View Full Version : Christianity Game
How many sects of Christianity can we name? Name one sect for each post, link the Wikipedia article, quote the first passage, and post current member numbers at the bottom of the page. Ready? Here goes...
Jehovah's Witnesses (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah%27s_Witnesses)
Jehovah's Witnesses are members of an international religion that claims to be the restoration of first-century Christianity. Their preaching, evangelistic, and publishing activities are extensive, with The Watchtower and Awake! religious magazines being their most widely known publications. Headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, they are directed by a Governing Body. Each local congregation is led by a group of elders who are appointed by representatives of the Governing Body. Their official membership currently stands at over 6.6 million.
6.6 Million Members
Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamentalist_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter_Da y_Saints)
The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) is a separatist group of Mormon fundamentalists within the Latter Day Saint movement, and may be America's largest polygamous group. The church is not affiliated with the more prominent Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, from which it splintered in the early 20th century. Since 2002 Warren Jeffs has led the church, succeeding his father, Rulon Jeffs. Its headquarters have been, for nearly the last century, in Hildale, Utah, which is a twin city with Colorado City, Arizona, although recent news reports indicate a shift of the church's main headquarters to Eldorado, Texas, where a temple has been built.
6,000-10,000 Members
Amish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish)
The Amish are a Mennonite Anabaptist denomination found primarily in the United States and Ontario, Canada, known for their asceticism, which includes restrictions on the use of modern devices such as automobiles and telephones. The Amish are a tight-knit religious and ethnic group of Swiss-German ancestry that separate themselves from outside society for religious reasons; they do not join the military, draw Social Security, or accept any form of assistance from the government, and many avoid insurance. Many speak a German dialect known as Pennsylvania German or Pennsylvania Dutch, which the Amish call Deitsch ("German"). The Amish are divided into dozens of separate fellowships. This article primarily discusses conservative Old Order Amish fellowships with restrictions on dress, behavior, and technology. There are many New Order Amish and Beachy Amish groups that use electricity and automobiles, but still consider themselves Amish.
198,000 Members
Asonokirk V 2.0
06-25-2006, 07:38 AM
How many sects of Christianity can we name? Name one sect for each post, link the Wikipedia article, quote the first passage, and post current member numbers at the bottom of the page. Ready? Here goes...
This doesn't seem like a very fun "game." What is your motivation?
This doesn't seem like a very fun "game." What is your motivation?
I was looking up one thing, and started to find dozens of branches of Christianity. I think it's interesting how many different sects have been created by belief in one religion.
I only listed 3, because I didn't want to do all of them. I could've listed 18 right away, and that was just from a cursory search.
Asonokirk V 2.0
06-25-2006, 08:08 AM
The amazing thing is, they all believe they're right. It is truly astounding to me how people can refuse to make an honest attempt to question their own belief systems in the face of numerous contradictions and logical fallacies.
Sgt. Awesome
06-25-2006, 10:42 AM
That's why it's called belief.
Independant Baptist
Independent Baptist churches (which may be referred to as Independent Fundamentalist Baptist, or IFB) are Christian churches holding to generally Baptist beliefs. Like all Baptists they are characterized by being independent from the authority of denominations and church councils. However, the reason for the distinction, "independent," is that they eschew even the Baptist conventions or associations in which other Baptist churches participate (although many Independent Baptist churches do belong to fellowships). They remain autonomous and congregationalist in nature and are generally fundamentalist in teaching. The IFB movement is not a denomination per se although there are similarities that run throughout most Independent Baptist churches.
Nostromo
06-25-2006, 01:00 PM
Hey! We're leaning something. Good idea! N
EASTERN ORTHODOX
The Eastern Orthodox Church (encompassing national Orthodox jurisdictions such as Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, etc.—see Eastern Orthodox Church organization) is a body of Christians that claim origins extending directly back to Jesus and his Apostles through an unbroken physical line of Apostolic Succession. Likewise they claim to be the preservers of the original teachings and traditions which established the Church at Pentecost. As it became necessary, its doctrines were formalized through a series of church councils, the most authoritative being the Seven Ecumenical Councils held between the 4th and 8th centuries. These councils were convened out of the necessity to resolve conflicts that had developed concerning beliefs such as Arianism, Nestorianism, and Monothelitism. It grew and flourished within the Byzantine Empire and later spread to Russia. Toward the end of its first thousand years of existence, because of invasions which cut off communications, doctrinal differences developed between the Church in the Eastern and Western Roman Empire that ultimately led to the Great Schism in 1054, dividing Chalcedonian Christianity into Western Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.
Jakester
06-25-2006, 01:11 PM
Okay...This looks like fun.
My entry is: Fucked up Whack Job
Member: way too frigging many.
