Which Christian denomination is the right one? How can you tell?<\/p>\n\t
Jesus told Peter he would build his church (Matthew 16:18). The word “church” is singular; Jesus built only one church. Unfortunately, even in the early days of the church, men could not leave the perfection created by God alone. They started making changes and those changes become the root of divisions. “Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and\u00a0that there be no divisions among you<\/strong>, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you. Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?<\/em>” (I Corinthians 1:10-13). Isn’t it sad that people now glory in their differences, thinking that they are pleasing God by doing as they please? “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ<\/em>” (Galatians 1:10).<\/p>\n The only true church is the one founded by Jesus Christ. The only way to find it is to learn about its teachings from the book that defines what is the church — the Bible. Man-made creeds and statements of faith are not going to lead you to the true church.<\/p>\n Of course, this means work on your part. You are going to have to become familiar with what the Bible teaches so that you are able to discern whether a particular church is following after the truth or after man. “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil<\/em>” (Hebrews 5:12-14). Using the word of God, you need to put groups to the test to see if they are following God’s teachings. “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world<\/em>” (I John 4:1).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Which Christian denomination is the right one? How can you tell? Answer: Jesus told Peter he would build his church (Matthew 16:18). The word “church” is singular; Jesus built only one church. Unfortunately, even in the early days of the church, men could not leave the perfection created by God alone. They started making…<\/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":[300],"class_list":["post-5946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-denominations"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17228,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/im-looking-for-a-veiling-church-what-denomination-are-you\/","url_meta":{"origin":5946,"position":0},"title":"I’m looking for a “veiling” church. What denomination are you?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 8, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I am a 23-year-old Christian. The Lord has spoken to me about my dress and I have struggled to obey Him but am coming around. I am not a big fan of denominations because I believe it has caused many divisions in the body of Christ.\u00a0 With that\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":10289,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-you-a-jehovahs-witnesses-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":5946,"position":1},"title":"Are you a Jehovah’s Witnesses church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 8, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Would you consider your church to be a Jehovah's Witnesses church? I really enjoy reading the question and answer section of your website. It is very enlightening. Keep up the great work. P.S. I mean no disrespect. I'm just curious. God bless you brother. Answer: The Jehovah's Witnesses are\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":22098,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-must-the-christian-community-continue-to-try-to-prove-one-denomination-better-than-the-other\/","url_meta":{"origin":5946,"position":2},"title":"Why must the Christian community continue to try to prove one denomination better than the other?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 7, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why must the Christian community continue to try to prove one denomination better than the other? This article is simply untrue in many of its claims. I would recommend further study and prayer before continuing to include it on your web site. Answer: Now, why would I want to\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":42577,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/isnt-it-divisive-to-claim-all-denominations-are-wrong\/","url_meta":{"origin":5946,"position":3},"title":"Isn’t it divisive to claim all denominations are wrong?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 17, 2001","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I just read the article about why you left the Nazarene denomination. On the latter point of baptism, I will not comment now, but I think your first listed reason is a rational mistake. You said, \"yet the Nazarene Church exists, as does any denomination, because man disregards the\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":12755,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-there-warnings-about-believing-you-are-the-only-denomination-going-to-heaven\/","url_meta":{"origin":5946,"position":4},"title":"Are there warnings about believing you are the only denomination going to heaven?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 19, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Some church denominations say, \"We are right and all other churches are wrong\" (concerning Bible interpretations). Or they say, \"We are going to Heaven. All other denominations are not.\" Do the Scriptures give any warnings or guidelines about this \"attitude\" held by certain groups? Thank you! Answer: Behind this\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":87294,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-all-denominations-false\/","url_meta":{"origin":5946,"position":5},"title":"Are all denominations false?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 28, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Are all denominations false? Did Jesus ever command anyone to create denominations? To me, it seems that denominations are man-made religions, not something the Lord initiated. I don't believe God leads people to follow a particular denomination or to find their identity in one. Many people proudly call themselves\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\/5946","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=5946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5946\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}