Christians all have the same basic beliefs - there is one God and they all believe in Jesus and his teachings

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

Another point that supports the argument is that Christians all have the same basic beliefs, that there is one God and they all believe in Jesus and his teachings, and they only argue on the way of worshiping him if the different dominations were to come together they would find out they have more things in common than they don’t, as this is a known fact it shows the unity in the different church groups. Part of being and living as a Christian, is loving others and therefore means that the churches should join to should their love for one another.

Strong reasons way Christians should come together are when Jesus prayed to God asking him to keep his followers united it proved that Jesus /God wanted the church to be united and his decision should come first above all arguments that say the differences are too great to overcome. An additional strong reason that the church should unite is that if they were it would mean the message of God would be stronger as no other Christian group could contradict what another group says, this would result in the message being spread and more people would become Christians.

The Ecumenical Movement is the movement towards unity among Christian churches.

The first ecumenical councils of the church were held at Nicaea in 325, the people that attended were representatives from churches throughout the known world. In the 19th century, the term ecumenical came to stand for to the Roman Catholic Churchs’concern for Christian unity and for a rebirth of the church. Until the 20th century, only occasional efforts were made to reunite a Christendom shattered through the centuries by divisions’ particularity the great schism in 1054 when the eastern and western churches split due to a difference of culture. And split again in the Reformation, in the 16th century that was caused by abuses happening within the church and other disputes. Pressure toward unity was aided in the 19th century by the development of such organizations as the Young Men's Christian Association and Young Women's Christian Association, which were people from different denominations joining in support of common causes.

The evangelical concern of modern ecumenism brought about the formation, in 1921, of the International Missionary Council, comprising 17 national mission organizations. It coordinated mission strategy and aided new churches.

The service efforts made by Christians across denominational and national boundaries came to fruition in 1925, in Stockholm, when the Universal Christian Conference on Life and Work was convened to study the application of the gospel to industrial, social, political, and international affairs. This movement proceeded under the slogan “service unites but doctrine divides.”

In 1959, Pope John XXIII planned the calling of second Vatican Council to end ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

In 1959, Pope John XXIII planned the calling of second Vatican Council to end the work of the first Vatican Council of 1870.and Renewal and reunion was high on the plan. Breaking standard, in 1961 he permitted Roman Catholic observers officially to attend the third assembly of the World Council of Churches, which was previously not allowed. Other changes were made some of which I have mentioned in section A-the Roman Catholic Church.

These movements are aiming to unite the churches and so far are doing so successfully.

Although there are reasons to unite there are also other reasons not to, I am now going to evaluate why the churches should not unite.

Sacraments could be a cause of concern when considering a united church as Catholics have seven and most other denominations have only 2 or 3 and Salvationist have none, as they believe they aren’t needed for salvation .all arguments that say the differences are too great to overcome. Some Churches have different practices e.g. Baptist don’t believe infants become a Christians at infant baptism and therefore don’t have the service but replace it with a dedication service which just shows the child has joined the community of the church, to get baptised as a Christian they believe you have to be at the age of understanding. Where Catholics believe infants are Christians when baptised.

Even if the churches came to the decision to unite, they cannot betray their own beliefs to join with other churches whose’ belief may go against everything they believed in as it, wouldn’t be what they would be used to and they might not agree on the beliefs, the ways of practicing and how Jesus teachings are interpreted. For example most churches believe when Jesus broke the bread and drank wine at the last supper, what he meant when he called the bread and wine, his body and blood that it symbolised his body and blood, while Catholics believe that the bread and wine is Jesus’ body and blood. This is called transubstantiation where when the bread and wine only symbolise his blood and body it is called consubstantiation. These two differences of belief would be two immense to overcome and consequently wouldn’t be possible to unite. Also some follow the bible closely and, they make sure they live by the bible alone. However many other churches believe love and forgiveness a re more important so they teach that what ever a Christian does wrong they will be forgiven and that they should be loved by other Christians.

A further reason why it is not possible for all Christian dominations to join together is, because the different groups have been established with their own beliefs and practices for many years, have been successfully living with this split Christian church arrangement and they don’t see why they need to change as it wouldn’t be practical as they believe the different churches have changed so much from the beginning. Some may argue that some that is human to have differences and isn’t bad to be a split church, but it adds to the church as it shows how God made us all different.

I agree with the statement because I think that churches and denominations that believe in one God shouldn’t separate themselves, as they share one thing that is close to all their hearts and that is God, it doesn’t matter how they show their love for God it is fact its there, is all that matters and they should recognise this in other Christian groups and respect their way of praising God and adapt their way of praising so that every Christian church agrees with it. If a group of people who believe in the same thing cannot join together then the world will always be at war. In the bible it says ‘love thy neighbor’ if Christians can’t even follow a commandment given to them by God then is no hope. As all Christians believe they are children of God and they are at war with one another this then means they are at war with their brothers and sister, and therefore God. Which would be going against the one they worshipped which would be wrong. Therefore making it clear that Christians should unite for their own sake.

Encarta’95 Microsoft