Division in the Church

Today when I was researching something on the internet, I came across a website purely by accident. I was very disturbed by what I read here

Apparently this guy, Darwin Fish (reportedly his real name), earnestly believes that he could very well be the only preacher on the planet who is in truth. He admits there could be others, but if so he is unware of their existence.

OK. Wow.

He goes on to say that anyone who doesn't agree 100% with his interpretation of the bible is wrong and that they are false teachers who are going to hell. He even lists them by name!

As a (relatively) new believer, this site really upset me. Its not that I believe Mr. Fish. Obviously, I believe he is wrong. Yet, it did cause me to think about the division that exists in the church. According to some researchers, there are approximately 8,000 different Protestant denominations. I don't know about you, but I think that is a lot. For this reason, many Catholics argue that it proves the error of the doctrine of sola scriptura. While I disagree, I think "The Church" may have been onto something when they discouraged private ownership/reading of the bible. (Ok...not really.)

Honestly though, how have we gotten so divided? I think that I am pretty well read and intelligent. Yet, I have a difficult time discerning the proper interpretation of scripture. Certainly, I don't want to be believe something that is wrong. But, I am sure that my Calvinist friends, with whom I often disagree, feel the same way. How can two people both approach the bible with an open mind, ask God for the guidance of the holy spirit, and each come away with a different understanding of what is being said? I just don't understand. I find the deep divisions within the church today to be very disturbing. I know that this is notwhat God wanted. Yet, he had to know it would end up this way.

What makes it even worse is the fact that the more I study, the greater the divide I find within Protestant theology. On the surface these doctrinal differences might seem slight. But when you think about it, the underlying issues at the core of these differences are very important. For example, the whole Calvinist vs. Arminian vs. Molinism vs. Open Theism vs. Etc... debate is very serious. In Calvinist theology, God's love is very different than it is for the Arminian. Similarly, the question of how God knows what he knows is very different among these different theologies. The open theist believes that God knows everything that can be known, but does not know the free choices of his creatures before they occur. While the Calvinist believes that God knows everything that is going to happen because he has determined it. (To be fair...this a gross oversimplification of Calvinism. There are various splinters within Calvinism as well as to the extent and nature of determinism)

What we are left with is a question that I found posed on a blog earlier this week. "Is Christianity Broken?"

I submit that it isn't broken. It is merely full of broken people who are trying to find the truth. May God lead us to His truth and help us to be more loving towards one another, even when we disagree.