Which Denomination Gets It Right?

I was asked  about which major denomination* (Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant) gets it right (in my opinion). I want to share my answers in a post. My first answer:

The persons or churches that devote themselves to love and good works by encouraging one another to walk in the Holy Spirit, subdue the flesh, and seek first the kingdom of God.

My second answer:

I think the practice of the Orthodox, especially in the matter or icon veneration and overconfidence in their traditions, is a deal breaker. On their preservation of apostolic theology, though, I have learned a lot from them. The Roman Catholics have destroyed the faith of the apostles by ridiculous papal decrees and centuries of irreligious behavior by their pope and clergy. The Protestant Reformation was insufficient to restore the faith once for all delivered to the saints from the Catholics because sola Scriptura is neither scriptural nor practical.

No church so large as Protestant, Roman Catholic, or Orthodox has recovered from the introduction of the public–sons of Belial who walk by the spirit that works in the sons of disobedience–into the church and its affairs. Paul gives a long warning about this in 2 Cor. 6 and a short one in 1 Cor. 5.

Individual churches can and are rescuing themselves from the influence of proud & wicked men, but as long as education is honored above righteousness, it seems to me we are fighting a hopeless battle. As long as only the few are doing the exhorting (the super important parakaleo-ing, cf. 1 Thess. 5:12-14; Heb. 3:13; 10:24-25), the church is crippled.”

*Note: By definition, “Orthodox” and “Catholic” and “Protestant” are “denominations” because there name differentiates them from other Christian organizations. I was neither trying to make a religious nor polemic point by using the term.

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About Paul Pavao

I am married, the father of six, and currently the grandfather of five. I teach, and I am always trying to learn to disciple others better than I have before. I believe God has gifted me to restore proper theological foundations to the Christian faith. In order to ensure that I do not become a heretic, I read the early church fathers from the second and third centuries. They were around when all the churches founded by the apostles were in unity. My philosophy for Bible reading is to understand each verse for exactly what it says in its local context. Only after accepting the verse for what it says do I compare it with other verses to develop my theology. If other verses seem to contradict a verse I just read, I will wait to say anything about those verses until I have an explanation that allows me to accept all the verses for what they say. This takes time, sometimes years, but eventually I have always been able to find something that does not require explaining verses away. The early church fathers have helped a lot with this. I argue and discuss these foundational doctrines with others to make sure my teaching really lines up with Scripture. I am encouraged by the fact that the several missionaries and pastors that I know well and admire as holy men love the things I teach. I hope you will be encouraged too. I am indeed tearing up old foundations created by tradition in order to re-establish the foundations found in Scripture and lived on by the churches during their 300 years of unity.
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