Why are Denominations a thing?

The truth about denominations: 

    Denominations were not originally meant to be apart of the church, but they happen to appear due to disagreements, politics, and human error. The vision was that the church was meant to be united as one because Christ and the Father are one. In John 17:20-21 Jesus prays, “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me." This does not mean that the prayer failed because the church is still united in some ways. It just means that the schisms come from the fallen nature of man. Let's look over the most impactful schisms that have occurred in the church's history.

The Schism of 451: 

    The schism of 451 was the first schism to divide the church. The divide was over the natures of Christ and over who had the correct Christology. It was the Miaphysites (One Composited Nature) versus the Dyophysites (Two Distinct Nature). The miaphysite side argued that the Council of Chalcedon contradicted the previous ecumenical council which is why the Oriental Orthodox only accept the first three ecumenical councils. They said that Chalcedon was supporting Nestorian due to giving a distinction to the human and divine nature. 

The Great Schism: 

        This is the biggest schism that took place because it's the moment where the church split into two. The schism was in 1054, however the west and the east started to grow their separate ways years before the schism. What caused the schism involved politics, political leaders, and differences in tradtion. This caused the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church to go their separate ways. 

The Reformation: 

    In the year 1517, on October 31st, Martin Luther published the 95 Theses to highlight the corruption within the Catholic Church. This started the uprising of the reformation as more reformers began to join the protest. (John Calvin, Zwingli, Ect...) The Catholic Church at the time did not like the fact that Luther was trying to reform the church, so they anathematized him and kicked him out of communion. This is what started the Evangelical Catholic Church, known as the Lutheran church. Many more churches started during this time like the Presbyterian Church, Anglican Church, the Ana-baptists, and the Reformed churches. 

Why Denominations are not Inherently Bad: 

No one is perfect and there will never be a perfect church. It is a sad reality that the church is divided the way it is today, but we can all come together and proclaim the gospel to this fallen world. I believe every denomination has its pros and cons and that there is something we can learn in each one. 

Thanks for reading, God Bless you and have a great day!