Why are there different groups of Christians?

Answer 1

Christianity suggests that one beleives in the death and resurrection of Christ. When Christ died the Roman Empire was the ruling kingdom; they worshipped pagan gods and their Cesares. Their traditions of worship were maintained well after Christ had risien from the grave. It was not until approxiamtley 310 years later, in about 345 a.d that it became legal to worship openly as a Christian, At the time that the Romans excepted Christianity they were still attached to their secular ways and because of this they incorporated many of their old traditions into the Christian based religion. This was the first begining of adding to the word of God. The Roman Catholic religion is proof to this. It stems from these older traditions. This is an example of how secular religion took on Christian beliefs. Another example is the Morman religion; it was in the early 1800's that a man called Joseph Smith began preaching his own version and beliefs of The Bible, He was chased out of every town he settled in gaining a few followers in his efforts. Eventually the group continued west until they settled in Utah. This religion is based on interpretation. As with all other religions, Lutheran, Catholic, etc. these religions are based on traditions and interpretations. Certain religions take up practices that are not biblical truth, although maybe 90 % for instance of what they believe and practice follow the Bible, the other 10 % of which is based on interpretations and traditons. It all comes down to knowing what is in the Bible and knowing what is biblical fact verses mans interpretation. Do not follow the tradition but the word of God,

Answer 2

People don't agree on exactly what Jesus' message was. For example, some groups feel that communion (the sharing of bread and wine) is for all; some don't. People disagree about how old a child should be before being baptized.

Some of it is political/historical; for example King Henry VIII of England severed the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church because divorce is not allowed in the Catholic Church.

People have different preferences--for example gay people will find that different denominations accept them and their sexual orientations while others won't.

People believe different things--for example, the Mormons believe that The Book of Mormon supersedes the Bible. The Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox believe differently which books of the Bible are legitimate scripture.

There are probably as many reasons for different groups of Christianity as there are different groups of Christianity.