{"id":5589,"date":"2009-06-01T06:08:07","date_gmt":"2009-06-01T11:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/2009\/06\/01\/20k-churches-and-counting\/"},"modified":"2009-06-01T06:08:07","modified_gmt":"2009-06-01T11:08:07","slug":"20k-churches-and-counting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/06\/01\/20k-churches-and-counting\/","title":{"rendered":"20K+ Churches and Counting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

A letter from a reader, used with permission, and I\u2019m wondering how you would respond\u2026.<\/i><\/p>\n

Dear Scot,
I have a hard time reconciling in my mind that if God is an author
of peace and not confusion that he would allow 20k different faiths to
be preached in his church. I live in the Midwest in a city where we have a church on
every street corner each proclaiming a different doctrine. It is
maddening. <\/p>\n

So who is correct? Calvinist, Arminians, Non-denominational,
Charismatics, Pentecostals? It is crazy. I believe what Christ said,
there is one faith, one baptism etc. I am just trying to find it. I have
a hard time believing that Christ would want all of these different
theologies each with a different spin out there in the world.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
I can read the Bible and you can read the Bible and it says
something different to each of us. Human nature being what it is is
going to lead us down the easier softer way. I believe what Christ said,
\u201center through the narrow gate.\u201d
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
Only in America do we have 20k different protestant denominations.
There is no unity of faith in America we all do what we want to do and
or believe what we want to believe.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n

And Scot, the crazy thing is that we all base our belief system on ONE BIBLE.

<\/i> <\/p>\n

<!\u2013
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A letter from a reader, used with permission, and I\u2019m wondering how you would respond\u2026. Dear Scot,I have a hard time reconciling in my mind that if God is an authorof peace and not confusion that he would allow 20k different faiths tobe preached in his church. I live in the Midwest in a city […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n20K+ Churches and Counting<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A letter from a reader, used with permission, and I'm wondering how you would respond....Dear Scot,I have a hard time reconciling in my mind that if God\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/06\/01\/20k-churches-and-counting\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"20K+ Churches and Counting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A letter from a reader, used with permission, and I'm wondering how you would respond....Dear Scot,I have a hard time reconciling in my mind that if God\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/06\/01\/20k-churches-and-counting\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-06-01T11:08:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/s3.chuug.com\/chuug.twitthis.resources\/twitthis_grey_72x22.gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/06\/01\/20k-churches-and-counting\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/06\/01\/20k-churches-and-counting\/\",\"name\":\"20K+ Churches and Counting\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-06-01T11:08:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-06-01T11:08:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"A letter from a reader, used with permission, and I'm wondering how you would respond....Dear Scot,I have a hard time reconciling in my mind that if God\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/06\/01\/20k-churches-and-counting\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/06\/01\/20k-churches-and-counting\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/06\/01\/20k-churches-and-counting\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"20K+ Churches and Counting\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. 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