TrixieB
06-25-2006, 01:11 PM
Shakers
The Shakers, an offshoot (http://messageboard.cinescape.com/wiki/Offshoot) of the Religious Society of Friends (http://messageboard.cinescape.com/wiki/Religious_Society_of_Friends) (or Quakers), originated in Manchester (http://messageboard.cinescape.com/wiki/Manchester), England (http://messageboard.cinescape.com/wiki/England) in the early eighteenth century. Strict believers in celibacy (http://messageboard.cinescape.com/wiki/Celibacy), Shakers maintained their numbers through conversion (http://messageboard.cinescape.com/wiki/Religious_conversion) and adoption (http://messageboard.cinescape.com/wiki/Adoption). Once boasting thousands of adherents, today the Shakers number less than a handful of people living in Sabbathday Lake (http://messageboard.cinescape.com/wiki/Sabbathday_Lake%2C_Maine), Maine (http://messageboard.cinescape.com/wiki/Maine).
The Shakers of New England should not be confused with the religion of the Indian Shakers (http://messageboard.cinescape.com/wiki/Indian_Shakers) of the Pacific Northwest of North America.
Today there are very few remaining Shakers left, in Sabbathday Lake, Maine.
Nostromo
06-25-2006, 01:19 PM
MARONITE Christians
In the early 5th century, a community gathered around the Christian hermit St. Maron. After his death in 435 (or 410, according to some sources), this community continued to grow and adopted the name of Maronites.
It was in Antioch that the followers of Jesus Christ converted by Paul and Barnabas were first called Christians [Acts 11:26]. Antioch, especially after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, became a center for Christianity. The first Bishop was St. Peter before his travels to Rome. The third Bishop was the Apostolic Father St. Ignatius of Antioch. Antioch became one of the five original Patriarchates after Constantine recognized Christianity.
Maron, a contemporary and friend of St. John Chrysostom, was a monk in the fourth century who left Antioch for the Orontes River to lead an ascetic life, following the traditions of St. Anthony of the Desert and St. Pachomius of Egypt. He soon had many followers that adopted his monastic life. Following the death of St. Maron in 410, his disciples built a monastery in his memory and formed the nucleus of the Maronite Church.
The Maronites held fast to the beliefs of the Council of Chalcedon in 451. When 350 monks were slain by the Monophysites of Antioch, the Maronites sought refuge in the mountains of Lebanon. Correspondence concerning the event brought papal recognition of the Maronites by Pope Hormisdas on February 10, 518.
The martyrdom of the Patriarch of Antioch in 602 left the Maronites without a leader, and led them to elect their first Maronite Patriarch, St. John Maron, in 685. The Maronites constantly struggled to retain their independence from the Byzantine and the Muslim empires. After the Muslim conquest of Syria, the Maronites gained some military help from Constantine IV and harassed the forces of Umayyad Dynasty so that in 677 the caliph decided to pay tribute to them in return for peace. Some of the Maronites relocated to Mount Lebanon at this time and formed several communities that became known as the Marada. In 685 the Maronites found themselves isolated from the Byzantine Empire and decided to appoint their own Patriarch, St. John Maron, who had been a bishop of Batroun, Mount Lebanon. Through him, they claim full apostolic succession through the See of Antioch.
A source of controversy surrounds the Maronites, as they have been accused of having fully adopted and embraced the Monothelite heresy. However, this charge has been adequately explained away, as noted in the 2003 new Catholic Encyclopedia (see reference below).
Little was heard from the Maronites for 400 years, as they quietly escaped the Muslim invasions in the mountains of Lebanon, until the Crusader Raymond of Toulouse discovered the Maronites in the mountains near Tripoli, Lebanon on his way to conquer Jerusalem. (Raymond returned to besiege Tripoli after his conquest of Jerusalem.)
During the Crusades in the 12th century, Maronites assisted the Crusaders and reaffirmed their affiliation with Catholicism and loyalty to the Pope in 1182. From this point onwards, the Maronites have upheld an unbroken orthodoxy and unity with Rome; however, there is also evidence of contact with Rome from before that date. For example, in 1100 Maronite Patriarch Youseff Al Jirjisi received the crown and staff from Pope Paschal II. In 1131 Maronite Patriarch Gregorious Al Halati received letters from Pope Innocent II.The Roman affiliation was to cost the Maronites dearly after Muslim rule returned. Anti-Christian Mamelukes destroyed their fields, houses and churches alongside with those of Druze and Shiites. Connection to Rome was arduously maintained and a Maronite College established at Rome on July 5, 1584.
