I’m currently a member of the old-order Mennonite Church. I have come to the conclusion recently, upon studying the Bible, that Jesus has asked everyone to be of one mind and there be no divisions at numerous places in his word. I want to leave this group, but they say leaving a church that you were born into and baptized in is a sin against God. How is possible if they are in direct opposition to the ever-true and faithful word of God?<\/p>\n\t
An interesting point coming from a group that started as a break-away from Roman Catholicism. By this “rule” people should never have left the Roman Catholic Church because they were born and baptized into that faith.<\/p>\n
But the truth is that they would see that as different because they believe Roman Catholicism is wrong — but that is the point. You realize that the Mennonite Church is not teaching the full truth, so you are looking to find a church whose teachings are closer to the Bible’s. Staying in a church that is not teaching God’s will would be a sin.<\/p>\n
“Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Therefore “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the LORD Almighty.” Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God<\/em>” (II Corinthians 6:14-7:1).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
While this passage is talking about separating yourself from unbelievers, it does show the principle that God does not expect people to say among those in the wrong.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: I’m currently a member of the old-order Mennonite Church. I have come to the conclusion recently, upon studying the Bible, that Jesus has asked everyone to be of one mind and there be no divisions at numerous places in his word. I want to leave this group, but they say leaving a church that…<\/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,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[390,1277],"class_list":["post-52168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-conversion","tag-denominationalism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":32280,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-did-you-get-your-facts-what-you-say-about-roman-catholic-beliefs-doesnt-match-what-i-was-taught\/","url_meta":{"origin":52168,"position":0},"title":"Where did you get your facts? What you say about Roman Catholic beliefs doesn’t match what I was taught.","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 25, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, As a fresh convert to Catholicism, I have some questions regarding the information on your site. What I learned directly from my parish priest contradicts several things you state in \"What is wrong with Catholicism?\", particularly at the end of your article. I want to say right now\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":1828,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-jesus-start-catholicism\/","url_meta":{"origin":52168,"position":1},"title":"Why did Jesus start Catholicism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 25, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why did Jesus start Catholicism? Answer: The simple answer is that Jesus did not start Catholicism. Catholicism is a system of religion that gradually developed from the church started by Jesus, but Catholicism has long ago stopped resembling the original church. Jesus stated, \"And I also say to you\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":16706,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/but-you-did-nothing-to-refute-catholic-claims\/","url_meta":{"origin":52168,"position":2},"title":"But you did nothing to refute Catholic claims","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read your response to \"Why did Catholicism start and when did it happen?\" But you did nothing to refute Catholic claims. You just repeated them. The question also makes no sense. \"Why did Catholicism start?\" - because it is the teaching of the apostles. \"When did it happen?\"\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":87366,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-i-left-the-catholic-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":52168,"position":3},"title":"Why I Left the Catholic Church","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 31, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Weaks Twenty-One Years a Catholic I grew up a member of the Roman Catholic Church. Most of my mother's side of the family had been Catholic for generations. However, in February of 1985, I found I was no longer content to be part of the Catholic Church just\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":93568,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-days-as-a-roman-catholic\/","url_meta":{"origin":52168,"position":4},"title":"My Days as a Roman Catholic","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 28, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Weaks I was a Roman Catholic for the first twenty-one years of my life, and during those years, I was truly ignorant about God. That is my answer when people ask what it was like to be a Catholic. My spiritual training came from a catechism book, not\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":19904,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-you-saying-that-roman-catholicism-is-not-legitimate\/","url_meta":{"origin":52168,"position":5},"title":"Are you saying that Roman Catholicism is not legitimate?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 18, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In one of\u00a0your articles,\u00a0you state:\u00a0\"But I would like you to note that the core of the argument is that the doctrines of the Bible could be modified to suit local customs --\u00a0a long-standing Roman Catholic practice.\" My entire family is Roman Catholic and I was raised in the Catholic\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52168","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=52168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52168\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}