Page 120 - Apologetics Student Textbook

relationship with the Lord, where you can join in biblical ministries that are spreading the Gospel and
glorifying God. Church is important, and all believers need to belong to a body that fits the above
criteria. We need relationships that can only be found in the body of believers, we need the support that
only the church can offer, and we need to serve God in community as well as individually. Pick a church
based on its relationship to Christ and how well it is serving the community. Pick a church where the
pastor is preaching the Gospel without fear and is encouraged to do so. As believers, there are certain
basic doctrines that we must believe, but beyond that there is latitude on how we can serve and
worship; it is this latitude that is the only good reason for denominations. This is diversity and not
disunity. The first allows us to be individuals in Christ; the latter divides and destroys.

For more information about denominations, watch these clips:
Church Denominations Explained https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjNjJxy_-aY
Why are there different denominations? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdH2B_1GtIo

Why are there so many denominations?

I see people to claim to be a Christian but live no better than I do. How valid is their claims?
Aren’t most Christians a bunch of hypocrites?
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In essence, “hypocrisy” refers to the act of claiming to believe something
but acting in a different manner. The word is derived from the Greek term
for “actor”—literally, “one who wears a mask”—in other words, someone
who pretends to be what he is not.

The Bible calls hypocrisy a sin. There are two forms hypocrisy can take:
that of professing belief in something and then acting in a manner contrary to that belief, and that of

72 https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-hypocrisy.html (used with permission)

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