[asa] some questions on doctrinal differences

Hi all,

I was on this listserv eons ago and have just rejoined. I see some
familiar
names. I am working on a book proposal and wanted to ask if any of
you knew
if there is a standard number of the primary doctrinal schisms within
Christianity. Obviously there are probably umpteen, but I'm talking
about
the main issues that divorce the various church denominations. I
found one
website (http://www.carm.org/doctrine/grid.htm) that lists 5 (or 7)
"essential" beliefs followed by 20 additional non-essential
doctrines. Is
this list missing anything? Is it not really the main issues? (The
organization behind the website seems to have a particular slant).

[for example, I don't think I'd agree that 9 and 10 - marriage
fidelity and
condemnation of homosexuality - are anywhere near "non-essential
doctrine"
unless one wants to include every sin under the sun, including idols of
greed and power, lust of all types, lying, cheating, stealing - but it's
interesting that this particular group put them there as the two have
certainly shaped the way our right-winged conservative Christians have
treated it as doctrine, and then many of them have been found to be
guilty
of these same sins behind closed doors.But I digress. nor do I think of
14/15 - frequency of communion and Sat vs. Sun worship as really part
of a
doctrine].

I've browsed online through some of the various denominations, their
histories, etc but it's so much to wade through. I will read through all
that in more detail later but wondered if there was a simple agreed-upon
answer, or if anyone had a better resource than the one I linked to
above.
My point in all this is to show that there are quadrillions of different
combinations of beliefs. Wouldn't that just be calculated by taking the
number of doctrines - let's say I accepted all the 19 non-essential
doctrines they list on that page - I'd take that 19 to the power of the
number of options (most 2 but some 4 like predestination/election/
limited
atonement/free will) so that would be something like 19 to the 47th
power?
Or am I doing that incorrectly?

Wendee

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wendee Holtcamp * Freelance Writer * Photographer * Bohemian

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http://www.wendeeholtcamp.com
Bohemian Adventures Blog * <http://bohemianadventures.blogspot.com/>
http://bohemianadventures.blogspot.com

The Fish Wars: A Christian Evolutionist <http://
thefishwars.blogspot.com/>
http://thefishwars.blogspot.com
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Received on Fri Jul 20 01:52:14 2007