Just because I find it absolutely fascinating, let me see if I can help you/anyone else understand why denominations happen. Then I'll answer your question :)

Since you used Christianity as the example religion, I'll follow, and likewise use that religion :). I don't know the exact number, but lets say it is 10,000 +. You have to realize all religions, as well as any other belief system for that matter, have denominations. True, Christianity may have the most, but that would directly coorelate with that fact that Christianity is the most popular religion in the world. But the number of denominations is irrelevant to my example, so lets move on....

These 10,000 + denominations are in fact all Christians, they are not other religions. while some denominations my be so radical that many would agrue that they aren't Christians is again irrelevant. I'm not here to debate about that. All I'm saying is that those 10,000 + denominations would hopefully all in the end delcare Jesus as Lord and savior of the world, who died for humankind's sins, and was then rasied from the dead and now is in Heaven. Which is a rough one sentence statement defining what a Christian is.

The reason for the 10,000 + denominations, and yes this applies to any form of religion or belief system is this; Can't really think of a great example right now but hopefully you can see my point. Lets take honesty, simple enough. Bible says to be honest. This is where the denominations start forming. You'll then have some people think white lies are okay. You'll have some people think lying to a strangers is okay. You'll have some people think lying to there significant other is okay. Etc. And you'll have some that say all these examples are unacceptable.

To help you understand it furthermore, I'll give you examples...
White Lies - You tell your dad you're going to the bathroom during a MLB game, when really you go an buy him a signed cap. Is that okay? Or are you disobeying the bible?
Stranger - You're walking home from school, a man asks for directions to a specific place, after you answer/don't answer he says "hey you look familiar, where do you live?" You give him a fake address fearing he doesn't really know you. Is that okay? Or are you disobeying the bible?
Significant Other - Wife/Girlfriend says "Do I look pretty tonight?" You honestly believe she doesn't, but you say yes, because you know she would love to hear it. Is that okay? Or are you disobeying the bible?
Other - All of these people are lying according to this type of person. Pretty self explanitory.

Keep in mind that all of this is just one example from just one command given in the bible. Add up a few, or hundreds, or thousands of these types of examples to any religion/belief system and people begin forming denominations. This is why, even if you have the same religion/belief system as someone else, you may still not see eye to eye on everything.

Now to answer your question. I believe Jesus is God, and that the only way to get to heaven is to believe in him and follow his teachings, so yes, I am a Christian. Because it says so in the bible is my explanation :P

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Lol, pretty much. :)

Delay, I have an example you could use. The ancient Greeks had different names for the same basic Gods depending on where they lived; i.e. those on Cyprus called Aphrodite Kypris

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Thanks for giving me an example.

But I honestly don't understand what you're talking about haha.

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Lol, pretty much. :)

He's talking about how some Greek subcultures called the Gods by different names, and they can be separated into something similar to a denomination.

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The term "true religion" is an oxymoron.

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If GZUS had a city...


THE GREATEST THING SINCE ME

As far as Christianity is concerned, I feel that (perhaps) there are a select few, that are closer to a reasonable truth than others; a religion CAN claim to be "true", yet endless debates will spawn forever on it simply because they can, therefore, I'll not actually name the existence of a true religion's... (it'd take a "Second Coming", in other words, for people to realize what's really up...) Some factors I think would comprise a true religion* would be (this is not a complete list):

*Note: I think the term "religion" leaves a bad taste in some people's mouth simply because (A) there are so many of them and (B) some religions compromise Scripture to fit their own agenda, rather than the Word itself. The term thus becomes meaningless or degraded.

1. Loving thy neighbor/everyone in every sense, not allowing enmity to be felt between you and any other person for any reason, and showing mercy to others as best as you can.

2. Worshipping God solely, not Jesus, the Virgin Mary, or saints of any kind.

3. Seeing Jesus as the Savior only, not the Father (God). That may seem controversial, as some sects of Christianity see Jesus as God rather than the Son (a belief in the Trinity); however, Jesus did pray to the Father in the Bible, and mentioned, in John 14:6, that nobody gets to the Father except through him. It's like a chain of command... Also note - Mark 10:18, Luke 5:16, Mark 12:29, Matthew 4:10.

