The Ego and Organized Religion

A common question among people,especially by those who don't consider themselves to be Christian,is,if you all believe in Jesus,why are there so many different faiths and denominations? Often this question is used to discredit the validity of the Christian faith with the inference being that the reason there are so many faiths is because Christians don't even know themselves what they are to believe.As a point of interest,there are over 25,000 Christian sects and denominations in the world today.We know that God is not the author of confusion, so what gives? Not surprisingly it comes down to one word,ego.By ego, I am referring to man's desire to possess and be in control. The beliefs that are essential to the Christian faith revolve around who Jesus was and what His redemptive work means.Look at the emerging Church written about in The Acts of the Apostles,yes there were problems back then,but,you see no mention of different Christian faiths.As the centuries have passed, sects and denominations have been formed based on a charismatic founder's slant on certain portions of scripture.Whole ministries and faiths have been formed over doctrine that is far removed from anything resembling the essential Christian tenets.For example,do you think there is a huge difference in beliefs among all the different Baptist organizations out there? Would anyone deny that in this post Christian era that if all the Baptist groups united, they'd be able to serve and reach out to others more effectively?Another example,dozens of independent Episcopal communions have formed over the past decades in response to the fact that the Episcopal Church USA has departed from the faith once delivered unto the saints.For the most part,except for the AMiA group and possibly a few others, these independent communions all hold to the same beliefs.What we see here are many groups scattered all over the country,each with their own hierarchy and with many of them struggling to survive.If ever there was a need for these different communions to unite it is now as the Episcopal Church USA is continuing its free-fall into Unitarianism. Think this is going to happen? Never! The reason being ego,a failure by most of those in charge of these groups to obey the commands of Jesus to humble yourself and be a servant.Too much would have to be given up by those in control and involved with these communions in order for them to unite.Consequently,thousands of people are leaving the Episcopal Church USA without being aware that there might be an available traditional Episcopal faith available to them.
Too many faiths fail to realize that it is all about Jesus,not about their communion,sect or denomination."Vanity of vanities,all is vanity" (Solomon).