McChurch 2

It all starts with a name. When a group of any description meet, also pertaining to christian groups of course, they begin to need to identify the group some way, an identity is created and a name is given to it.
" ...this group is about such and such and we the leaders or leader have democraticly (or autocraticly) decided to call it such and such..."

This is a natural and in some ways nessesasary development. However once an entity is created it begins to take on a 'life' of its own. When I say life I don't really mean life in the sense of a living thing because that is something men can not do. When we do create a work we must be careful and do so only in accordance with God's word so as that he who directed us will provide the life. This is because the works we do without from God are like us without God Dead. He is the life giver. Don't the scriptures tell us ..."its no longer I that liveth but christ that liveth in me.."

Christ Himself didn't come speaking His own words or do his own works but those taught to him by his Father.
And we must be like Christ in this way.

What I am trying to establish then is that Christ doing the work of is Father did not give a separate name to the church. Except his own. We are the people who serve His name. It is by his name alone that we are saved etc.

How then should we create or support a denomination. Do we serve christ or our denominaton?, is salvation found in christ alone or in our denomination alone? the answers may seem obvious but we must beware because it is so easy to break the first commandment. When we join with a denomination we join one we aggree with and suits our likes and tastes, we begin to prefer it and be exclusively loyal to it. we then may work to promote it and work towards its increase, constantly emphisizing the destintiveness and superiority over other groups to ourselves and others.

In other words we create a brand (or a franchise) and live for it.

All of which is plain simple idolatry to my mind. We create a god of our own making then procede to serve it and lift it up all the while supposedly worshiping the true God.
1 corinthians 1-4 deal well with this apostasy. Unforturnately the problem didn't end in corinth.