Also, Jesus was never once called YHWH (Yahweh or Jehovah) in Scripture... Yet the tetragrammaton appears almost 7,000 times in Hebrew scriptures, separately from Jesus.

4. Seeing as Jesus preached the word of a "new kingdom" on Earth, one without wars, enmity, death, etc., it would make sense that true believers would help continue that activity and help spread that word as well. (Matthew 24:14) This new kingdom (on earth, as it is in Heaven) would be run by God for eternity, as it was originally meant to be. After all, if the "Word" must be preached, who's doing the preaching? Question: Were Adam and Eve meant to die and go to Heaven? Certainly not (Read Psalm 104:5). Yet this is what most believe, that some will simply go to Heaven, and others to Hell.

Also, Jesus did not have churches built for others to come in and hear about the Bible; he physically went around places and preached it.

Something to think about: It's possible that a true religion exists. Isn't it reasonable to think that God would preserve followers of a Scripturally-consistent set of beliefs throughout all of time, up until the "Second Coming" and beyond? Observe Matthew 7:13. Also note that MANY skeptics or nonbelievers question why certain religions/Christian sects still promote, display a lax attitude, or turn a blind eye to Scripturally-prohibited activities such as homosexuality, drunkenness, fornication, et cetera. Yet a "true" religion would not be so lax on these things... such practices would obviously destroy the relationship between them and God. (2 Peter 2:21)

Observe 2 Peter 2:21: It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to know it and turn their backs on the holy commandment that was committed to them.

It's also reasonable to think that Satan, along with his demons, would design a seemingly-competent system of "factoids" that go against "truth", just to spur controversy amongst humans and have them deviate from truth. Seeing as he is the "father of the lie", it certainly is a possibility. It leaves and keeps humans confused and apart from God, all while Satan is aware of their design and need for spiritual "food" and truth and would do *anything* to keep them from gaining truth.

One last thought: Take a closer look at any religion that practices the above, yet takes the most heat as being "non-truth". It's the equivalent of reverse psychology... yet if Satan is real, he MOST certainly would devise only the best system to go against those practicing beliefs most consistent with Scripture.


Edit/another thought: Assuming the "Second Coming" was near, the Word was getting preached (Mat. 24:14 once again), and Revelation prophecy was really coming to fruition, I also believe that religions as a whole would seem less necessary/believable in a world under Satan (Rev. 12:9; note: "... the deceiver of the whole world"). So in the news and places everywhere, people are going to believe that all religions are "religulous" (Bill Maher) and go against them. Some people reading this will definitely see religion/Scripture as completely unnecessary in day to day life, but hey, that was only prophesied in Scripture... People will find every reason not to believe in it, citing similarities to a fairy tale, citing inconsistencies, as well as the possibility of human error in even composing the collective "Bible".

In essence, it *seems* as if there is plenty of ammunition to go around against believers of the Bible, but in reality, it's reverse psychology as I mentioned above.

But that is only what I believe...

Some prophecies of the end of times that coincide with today's world:

"For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows." (Matthew 24:7-8)

Famine exists around the world as well as pestilences such as mad cow disease, salmonella (recently), AIDS, etc... Earthquakes reported in greater and greater magnitudes are definitely in the news here and there. As for wars in recent times, you have the War in Iraq, Russia/Georgia, and talks of U.S. and Iran.

"And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;" (Luke 21:25).

Hurricanes?

There are more, but I'm done with this edit for now. If anything, all these are pretty eerie coincidences. I'm pretty sure most can agree that the world is on an overall decline in the livability factor due to the results of storms, famines, gas prices, wars, food price hikes, all-time highs in unemployment, high medical care, etc., etc., etc....

2 Timothy 3:1 - But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.

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If there was an actual "true" religion, it would be *the* religion. The absolute religion, and no other religion could coexist. It would have knowledge beyond human comprehension, and no other religion could possibly compete with it. It would be self-evident with no reasonable doubt.

You are teh winnar.

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Ahhh. Gotcha :)

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Lol, pretty much. :)

^ There is your answer!

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