Why do some denominations make the claim that "their denomination" is the one true church?

Question

The universal church is the church that consists of all those who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:13 says, "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many." We see that anyone who believes is part of the body of Christ. The true church of God is not any particular church building or denomination. The universal church of God is all those who have received salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.

Answer 1

I believe that, when this claim is made, the sect/group can no longer be considered a "denomination" but rather, another religion....

This claim of exclusivity should send people running the other way!  Or, at the very least, lead them to a very intense Biblical scrutiny of their teachings, history and practices so as not to be misled by the many false prophets and teachers that the Bible warns about!

Some favorite quotes from different sources:

"Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it."

“Any organization that claims to be the way of salvation should be willing to submit to scrutiny and criticism.” (Awake 8/22/84, p. 28)

"Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." Acts 17:11

Did you catch that? The Bereans were NOBLE for questioning an APOSTLE, to see if anything he said wasn't accurate according to GOD's WORD!!!

So if is noble to question an Apostle, it is ALSO noble to question the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses, pope, or any other religious leader. And any religious leader telling you otherwise should be a strong warning to run the other way! Do NOT be misled!

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These words are not mine, but I hope you'll find them helpful! :)

All religions have one thing in common: they encourage their members to work as hard as they can to gain everlasting life, the celestial kingdom, nirvana, or whatever else they want to call it.

Biblical Christianity, however, is different. Instead of earning our goal as a reward, it is offered to us freely as a gift through Jesus Christ as the perfect sacrifice, whose offering of Himself was complete to earn our way to everlasting life with God the Father.

As Jesus Christ was dying, he said “It is finished” because from that point on, all anyone had to do was to trust His sacrifice to cover their sins. Everyone needs this sacrifice because the Bible tells us in Romans 3:23 that we are all sinners.

We are in such bad condition that when we try to earn favor with God through our good works, Isaiah 64:6 tells us that our righteous deeds are like filthy rags to God. In Mark 10:27 Jesus is answering His disciples’ question, “who then can be saved?” He said, “with man, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.”

God realizes that man cannot possibly save himself through door-to-door preaching or ordinances of a church. That’s why God did not send an organization or a church to offer us peace with God, but He sent His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus says in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but through me.”

Answer 2

When you get down to it, virtually everyone thinks that their beliefs are the most correct.  If they didn't, they probably wouldn't believe the way they do.  

Answer 3

I couldn't tell you why.  The real problem with it is how many of their followers are deceived into thinking church membership is saving them.

Answer 4

I don't alway know other's motives for what they do, but it looks like pride or insecurity to me.

There are verses in the Bible that sometimes can be argued as meaning different things. We do not always have a perfect understanding of things and therefore different churches appeal to people's different understandings.

I just think we need to concentrate on what we share which is a love and respect for our Savior Jesus Christ. We need to be kind and respectful to each other and not let satan put big barriers between us.

We need to let God be the real Judge and stop being mean to each other.

Answer 5

Out of all denominations, there are those having a pure heart toward God : The elect, that is walking in Truth and Faith. I plea with the body of Christ to walk in newness of Spirit, and not the traditions and doctrines of man.

    Those that have an ear to hear :  Let them hear what

    the Spirit is saying to the church ...

    From the fall of Eden, Satan has been using deceit to

    destroy the TRUTH of God.  Every denomination has

    their own separation from Truth.  Some more than

    others, but all are polluted with " doctrines " of

    MAN.

    The FIRST denomination :  The denomination of the Serpent !

    Eve believed the lie of Satan, which perverted the

    Truth.

    Genesis  2:16,17  And  the Lord God commanded the man,

    saying,  Of every tree of the garden thou mayest

    freely eat :  But of the tree of the knowledge of good

    and evil, thou shalt not eat of it :  For in the day

    that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

    Genesis  3:1-6  Now the Serpent  was more subtle than

    any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.

    And he said unto the woman,  Yea, hath God said, Ye

    shall not eat of every tree of the garden ???  And the

    woman said unto the serpent,  We may eat of the fruit

    of the trees of the garden :   But of the fruit of the

    tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath

    said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch

    it, lest ye die.

    Note :  Eve added to the Word when she said :  "

    neither shall ye touch ".

    And the serpent said unto the woman,  Ye shall not

    surely die :  for God doth know that in the day ye eat

    thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall

    be as gods, knowing good and evil.

    Note :  Satan perverted Gods Truth, using enticement,

    an enticement to be as a god.

    And when the woman saw that the tree was good for

    food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree

    to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit

    thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband

    with her ; and he did eat.

    Thus, the first denomination of the Serpent.  Using

    the Word of God and perverting it.  Eve believed the

    perverting.  And since then, people have been

    listening to "other voices" other than the voice of

    the Spirit of God.

    Some are saying :  This is the way; some are saying ,

    No, this is the way.

    Jesus said :  I AM the Way , the Truth, and the Life ;

    No man cometh to the Father except through Me !

    Well, Satan wasn't through with perverting the Truth.  After the disciples received Power from

    on high, the Comforter, The Spirit of Truth, Satan began an attack to those weak in the flesh,

    and enticed them with another way of looking at things ( hath God said ). The result was heretics

    which changed the Truth into a lie, breaking away from The Way, establishing their own way, thus

    creating another denomination. And we see this throughout the history of Christianity.

