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The "coreness" of your stated doctrines should really be divided into two groups:
Group 1 (Requires Explanation - See Below)
Doctrine of the Trinity
Deity of Jesus
Group 2 (A Lot! see Methodists in particular)
Predestination
Millenialism
Dispensationalism
The doctrines in Group 2 are actually rather narrow in scope and are rarely considered ...
13
The Church is presented as the Body of Christ (an organism, not an organization [e.g., 1 Cor. 12:12+]) and as the household of faith (a family, not a club [e.g., Gal. 6:10]--also sons of God, brothers and sisters). As the Body of Christ there is an implication of a different kind of life (this may address a spiritual nature), an implication of diversity (...
13
The appropriate Canon law says:
Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays [...] (emphasis mine).
In other words, the rules say that the Archbishop has the authority to decide what can be eaten on Fridays in his diocese (he doesn't have to declare alligator to be 'seafood' - ...
12
The way the question is phrased means we must look at two historical developments:
How preaching evolved in the early church, from Jesus through the pioneer stage of Acts to the early church fathers.
How preaching evolved in the protestant church, from Luther into what we have today.
Also, one must note the context of the preaching: Small group, large ...
12
Mary is the Queen of Universe because Christ is the King of Universe.
To understand her Queenship, one must understand how who the Queen of the Davidic Kingdom in the Old Testament Jewish monarchy was. It was the Queen Mother. The Kings had many wives, none of whom could be called Queen. That honor was reserved for the mother of the King. We see this in the ...
answered Jul 15 '14 at 19:16
Jayarathina Madharasan
8,5371 gold badge29 silver badges56 bronze badges
11
There seem to be two tacks to take here. You could be looking for…
a church that specifically does not believe in these doctrines at all, or…
a church that is welcoming enough to include you in their community without prerequisite of doctrinal unity.
Let's take the easy one first.
Of the doctrinal points you list as believing they are flawed, several ...
10
Dr. Donald McGavran's definition of a homogeneous unit is "a section of society in which all members have some characteristic in common."
In plainer terms, a homogeneous unit is a group of people that have ethnic, linguistic, social, educational, or vocational similarities.
In terms of a church congregation, ethnic, social, and educational commonalities ...
10
A non-denominational church is exactly what it sounds like. It is a Church that doesn't adhere to any earthly authority other than maybe the local Pastor at that Church. It doesn't recognize any denominational authority, just that of God and His Word.
I'd like to also address this portion of your question as well:
I was under the impression that since ...
9
The Wikipedia page about the church explains:
The use of the title "Mary, Queen of the Universe" is drawn from section 59 of Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church issued in 1964 by the Second Vatican Council, which stated: "Finally, the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all guilt of original sin, on the completion of her earthly ...
9
According to terminology promolgated by Mark Driscoll and Ed Stetzer, Rob Bell has been identified as part of the Revisionist stream of the Emerging Church movement:
Revisionists are theologically liberal, and openly question whether evangelical doctrine is appropriate for the postmodern world. They look to leaders such as Brian McLaren, Rob Bell and Doug ...
8
TL;DR Yes. Everyone is welcome. (Matthew 28:16-20)
The apostles were instructed to teach all nations in the Great Commission. There are many other verses that reiterate that everyone is welcome and I could be here all day going through all of them. One of my favorites on the subject is Paul's statement that he became all things to all men so that he might ...
8
Baptismal certificates are still used by Churches for whom Trinitarian baptism is important. This is so that they can be certain that someone has been validly baptised. The Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox Churches recognise each other’s baptisms and those of many other denominations as a valid, once-for-all and transferable sacrament. But it can only be ...
8
By way of answer, I refer you to this article on the history of Christian meetings. I'll summarize some sections.
In the first century, Christians generally met in homes, especially the homes of more prominent members.
The Acts of the Apostles portrays the first Christian community in Jerusalem as gathering in the temple colonnades and “breaking bread in ...
7
Do any Christian denominations have any policies to prevent nepotism?
Short answer: Yes
The modern Catholic Church does, as of June 22, 1692.
Pope Innocent XII. Innocent XII gave nepotism a death blow by his
celebrated Bull "Romanum decet Pontificem," 22 June 1692.
However, it does not appear to have actually ended the practice.
Romanum decet ...
7
Authentic faith should never demand a sacrifice of the intellect!
From Fr. Robert Barron, Catholic priest.
