o the rest of the world, Christianity often appears to be a fragmented religion with hundreds of sects, each claiming to preach the true message of the Christian faith. The appearance of fragmentation of the church is increased by secondary factors such as language, cultural diversity and political differences. The divisions, however, result from differences over key doctrines that have arisen since the time of Christ. To understand the various church bodies, one must understand their doctrinal positions versus the rest of Christianity. Some differences are so subtle that considerable theological, linguistic and historical study is required to grasp their true significance. These 8 doctrines we are talking about are central to the essence of Christianity. In fact, what the world terms “Christianity” is not one religion, but a group of parallel religions that share much of the same vocabulary, but which have significantly different views of the nature of man and the nature of God. To focus the study on the key issues, we will use eight questions which are asked in the Scriptures. The questions were asked by people from various backgrounds and were asked for various reasons. We will identify who asked the questions and why, and then we will look for the answer that is given in the Scripture. These topics will be refined to clarify the conflicting doctrinal positions as much as possible.
The 8 questions:
“By what authority do you do these things?” - Authority
“Who is the LORD that I should obey him?” - Identity of God
“Can a man be born again when he is old?” - Original sin
“What must I do to be saved?” - Justification
“Shall we go on sinning that grace may increase?” -Sanctification
“Who can bring a charge against God’s elect?” - Predestination
“Is not the bread we break a participation in the body of Christ?” - Holy Communion
“Are you going to at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” - The Last Things