At first, the Ottoman Empire left Maronites to their own devices in their mountain strongholds. However, from 1585 to 1635 the Druze warlord Fahkr-al-Din II conquered and ruled the Greater Lebanon until he was defeated by Ottoman forces and executed at Istanbul on April 13, 1635.
In 1610, the Maronite monks of the Monastery of Saint Anthony of Quzhayya imported one of the first printing presses in the Arabic-speaking world. The monasteries of Lebanon would later become key players in the Arabic Renaissance of the late 19th century as a result of developing Arabic, as well as Syriac, printable script.
In 1638, France declared that it would protect the Catholics within the Ottoman Empire, including the Maronites. In 1860 Maronites clashed with Druze until French intervention and Ottoman diplomacy stopped that. In 1866 Youssef Karam led a Maronite uprising in Mount Lebanon against governor Dawood Pasha. European intervention led to his exile to Algeria.
The Maronites, because of their monastic origin, were able to withstand intense pressure and even persecution to preserve their Church, not just by the Muslims, but also by separated brethren such as the Orthodox and Churches of the East, as well as efforts at Latinization from Rome. Even today, the words at the Consecration of the Mass are said in Aramaic, the language of Jesus.
Maronites gained self-rule under the French Mandate of Lebanon in 1920 and secured their position in the independent Lebanon in 1943. They were one of the three main factions in the Lebanese Civil War.
Asonokirk V 2.0
06-25-2006, 02:39 PM
That's why it's called belief.
Independant Baptist
Correct me if I'm wrong, but, like, isn't if REALLY INCREDIBLY STUPID to not ask any questions of what you claim to believe in? Isn't it sorta IMPORTANT to know WHY you believe in something, and that it is ACTUALLY WORTH BELIEVING? Just accepting without question is about the dumbest thing I can think of anyone doing. It is analogous to what freaking LEMMINGS do.
Jakester
06-25-2006, 08:03 PM
Depends on who you ask. :)
Space Tycoon
06-25-2006, 08:55 PM
Correct me if I'm wrong, but, like, isn't if REALLY INCREDIBLY STUPID to not ask any questions of what you claim to believe in? Isn't it sorta IMPORTANT to know WHY you believe in something, and that it is ACTUALLY WORTH BELIEVING? Just accepting without question is about the dumbest thing I can think of anyone doing. It is analogous to what freaking LEMMINGS do.
It's almost as bad as sitting around getting high while insulting the rest of us poor souls--who actually work for a living every day-- on an internet messageboard.
I have come to realize that belief and faith are wonderful things, in and of themselves. Obviously belief without question equals blind submission, which ought to be avoided.
But an existence based on pure rationalism is just not enough.
.
Sgt. Awesome
06-25-2006, 10:46 PM
Hey! Lemmings are cool! Don't be dissing the lemmings.
I'm not supporting it at all, I have the same opinion as you do, but some people just belive, that's good enough for them.
Arianism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arianism)
Arianism was a Christological view held by followers of Arius, a Christian priest who lived and taught in Alexandria, Egypt, in the early 4th century. Arius taught that God the Father and the Son were not co-eternal, seeing the pre-incarnate Jesus as a divine being but nonetheless created by (and consequently inferior to) the Father at some point, before which the Son did not exist. In English-language works, it is sometimes said that Arians believe that Jesus is or was a "creature;" in this context, the word is being used in its original sense of "created being."
Calvinism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvinism)
Calvinism stresses the complete ruin of man's ethical nature against a backdrop of the sovereign grace of God in salvation. It teaches that people are utterly unable to follow God or escape their condemnation before him and that only by drastic divine intervention in which God must change their unwilling hearts can people be turned from rebellion to willing obedience.
In this view, all people are entirely at the mercy of God, who would be just in condemning all people for their sins but who has chosen to be merciful to some. One person is saved while another is condemned, not because of a willingness, a faith, or any other virtue in the first person, but because God sovereignly chose to have mercy on him. Although the person must believe the gospel and respond to be saved, this obedience of faith is God's gift, and thus God completely and sovereignly accomplishes the salvation of sinners. (Calvinists are divided over whether God does or does not actively predestinate any person to damnation, though this issue is usually not emphasized and receives little attention today. See Supralapsarianism and Infralapsarianism.)
^ That sounds pretty depressing to me.
Unitarianism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitarianism)
This may or may not fall under the heading of Christianity, but I won't be the judge of that.
Historic Unitarianism believed in the oneness of God as opposed to Christian doctrine of the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) proclaimed at the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE. Historic Unitarians believed in the moral authority, but not the deity, of Jesus. Unitarians are characterized by some as being identified through history as free thinkers and dissenters, evolving their beliefs in the direction of rationalism and humanism.
