How do you know you are in the right church?
Question:
Hello there,
I am getting on here as I have many questions about God, the church, salvation, and the Bible.
I was baptized into Christ just over a year ago, and while I understand that Jesus built one church and when I was baptized the Lord added me to that church, the state of the religious world and “Christendom” still utterly confuses me.
Part of my confusion will be rooted in emotional issues. I grew up in a Reformed Baptist church, which my mother still attends. The majority of my father's side holds to the Baptist faith. To put it plainly, the majority of my family is in some way affiliated with a denomination. I am aware that part of my problem will be an emotional one, so if you have any advice on how to navigate these emotions and maybe even break the religious barriers I now have with my family, I would greatly appreciate it.
Because of all the religious divisions in the world, I often worry about how you are to know for sure you are in the right church. I have moments when I am sure, but recently my brother accused me of being arrogant when I was suggesting that there is only one church and therefore all the other denominations are wrong. I then start to wonder if that is a claim I can even make. How are we actually meant to know?
Catholics believe what they believe and have their reasons for it. Orthodox believe what they believe and have their reasons for it. The same goes for Protestants, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Mormons. The list goes on. Everybody thinks they’re right, and if I claim that denominationalism is wrong and there is only one church, I am dismissed as arrogant, misunderstood in the scriptures, and naive. And because I am not yet mature in my faith or Bible knowledge, I don't have much of a defence, and the doubts come rushing in instead. I start to believe that maybe I am wrong, and this worries me about my soul because I do not want to be in a church that God hasn’t made and that teaches things God hasn’t prescribed! Please help me with this?
Before I sign off, I need some clarity on one thing. Do these thoughts about the church and the searching I am doing about it affect my soul in any way? Is the most important thing that I have obeyed the gospel according to God’s word? And as long as I honestly pursue the truth, do I have anything to worry about?
If you know of any good books or articles on the church and denominationalism, I would love to hear about them! Otherwise, I look forward to hearing from you!
God bless,
Answer:
A simple answer is that the Bible defines the church. There is only one Bible, so logically there should be only one church. The problem is that people tend not to leave well enough alone. Take a look at "If Christ Built Only One, Where Did They All Come From? How do you know which is the right group? Compare their teachings to the source: the Bible.
That the Bible is our sole source of authority is discussed in "Is the Bible the only source of authority?" A good book on the topic of establishing authority is Mind Your King by Doy Moyer.
A question to ask your brother is: How can all these denominations be right if they teach different things? "Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment" (I Corinthians 1:10).
It is not wrong to ask questions and to check the answers. "Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so" (Acts 17:11). Much of the current problems arose because people didn't question whether the things they were being taught were so.
