Surprisingly, I got a good number of questions about the United Methodist Church in our survey of the congregation asking for questions for "Preacher, I've got a question." Here's a few with the best answers I can give:
- What are the Apocrypha books and why are they not included in our Bible at Church of the Way?
When Martin Luther led the Protestant Reformation, he translated the Bible into the vernacular for the common people. Previously, it had only be translated into Latin. In his translation work, he translated the Old Testament from it's originally language, Hebrew. The Hebrew manuscripts of the OT do not have the Apocrypha books found in the Greek manuscripts, which was the basis for the Roman Catholic Latin translation. Luther deemed the Hebrew manuscripts to be more authentic, and the apocrypha books to be later additions in Greek and not part of the original Hebrew Scriptures. Protestant churches (which include United Methodist) do not use Bible's with the Apocrypha for this reason. Simply, we don't consider them to be a part of Holy Scriptures; rather, they seem to be later additions.
- What is main difference between Catholicism and Methodist from a theological basis?
This is almost impossible to answer in a short paragraph, but here goes. I would point to our understanding of the Sacraments: Baptism and Communion. United Methodists practice open communion and recognize all forms of baptism across Christian denominations. So, our communion table is open to all Christians, no matter if they are church members or not. All who wish to receive the grace of Christ are welcome. We also do not re-baptize people. We recognize God's work in baptism in our sister denominations. Simply, we see ourselves as one part of Christ' Church. We resonate with Ephesians 4:4-6, "4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope[a] at your calling— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all." There's one. We ordain women, which is a major difference, because we believe there is one calling and one spirit for all of us. We don't practice confession to a priest because there is one Lord that needs to hear our confession. But, let me say that we share the core beliefs that truly matter with our Roman Catholic brothers and sister as well as those of other denominations. Jesus is Lord, and He is risen. That's what matters.
- Being brought up in a Catholic homestead, yet last 15 years being a Methodist, I thought the way we dressed showed respect to our God. Why does that not appear to be the case in the Methodist religion?
John Wesley, the father of Methodism once said, “It is the glory of the people called Methodists that they condemn none for their opinions or modes of worship. They think and let think, and insist upon nothing but faith working by love.” What matters is faith working itself out in love. What matters is the truth message of the Gospel: God's grace for all who believe. Some do that with robes, choirs, suits and dresses. Some do that with blue jeans, rock bands, and flip flops. I think God wants our hearts more than anything.
There are estimates that there's upwards of 41,000 Christian based denominations/sub groups. Though most have the same base ideology there's many differences between even the larger of the denominations. If all these groups are supposed to be based around the same principles of the Bible, why are there so many differences? Example. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe exactly 144,000 have been preselected to go to heaven.
It's kind of what I said above. The main thing is the core. Denominations are like ice cream. They have the same basic ingredients, but they're different flavors. At the end of the day, all ice cream is pretty good because it's ice cream, but you've got your favorites and I've got mine. I'm a caramel swirl fan or butter pecan, but I'm not so much into mint chocolate chip. Still, in a pinch, I could enjoy mint chocolate chip. In denominations, the core ingredients are the same, but they offer different flavors. Now, I'd offer that things like Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormon Church are more like frozen yogurt. They look and taste an awful lot like ice cream, but the core ingredients are pretty different.
Hope these help and thanks for the great questions!
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