Trazalca
06-27-2006, 07:55 AM
Armstrongism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armstrongism)
Armstrongism refers to the doctrines of Herbert W. Armstrong, founder of the Worldwide Church of God (WCG). Some of the doctrines can be found in other religion groups including Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Seventh Day Adventists while others are truly unique to Armstrong. The church that he founded has now rejected most of his own teachings, but Armstrongism lives on in the splinter churches founded by the followers of Armstrong who dissented with the WCG church leaders after Armstrong.
Church authority
Armstrong taught the Bible is the authoritative Word of God. However, he noted that the correct interpretation of the Bible had been obscured until he himself discovered them. For this reason, the current Christian churches were in a state of apostasy and that his church, at the time the Worldwide Church of God, was the only true church. Many splinter churches individually make this claim.
God Family
A unique Armstrong doctrine is that the Godhood consisted of two individuals, Jesus who was the Old Testament god and the Father who was superior to him. This is a form of binitarianism. The family concept comes when humans who accept Jesus as their saviour can then join the God Family and become like gods themselves.
Sabbatarianism and Old Testament beliefs
The keeping of the Sabbath on Saturday was the first doctrine that Armstrong expounded. Eventually he expanded this to include the following of dietary laws, tithing, and celebration of Jewish feast days such as Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles. Some of this was based on his beliefs in Anglo-Israelism (see below). Related to this is that the celebration of Christmas and Easter was banned as they were considered to be of pagan origin.
Anglo-Israelism
Through his studies of the Bible, he came to conclusion that the Anglo-Saxon peoples were the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel. This was already well-established as Anglo-Israelism. However, Armstrong added some details as he identified the United States and British Commonwealth with the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim. This claim can be found in a book called "United States and British Commonwealth in Prophecy".
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And how did I come by this one? Well, that's because I used to be one.
Sad story that. :(
And oh yeah. In addition to Easter and Christmas celebrations being banned,
so was the celebrations of birthdays. Which meant I hadn't celebrated my birthday
from when I was 11 years old till when I was 25. Now?
I'm BIG on celebrating them, especially for my own kids.
Ronnie
06-27-2006, 08:57 AM
Disciples of Christ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disciples_of_Christ)
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), often abbreviated as the Disciples of Christ or Christian Church, is a denomination of Christian Protestantism that grew out of the Restoration Movement founded by Thomas Campbell and Alexander Campbell of West Virginia (then Virginia) and Barton W. Stone of Kentucky. Both families were originally Presbyterians.
Wikipedia didn't list their current membership but as I'm a member I know it to be about 800,000 in the US and Canada.
The main tenents that I like about the church are: Disciples believe that all Christians are called to the Body of Christ. They deny that any denomination, including their own, is the one Church. Disciples seek opportunities for common witness and service with other denominations. As early leader Barton Stone declared, "Unity is our polar star."
The other is that individual members are free to follow their conscience. They are expected to extend that freedom to others. Members are encouraged to seek guidance from scripture, study and prayer, but to develop their own opinions about most issues.
Disciples of Christ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disciples_of_Christ)
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), often abbreviated as the Disciples of Christ or Christian Church, is a denomination of Christian Protestantism that grew out of the Restoration Movement founded by Thomas Campbell and Alexander Campbell of West Virginia (then Virginia) and Barton W. Stone of Kentucky. Both families were originally Presbyterians.
Wikipedia didn't list their current membership but as I'm a member I know it to be about 800,000 in the US and Canada.
The main tenents that I like about the church are: Disciples believe that all Christians are called to the Body of Christ. They deny that any denomination, including their own, is the one Church. Disciples seek opportunities for common witness and service with other denominations. As early leader Barton Stone declared, "Unity is our polar star."
The other is that individual members are free to follow their conscience. They are expected to extend that freedom to others. Members are encouraged to seek guidance from scripture, study and prayer, but to develop their own opinions about most issues.
How refreshing!:)
Anglican (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglican)
The term Anglican (from medieval Latin ecclesia Anglicana meaning 'the English church') is used to describe the people, institutions, and churches that adhere to the religious traditions developed by the established Church of England, the Anglican Communion and the Continuing Anglican Churches, a loosely affiliated group of independent churches which have seceded from the Communion as a result of doctrinal and liturgical differences with its various provinces.
The Anglican Communion considers itself to be part of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church and as being both Catholic and Reformed. For some adherents, it represents a non-papal Catholicism, for others a Protestantism without a dominant figure such as a Luther, Knox, Calvin, or Wesley.[1]. For many Anglicans, self-identity represents some combination of the two. The Communion is a theologically broad and often divergent affiliation of thirty-eight provinces that are in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Anglican Communion is one of the largest Christian denominations in the world, with approximately 73 million members.
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