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Up
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"Does God's Word Produce Denominational Christians?"

Paul Smithson

Someone who has never studied the Bible and wants to know what to do to become a Christian will be confused if they go to several denominations to find the answer. Among the many denominations are different doctrines that teach different things concerning salvation. How can we know what the truth is?

One basic principle will help us-- seed produces after its kind. This is an unchangeable law of God set in place from the beginning (Gen. 1:11-12). For example, a carrot seed produces a carrot, a watermelon seed a watermelon, etc. Jesus taught that the seed which produces a Christian is the word of God (Lk. 8:11). When the apostle Paul taught a person the word of God and that individual believed and obeyed that word, it produced a Christian. The same was true with Peter or Philip. When they taught a person the word of God they became a Christian. The word of God always produces a Christian, and only a Christian.

When you ask folks what they are religiously, most respond with a denominational name. But how did that person become a member of a denomination and come to wear a denominational name if the word of God produces simply Christians?

Nowhere in the New Testament does one find where the word of God produced a member of some denomination. When Peter proclaimed the gospel for the first time on Pentecost and people received it by believing and obeying, they simply became Christians and the Lord added them to His church (Acts 2:41, 47). What denomination is described in Acts 2? Of course, there is not one. In fact, you neither find denominations, nor disciples calling themselves by denominational names, mentioned anywhere in the Scriptures. You see, it takes something else besides the word of God to produce a denominational-Christian. That something else is the particular creed published and honored by each denomination.

So, how can one become just a Christian and only a Christian like those in the first century and simply be a part of Christ's church? The answer is to discard all of the creeds of men which contain the doctrines peculiar to each denomination. If denominational creeds have more than the Bible, they have too much. If they have less than the Bible, they don't have enough. If they are the same as the Bible, why do you even need them? We must go back to the seed, the word of God. When we believe and obey the same thing that the apostles of Christ taught, then we will be Christians and only Christians and Christ will add us to His church. We are warned against doing anything else (Gal. 1:6-9).

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