\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOrigins of Denominations\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Download Audio Text: Acts 20:17-36 I. How do you prove that your brand of Christianity is real? A. For some, the argument is based on who was around the longest. 1. A religion that just recently started is declared to be suspect. If the church has been around for 2,000 years, then where…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,32],"tags":[656,170,1643,78,726,924,447,1599],"class_list":["post-30355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-sermon","tag-anglican-church","tag-apostles","tag-apostolic-succession","tag-authority","tag-church-history","tag-lutherans","tag-orthodox-church","tag-roman-catholic-church"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":30327,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/origins-of-denominations\/","url_meta":{"origin":30355,"position":0},"title":"Origins of Denominations","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 12, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Over the years, I've done lessons that look at various issues that caused the rise of the various denominations that we see today. Rather than leaving them scattered, I'm gathering them up on a single page so that they will be more easily found. Where Did\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59745,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/sola-scriptura-or-sola-papa\/","url_meta":{"origin":30355,"position":1},"title":"Sola Scriptura or Sola Papa?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 7, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Chuck Durham via\u00a0Biblical Insights, Vol. 7, No. 9, Sept. 2007. Pope Benedict XVI released a Vatican document on July 10, 2007, that reasserted the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church as providing the only true path to salvation. The document claims that the Roman Catholic Church is the only\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28411,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-did-the-presbyterians-and-the-episcopals-come-by-their-names\/","url_meta":{"origin":30355,"position":2},"title":"How did the Presbyterians and the Episcopals come by their names?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 9, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Recently we studied the qualifications of elders and I mentioned the Greek words, Presbuterous (elder, presbyter) and Episkopos (bishop, overseer), and one of the members here asked if this is how the Presbyterian and Episcopal churches came up with their names for identifying their churches. I did some research\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55017,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/apostolic-succession-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":30355,"position":3},"title":"Apostolic Succession (Dockens)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 7, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bryan Matthew Dockens A number of religions practice so-called apostolic succession. Roman Catholics believe the man they call \"Pope\" is the successor of the apostle Peter. Mormons claim twelve to fifteen apostles at all times. Many Pentecostal congregations identify their preachers as apostles. Such claims are totally inconsistent with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35516,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-the-church-exist-without-a-succession-of-apostles\/","url_meta":{"origin":30355,"position":4},"title":"How can the church exist without a succession of apostles?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 26, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I happened upon your website today and you mention a few things I've been wondering about. I've studied Catholicism quite a bit, and am continually searching for Truth, and you seem to be headed there as well. Of course, Jesus is Truth, but how well has that Truth been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61823,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/finding-an-unbroken-line-of-churches\/","url_meta":{"origin":30355,"position":5},"title":"Finding an Unbroken Line of Churches","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 10, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer We sometimes hear talk about finding the original church. In the search for the original church, we may then make the mistake of thinking that we can find a line of churches that go all the way back to the 1st century to prove which one is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30355\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}