One of the signs that you're not dealing with authentic faith is that
you've had to sacrifice your mind.
However, it's important to acknowledge the bounds of one's own intellect, giving due respect to religious traditions that have been fed with ...
7
Many years ago, before governments were in the habit of providing live birth documentation and proof of identity, a baptismal certificate was valid proof of citizenship. Because people didn't move around, churches took upon themselves the responsibility to know the souls in their area, and kept register of the same. For the previous generation, where not ...
7
What is the Biblical basis for the formal 'membership' requirements that some Baptist churches have?
In 1 Corinthians 5:12-13 Paul says
12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? 13 God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”
Church membership is how we know who is and isn't a believer. The church, as a whole, is charged with the task of declaring who is and isn't a ...
7
I attended meetings of the Vineyard for a period of a year and the members there exercised the gifts of the Spirit, with multiple people, one at a time, giving revelation and prophesying, tongues and interpretations. Then they bunched together and prayed for healings for the afflicted.
I attended a Brethren-inspired gathering for about 8 years. There, they ...
6
A church is a comunity. Where people with the same beliefs come together. God gave the church to unite Christians. Being Christian is not something you do in a Church. You are Christian everywhere. At school, at work, at home, and you come together with other Christians in church.
A social organisation, sports club or whatever, is something where you come, ...
6
Quakers and Mormons have no paid staff in their local assemblies. In the national bodies, however, there is usually some renumeration or support, in order to retain staff. The truth is that very few would consider it wise to have a national organization without any accountability, which is what an all-volunteer lobby would be.
Additionally, many more ...
6
There might be some confusion here, because killing animals in the church would probably not be done by most Christians.
If, however, you mean "why to Christians kill and eat animals, in general?" then I can answer that.
Christianity inherited its beliefs about food and animals from Judaism. Animals are perceived differently to Christians. They are not ...
6
Consecration establishes a valid place of Catholic divine worship as confirmed by the local ordinary (Bishop)
Can. 1214 By the term church is understood a sacred building
designated for divine worship to which the faithful have the right of
entry for the exercise, especially the public exercise, of divine
worship.
Can. 1215 §1. No church is ...
6
The short answer is Yes.
Some French speaking communities often employ the Ainsi soit-il ending at the end of some of their prayers. Although the use of Amen is by far the norm, many people who speak French still use this alternative ending to their prayers.
For those who wanted prayers: here's the "Hail Mary.
Je vous salue, Marie, pleine de grâce. ...
5
First and foremost I want to say that I think it's pretty much just an old cliche and I've heard it mostly used when people are talking while the preacher is preaching. I think the idea behind the cliche is generally saying that we aren't here to socialize we are here to worship.
However, let's see if we can take that cliche a little deeper and let's start ...
5
There is a fallacy in your argument. You said:
The Bible and Jesus clearly speak of giving money to the church and in turn fellow Christians should give up all they have and look out for one another.
You are conflating two bits of Scripture.
Jesus told the Rich Young Ruler (here from Mark)
21 Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him,...
5
The answer depends on how you define "saint." If you use a protestant definition of the term, then any church named after a Christian (living or dead) is a church named after a saint. And there are many examples of this. A few I found quickly by google:
Moody Church in Chicago, Illinois, named after D. L. Moody.
Martin Luther Lutheran Church in Milwaukee, ...
5
As it happens, my local church is named after a saint who wasn't written up by name in the Bible. He was the founder of our church and his name was Emmanuel Peterson. (No prizes for correctly guessing whether the church uses his first or last name.)
I also found a non-denominational Protestant church called San Diego First Assembly. (That's probably ...
5
There are tons of ways to answer this question. Here are a few reasons:
First, we're told we should:
Hebrews 10:23-25:
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he
who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one
another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is
the habit of some, but ...
5
Willow Creek has held an egalitarian stance about women in leadership since their inception. Yesterday Lynne Hybels reposted the chapter in the book mentioned above on her blog. The link is below. I attended Willow for two years in the 1990s and benefitted greatly from the women on the teaching team and the stellar leadership of the mixed-gender elder board. ...
5
The solemn ceremony of dedication, or consecration of a church is found in the Roman Pontifical and is performed de jure by a bishop. The simpler rite, which is given in the Roman Ritual, is generally reserved to bishops, but may be also undertaken by a priest with episcopal delegation. I know of cases where a priest have re-consecrated a Catholic Church ...
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