    1 st.  Corinthians  1 : 10 - 13  Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus, that

    ye speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you ;  but that ye be perfectly

    joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.  For it hath been declared unto me

    that there are contentions among you.  Now this I say, that every one of you saith ;  I am of

    Paul ;  and I of Apollos :  and I of Cephas ;  and I of Christ.  Is Christ divided :  Was Paul

    crucified for you ?  Or were ye baptized in the name of Paul ?  

    Even the disciples were having problems with people trying to promote : " I belong to THIS church,

    This way of teaching, This way of believing ".  Hath God said ?

    Now I could go into the history of ALL denominations, when they came forth, and from what doctrinal

    " tree " they came from, but if I did, this would be too long of a post to hold your attention, so,

    I will leave that up to you, but encourage you to dig deep, and find where your " Hath God said "

    came from.

    Revelations  18 : 1 - 4  And after these things I saw another angel come down from

    heaven, having great power ; and the earth was lightened with his glory.  And he

    cried mightily with a strong voice, saying,  Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen,

    and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a

    cage of every unclean and hateful bird.  For all nations have drunk of the wine of

    the wrath of her FORNICATION, and the kings of the earth have committed FORNICATION

    with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her

    delicacies.  AND I HEARD ANOTHER VOICE FROM HEAVEN, SAYING,  Come out of her MY

    PEOPLE, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

Answer 6

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Answer 7

I have always wondered the exact same thing growing up in a Bible belt and watching Churches argue! I don't get it? As long as our generation isn't as blind eh? We can start making the world a better place! God Bless.

Answer 8

Brainwashing.  There have been countless religions since the beginning of time.  People conveniently think their religion is the one and only.

Answer 9

Deeds before creeds

...besides, you don't think there's any out there that are saying, "we're not the true faith; the people down the street are," do you?

It's petty legalism...the "letter of the law" (at least their interpretation of it) is more important to them than the "spirit of the law"....even Jesus complained about it, so it's been common for more than 2000 years (at least)...

Answer 10

And just who are all those?  Pay close attention to where it says "weather Jews or Greeks, weather slaves or free". Also to....all made to drink of one Spirit. And when you add...."we see that",..... who are the we? I take it you mean Christians only. Pride comes in many forms and forms in the mind.  

Answer 11

These "my way or the highway" types are just plain arrogant.  They do not allow any questioning of their beliefs - they don't even question them themselves.  

Answer 12

I totally agree with you on that one, Jesus established the Church, and humans created different denominations. We are so -----in sync, Hallelujah!

Answer 13

They are no better then than Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses and they way Roman Catholic church used to be

Answer 14

You ask a very wonderful question.  I would really like to know the answer.  It is the body of Christ that is the True Church and that which leads us.  Not some denominational trademark or organizational structure or just some organization claiming to be the channel of God.  Is it Satan that confuses those that believe in such a way?  Or is it just the personal pride of some person?  Or is it the money.  What ever reason, it's roots must be with that one that comes to confuse us.  My Pastor, my mentor, my mediator, my comforter and my rock, Jesus my one and only savior.  That is my church!!  

Answer 15

No, not pride.

Just information.

Just think of it more like this:  A great treasure always has a map to go with it.  The X always marks the spot.

Some people have the map that's torn.

You wouldn't find the treasure with a false map now, would you?

Answer 16

its all  about money churches are the biggest criminal organizations in the world they recruit like gang members and try to condemn you when you dont join  

Answer 17

now you understand why Jesus said the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. You're absolutely right. That is one of the things that make unbeliever's so leary of our religion.

Pray for them all.

Answer 18

Fundamentalist churches often do that.  I went to a Baptist church that was actually kicked out of the Baptist church for speaking in tongs.  And they thought only people at their little church were going to heaven.  How arrogant, and sad.

I do enjoy going to a Lutheran church for the Bible study.  But I'm secretly agnostic.    

Answer 19

You make a good point - Christians know that Jesus is the head of the church and that the church is made up of people. It is not a building, neither is it an organisation.

I used to belong to a religious denomination that insists it is the one and only true church, and that if you do not belong it it, you cannot be saved. However, I do not think it is simple pride that causes them to claim their authority. It is much more serious than that. The leaders of such denominations wish to control their members, and keep them totally dependent upon the organisation. They preach a false gospel and, based upon my personal experience, they are false prophets.

The Bible tells us to examine our beliefs and to engage our intellects because each and every one of us will be held accountable for our thoughts and our actions on the final day of judgement. That is why it is so important to come under the authority of the resurrected Christ Jesus and to allow the Holy Spirit to do its work of regeneration within us. Only God knows who are his. We are not in a position to judge others. However we are commanded to share the good news of God's Kingdom and to preach the gospel message - but it is the work of the Holy Spirit to bring people to Christ.  

Answer 20

nope its not pride its a tactic for the bible is interpretive and vague so they are preaching their interpretation and if they didn't claim theirs was the one true way how could they preach the things they preach  

Answer 21

Plenty do seem to think their way is the only way.  Thank God the bible isn't just in the hands of a few clergy but now available for us all to read and learn how we are to work out our own salvation.  Christ is our leader and teaching us by means of the Holy spirit..

Answer 22

Information, and actual history, along with apostolic succession unlike your church.