefs that most
Baptist churches support with some variation, here is the doctrine
they live by. The King James Bible is the final authority for what
they believe and what they do. The Autonomy of the Local Church. The
Priesthood of the Believer. There are Two Ordinances: Baptism and the
Lord's Supper. The Individual's Soul Liberty. The membership is made
exclusively of Saved and baptized individuals. There are only Two
offices which guide the church: Pastors and deacons. The Separation
of Church and State.
Roman
Catholic Churches
Roman Catholic churches believe in the special authority of the pope, the
ability of saints to intercede on behalf of believers, the concept of
Purgatory as a place of afterlife purification before entering
Heaven, and the doctrine of transubstantiation - that is, that the
bread used in the Eucharist becomes the true body of Christ when
blessed by a priest, and that the virgin Mary has as much authority as Jesus.
There is only one person capable of interceding before believers and that is Jesus Christ Himself. He is the mediator between you and God and the only one who has the ability to to purify someone. There is no such thing as purgatory, you either go straight to heaven or hell, unless you have received Christ as your Savior that destination is hell.
Eastern
Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church is organized into several regional, autocephalous (governed by their own head bishops) churches. The Patriarch of Constantinople has the honor of primacy, and is interpreted by the seven ecumenical councils of the church. Orthodox theologians teach that humans were created in the image of God and made to participate fully in the divine life. The full communion with God
that Adam and Eve enjoyed meant complete freedom and true humanity,
for humans are most human when they are completely united with God. The result of sin, then, was a blurring of the image of God and a barrier between God and man. The situation in which mankind has been ever since is an unnatural, less
human state, which ends in the most unnatural aspect: death. Salvation, then, is a process not of justification or legal pardon, but of reestablishing man's communion with God.
The result of sin, which is death and hell, was appointed by God when Adam and Eve disobeyed one command from God. God made one way for all to be redeemed or justified from death and hell and that is through His Son, Jesus Christ, who died to save all who have receive Him as Savior.
Protestant
Churches
The Protestant church
is a break off church from the Catholic Church. That's why the name
is actually "Protest - ant," because they were protesting against
certain beliefs and practices of the Catholic Church. Protestants, led by Martin Luther, believe that faith in Jesus Christ is all a person needs to do to inherit eternal life and to know God. Faith Alone, not believing partly, plus doing a certain amount of pious, good works as well allows eternal life and Salvation.
No amount of works gets one Salvation, only our faith in Jesus Christ saves us, it can not be taken away from us.
Anglican/Episcopalian
Churches
Anglicanism
is Anglicans are not subject to the Pope and are
Protestant in most areas of doctrine, but Anglicans characterized themselves as being somewhere in between Catholics and
Protestants.Anglican practices and rituals are primarily found in the Book of Common Prayer, a compilation of liturgy developed by Thomas Cranmer in the 16th century. Some Anglican churches accept the ordination of women to the priesthood. There are so many different doctrines that it is hard to say what each individual church believes, but most tend to be Catholic or High Church in
flavor, with prescribed rituals and readings, bishops and priests,
vestments, saints' days and elaborately decorated churches.
Lutheran
Churches
Lutheran, a protestant church,
beliefs are expressed in numerous historical Lutheran confessions,
most of which were penned by Luther himself or early Lutheran
leaders. These confessions have been collected into the Book of
Concord, which is regarded as an authority for doctrine and practice
by all Lutherans. Martin Luther
developed these ideas through the concept that salvation is a divine
gift from God. He believed that through faith anyone could achieve
salvation.
Lutheran
churches are not bound to a set manner of worship. There is no uniform
liturgy. Every church can have their own way of worship.
Presbyterian
Churches
Like
the Lutherans, Presbyterian churches have traditionally emphasized
doctrine. Also like Lutherans, Presbyterians have produced several
confessions expressing the doctrines of their denomination. Among the
most important historical confessions for the Presbyterian and
Reformed traditions are the Second Helvetic Confession, the
Heidelberg Catechism, and the Westminster Confession of
Faith.
Seventh- Day Adventists
Churches
The
name of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination indicates its two main
distinctive characteristics: Sabbath observance on the seventh day
(i.e., Saturday) and an expectation that the end of the world is
drawing near. Other distinguishing characteristics include adherence
to the teachings of Ellen G. White (who is regarded as a prophe), and
various dietary observances rooted in Jewish law.
Latter-day
Saints (LDS) Churches
The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, known as the Mormons,
teach that God the father used to be a man on another planet, that
he became a God by following the laws and ordinances of that God on
that planet and came to this world with his wife (she became a
goddess), and that they produce a spirit offspring in heaven.
These spirit offspring, which includes Jesus, the devil, and you and
me, are all brothers and sisters born in the preexistence.
The preexistence spirits come down and inhabit babies at the time of
birth and their memories of the preexistence are lost at the time.
Furthermore, faithful Mormons, who pay a full 10% tithe of their
income to the Mormon church through Mormon temples, have the
potential of becoming gods of their own planets and are then able to
start the procedure over again. They follow the book of Mormon rather
than the Bible.
Jehovah's Witness
Churches
The
Jehovah's Witness organization is the Watchtower Bible and Tract
Society (WT). They maintain that God has only one organization
on earth today, and they are it. Their claim, they are God's "channel
of communication" for our time is a heady one. It is a
claim that the WT has a corner on spiritual truth. It is a
claim that only the WT can rightly interpret and explain Scripture.
And it is a claim that the WT alone can provide godly direction and
counsel for all the people on earth.
