denominations get a bad rap

Growing up I went to a reformed church, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church to be precise. You know those five point Calvinists? Yep, that's us. I also attended a Christian school K-12, a school that taught from the reformed faith "as contained in the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Confession of Faith (Philadelphia Baptist Confession)". Being so inundated with the reformed faith both in school and church, it wasn't really until high school that I realized that my church's denomination wasn't the be all end all. In fact, there were many people in my school, definitely amazing Christians, who had very different beliefs on certain areas of the Bible from myself. Needless to say that realization only strengthened as I came to college… where I could only find one OPC church anywhere in the area as opposed to the slew of OPC churches back in Philly.

All this to say that I think many of us have reached a point in our lives when we realized that our home church's denomination wasn't the only one. And as we realized this, many of us have asked ourselves: What's the purpose of denominations? Are they Biblical? Well, guess what? I'm not going to give a concrete answer on that. I couldn't say yes or no with one hundred percent certainty. Instead I want to talk about the good I believe can come from denominations.

Before I do, however, I would like to say that it wasn't until I came to college that I started hearing people, whether it be my peers or older wiser people who study theology and the like, voicing their complaints with the idea of denominations. Every time it has boiled down to segregation of the church, turning Christians against Christians, and the like. To be honest, I don't disagree with them. The Christian body should be a whole, running the Race together, not apart. But I have also found that when such people do complain about denominations, they are intending their complaint to be against the idea of denominations as a whole, while in fact they are attacking specific instances and downfalls in denominations. I don't believe that denominations as a whole are innately bad.

So let's look at the theology side of things. Theology is a very deep subject, I believe infinitely deep, just as our Creator is. It is something we ought to be students of for our whole lives, "But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night" Psalm 1:2, "But be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect" Romans 12:2. We all ought to be theologians to some degree. But with so many people and with a book as deep and profound as the Bible, there is bound to be many different interpretations of the Bible. Well, what happens when all of these interpretations of the Bible come together? Hmm, good question. Let me give a small example. Consider myself, an aforementioned five pointer, and a Pentecostal. Though I'm not sure it sincerely happens today, I do not believe that people should speak in tongues in church without an interpreter. I believe it goes against what the Bible preaches. On the other hand, speaking in tongues is part of the Pentecostal church, even without an interpreter, and many believe that is ok and should be done. Now, let's be honest with ourselves, most of us would rather not partake in things that we personally believe are not Biblical. Using some hyperbole, I would walk right out of a church if I found out they supported throwing babies into fire. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Pentecostals aren't Christian, I don't think they are inferior Christians in anyway. Some of my best friends and best Christians I saw in high school were Pentecostal. On a day-by-day basis people in my school from all sorts of denominations got on perfectly well, pushing each other in the faith, strengthening each other. But, in matters of church structure is where I have found individual beliefs to butt heads. I would find it hard for a church to function well if all of its members had greatly varying beliefs causing arguments over everything. And denominations allow us to have unified churches whose goals are focused on God, not on quelling factions within the church.

Now let's look at an easier side of things: worship. I don't think there is anything wrong with praise team music, gospel music, hymns, or just about any form of praise. I don't think there is anything innately wrong with any of them. I think they are all great forms of worship. But let's consider an American sports enthusiast and a New Zealander sports enthusiast - I know, wild metaphor, but I think it will work. When the American goes to a sports bar he wants to watch baseball, football, hockey, maybe basketball. That's what he KNOWS and loves. When the New Zealander goes to a sports bar he wants to watch cricket. That's what he KNOWS and loves. Now let's have the two swap countries and put them in sports bars. What's the first thing both of them will ask? "Uh, can you change the channel?" You see, the American doesn't deny cricket being a legitimate sport, nor does the New Zealander deny baseball and the rest as being sports, but neither enjoys the sports of the country anywhere near as much as the native does. It's not so different in church worship. I know many people who would rather curl up and die a slow death than sing relatively slow, beatless hymns. Myself? I thrive off of them, I can worship God most effectively with my whole heart when I sing hymns. Others worship God at their best when they sing praise music. Others when they sing gospel music. And so on. And most people wouldn't discount the validity of other types of worship as being sweet music to God's ears. But when we praise God, don't we want to give him our best? Don't we want to give him our all when we sing? We all know it can be hard to do that when we're singing songs we're not familiar with, didn't grow up with. Bottom line, certain music evokes sincere praise in our hearts, other types don't. So, what better way to deal with this than to attend a church that plays the music we are accustomed to? Again, denominations allow us to do this - yes, I do realize that there is certainly a greater variety of worship within denominations than differences in theology within denominations, but the main idea still stands.

All this being said, I realize that the reasons used to form denominations can spread out of the church and cause great schisms between Christians - it's a fine line. Do I know the answers? No. Can the use of denominations cause great divisions amongst the universal church? Yes. Can the use of denominations further enhance our walk with God? Yes. Hopefully what I wrote makes sense, there are definitely other things I could've written but for the sake of clarity and the current time I decided best not to. What are your thoughts?

panera girl

As some people already know I've got a huge crush on a girl that works at the Panera in Oakland. So much so that I've labeled her as my 'dream girl'. I know nothing about her. Not even her name. I only know what she looks like. It's not like she's some uber babe that could be on a Victoria's Secret fashion show, not that she isn't attractive (she is) but because she's really short. But my mind has a mind of its own, and whenever I see a moderately attractive girl my mind subconsciously comes up with a whole list of presuppositions about her entire life, personality, and beliefs in an instant all on its own and after about half a second from looking at a girl I have an idea, though most definitely entirely wrong, about whether or not she would be a good girlfriend for me. Nineteen times out of twenty it's a downright no, with the occasional yes on the twentieth. Well, panera girl made it well beyond just a 'yes, she might be a good girlfriend for me'. It just so happened that the character my mind seemingly randomly drew up for this panera girl fits exactly with everything I want in a girl, and hence my dream girl. Will I ever talk to her? Find out anything about her? Probably not, though I certainly want to - I mean it's once in a blue moon that my mind creates the 'perfect' girlfriend. So I want to know, is this just me or do other people (guys and girls) subconsciously do the same thing whether they want to or not?