There are many denomination of Christians from Catholics to high and low Protestants and everything in between. We should be able to distinguish among them for our benefit and understanding. How?

Three groups seem to predominate.

Volumes could be written about each. Here we have the most general look at them but helpful as a motivation for further research into God’s Word or be aware of these important distinctions.

The greatest group would be the traditional Christians who adamantly believe in those views in the Bible that come from traditional thinking. The Catholics are the largest group that puts tradition ahead of the Bible. The High Protestant Churches are most like the Catholic way of thinking. They believe in such things as going to heaven or hell, Jesus is as a god conceived as man like Perseus or Hercules, believe in trinity, keep Sunday and the various holidays like Christmas and Easter. These views are derived from ancient pagan sources. This group has a very rigid view and a strong attitude toward their “true” church. They fought many wars including the Crusades some thousand years ago to promulgate their views or defend them. You vill do it my way.

Another group derives its ideas from the earliest of days. That group considers things from, did God say? They look to a kind of scientific thinking examining the Bible in its inconsistencies and just pick a kind of Christianity that suits them, like consensus science. Did God say? They have a touchy-feely approach. Further, they have the platonic philosopher king approach; they are specially born to be wise and lead. And, they know best.

The last and tiniest group takes the totality of the Bible. Like the second group to a small degree they do not accept a Bible with pagan additions because they can tell the sacred scriptures from the others. They will not accept a verse or two that deviates from the totality as a virgin birth mentioned two or three times. They will not accept Sunday worship because a verse or two seems to suggest the earliest Christians may have worshipped on the first day of the week. Their emphasis is on the Old-New
Testament Christian Biblical verses permeating the Word. For example, many, many scripture say God is One Person and many others say keep the Commandments including the Sabbath, to mention just a few. They have the sense of who God really is and know the Truth just as Noah, Abraham, Moses and Paul did. The various parts of this group through out the world all think as one.

Every group has a bit Truth in their doctrines because without some Truth they could not stand. However, being pagan free and filled with Truth is the way to go.

Where do you stand? And, how would you add to this?