With so many denominations spread across the world, there is much debate about which one we should join, if any. I have often argued that the answer is none of them. Denominations are divisive at best, and heretical at worst. The world would be significantly better off if we just ditched them entirely. To that end, as is found in the Bible Brain statement of faith, "There are true Christians in every denomination, but there are no true Christian denominations."
In opposition to this are a number of people who will argue that denominations are helpful in that they both immediately inform inquirers as to what a certain church believes, and help instruct new believers in the faith. But I believe recent events show this to be false.
It goes without saying that the Christ-ian faith is based very heavily on the man, or rather, the God, whose name it bears. Without Christ, Christianity has no value at all. In fact, without Him, it doesn't exist. And by His very nature, as the rightful holder of all authority in Heaven and on Earth (Matthew 28:18), you either take Christ as He is, or number yourself among those to whom He will say "...depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!" (Matthew 7:23).
Christ made His views quite clear. Whenever He was asked a question, He would frequently go back to Scripture. Whenever He was challenged on anything, He would go back to Scripture. Not once did He say anything negative about Scripture, only about the misuse thereof. He would even rebuke those who asked Him certain questions because Scripture already gave them the answer. "It is written" (e.g. Matthew 4:4), "have you not read" (e.g. Matthew 12:3), and even "Are you not therefore mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God?" (Mark 12:24) are some of His most memorable and powerful statements, made all the more amazing by the fact He ever needed to make such statements in the first place - They should be obvious! The word of God carries the authority of God. Therefore, what it says is what we live by.
From the very beginning, the word of God makes His position on sexuality fairly clear, not by way of command, but by design. In describing the origins of all things - by His own power - God explains human sexuality. It begins with a single man, whom God determines should have a complement. Among all the animals, nothing is like him, and so there is no suitable complement found. Thus, God made a woman - a creature like a man in almost every possible way. The one exception? The other half of the human reproductive system. Everything a man can't do, a woman can, and vice versa. Thus, not only is the gender binary firmly established in biology, but marriage is firmly grounded in theology. As Genesis 2:24 says, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."
Of course, as Scripture continues, there are more explicit teachings. Leviticus 20:13 condemns homosexuality as an abomination, which carried the death penalty under Mosaic law. Romans 1 describes homosexuality as an unnatural lust, being both a consequence of rejecting God, and a sin bringing its own consequences. 1 Corinthians 6:9 and 1 Timothy 1:10 both include homosexuality among a list of ungodly sins which bar one from inheriting the Kingdom of God (but can be forgiven in Christ). But even going by Genesis alone, we can conclude that the only moral context for sexual behavior is the monogamous, heterosexual marriage.
This is the kind of reasoning Christ Himself directly endorses when He is questioned regarding divorce. In both Matthew 19 and Mark 10, He is asked to weigh in on a common Jewish debate of His time: Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason? Christ's response is to go back to Genesis, specifically Genesis 1:27, and the aforementioned 2:24. From this, He concludes that divorce is all but entirely impermissible, and was only allowed at all because the Jews were hard hearted.
But in spite of the clarity of Scripture on this issue, many denominations have recently fallen to the LGBT agenda. As an example, the Methodist Church recently published an "inclusive language guide", in which they encourage Christians "...to repent of any hurtful language or imagery and to take care with how we listen and what we say, write or depict, in the Spirit of Christ." The problem? I already violated that guide in this article by quoting Scripture! As their guide says, "Terminology such as ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ may sound inoffensive but it makes assumptions about a family or personal life that is not the reality for many people."
What, then, are we supposed to make of the 152 times the Bible uses the word "husband", 370 times it uses the word "wife", and many other times the Bible speaks in ways that are virtually guaranteed to make even penitent sinners uncomfortable? And I do mean it even does that to penitent sinners, because unless you are so arrogant as to assume you are perfect, you will understand that when you stand in the light of the Almighty, you are a man of unclean lips, and you dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips (Isaiah 6:5).
It is a simple fact that God is holier than you. His thoughts are above your thoughts, His ways are above your ways, and His word is above your word. Alter it at your peril. This incident with the Methodist Church is nothing more than a living picture of taking God's name in vain, and rejecting sound doctrine in favor of what one's itching ears wish to hear (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
And it isn't an isolated incident. Many denominations have fallen into great iniquity, including some of the "big" ones. The Church of England now performs same sex "marriage", and even the Roman Catholic Church, by order of the Pope, now blesses same sex couples (though with the caveat that it still recognises the sin within).
With the word of God being so clear, and so many denominations running so clearly against it, what are we, as Christians, to think? The lesson here is as clear as Scripture itself: Denominations bad.
See, ultimately, denominations are man made. Therefore, they carry with them all the frailties of man, up to and including sin. That's not to say denominations are guaranteed to lead you into error, of course. It's not as if mankind will automatically rebel against God in every conceivable way at every available opportunity. However, whenever a denomination agrees with the Bible, it is irrelevant because the Bible is the source. Whenever a denomination disagrees with the Bible, it is flat out wrong. Thus, in neither case do you actually need a denomination.
Now, the really good news is you don't necessarily have to agree with me here, simply because denominations, on top of being irrelevant, are also completely powerless. What you believe is entirely between you and God. Thus, you can identify with any number of denominations, be that 0 or 1,000. If your chosen denomination strays from the word of God, you are free to stray from your denomination. That's how liberating it is to just stick to God's word, without the extra complications of man's.