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What's a sectarian trying to prove, not a branch of Christianity? If I follow a sect of a sect a sectarian of a sect of a sect will defend his sect with me and pretend it's not a sect.
That's cute because he's wiping my arse! The question being is it normal to be jealous of another person's sect?
You do find a lot of infighting within Christianity—to some extent this is the result of there being a lot of freedom of religion, and (unless you're RC) no central authority. It is justified to some extent to fight what you perceive as harmful teaching that isn't biblical, as this can lead people astray. But this isn't always the dynamic, it's often more about getting into a debate for the sake of debate.
I think the reason people have these debates is because the person they are arguing with understands the context—you wouldn't have a political argument with someone who doesn't follow politics either. Also, they are already so close to believing the same thing that it's frustrating that they still seem to have inconsolable differences. The idea of being able to bring people over to your side, i.e. unifying the separate branches, is quite a nice thought.
Everything that comes under the umbrella of 'Christianity' shares important beliefs such as the belief that Jesus is both God and man, and the Trinity; they are therefore not sects per se. The term 'sectarian' can apply to people believing a different denomination than someone else—it's not used exclusively to refer to different sects. But it _can_ also simply mean someone who belongs to a sect; are you using it in this sense?
Do you mean Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Scientists, etc? These are considered sects, because they don't believe in the things I mentioned above, and they branched off from Christianity originally. Christianity was originally a sect of Judaism. Maybe you could be a bit clearer about what you mean by sect and 'sect of a sect' in case I'm misunderstanding you. I don't really have discussions with Jehovah's Witnesses etc. so can't really comment on actual sects.
Note that groups like Amish are really distinguished from other Christians because of their way of life, but they don't necessarily believe things very different to more mainstream Christians, so I still just consider them denominations, although some people call them sects.
I'm also not sure what you mean, is it normal to be jealous of another person's sect. What are you jealous of? If you don't believe what they believe, is it just a matter of liking their lifestyle or something? I think this is somewhat normal, yes.
I'm not jealous of another person's sect, the man I was debating with was jealous in that he wants me to be Catholic like him when I was a Puritan, it's a sect of a sect because it's a sect of sedevacantism which is a sect of Roman Catholic when I was a sect of Puritan which is a sect of Calvinist, that's what I mean.
The debate is about whose God is the true God and whose denomination is the correct one, I no longer agree with it as still I follow a sect but it's a sect of Tibetan Buddhism which is a sect of Buddhism, as followed by the Dalai Lama so it's a sect of a sect. 🙂
Yes a follower of a sect is what I mean by sectarian.
A sect is a religious doctrine that differs from accepted teaching, for example Sikhism which is a sect because Christians and Hindus think it's heretical. Christianity was once a sect because the Jews couldn't accept Jesus's religion.
Okay, you're using the word 'sect' in a somewhat looser way than I would—which is fine, it just confused me. You're using it like I would use "sub-grouping" or "branch".
As I see it, a sect is a splinter group that forms out of an existing religion but has different (or 'heretical') beliefs to the parent religion. Like Christianity out of Judaism, and Mormonism out of Christianity.
And if you consider Calvinism a sect, why do you have a problem with being in a sect? Most Christians fit into at least one category, Calvinism, Lutheranism, Anglican, Catholic, etc. But they are all Christian, because they all believe the basic tenets of Christianity as decided by the church fathers and the early councils. So they all pray to the same God. This is why I don't consider these groupings sects.
You will gain common sense and follow the agnostic code,
We cannot know with certainty if God or Christ exists. They COULD.
Then again there COULD be a giant reptilian bird in charge of everything.
Can we be CERTAIN there isn't? NO, so it's pointless to talk about it.
Now say it with me.
All I want is my freedom of belief, religion & conscience, not a set of tenets with subtle ways to control me.
What? I see the curtains will never be unveiled yet to me it's all clear, I get jokes from the members every time and all I'm doing is taking the website the right way, of course I am, I understand. The argument with even my mother is that they act as if I don't understand, but I only understand.
Honestly the Amish is probably the most wholesome of the sects. Besides the whole shunning thing they are just going about their buisness, not caring about how people view them.