Denominational and Non-denominational Churches

Christianity is, in my opinion, an essential part of culture that has been adopted in many people's life as a sort of justification. Most people claim to be Christian, but I feel that there is a stark difference between being a Christian and knowing God. Maybe there should be two different categories. Category 1, I am a Christian; Category 2, I am a believer. For even more specificity, we have denominations in the churches where people use more titles, but not beliefs. This all sounds confusing, but I hope I will successfully explain by the end.

Denominations

Although many people use the fact that there are different denominations under the Christian faith because of conflict, I believe that this is due to discovery. These denominations popped up as people began to study the Bible and its truths for themselves after the divergence from Roman Catholicism. The Bible is filled with so much information that there is no way that at first read human kind knew everything there was to know. As a new truth was discovered, some accepted while others rejected. This feud probably caused for the break to occur.

Non-denominational Churches

I think this was such a great thing that people stopped categorizing themselves and just delved fully into the Word without considering any restraints that a denomination may place on them. There were finally churches that said, "Hey, we're believers! We just want to learn about God and love God and do His will!" Yet, I've heard of people saying that they don't do certain things because they don't have a denomination. This confuses me because you not having a denomination means you want to learn everything and that you are just trying to serve God in the way that He asks of us. Why bother rejecting any part of the Bible or any of it's truths? Some people, I feel, ignore overall the law of God  but accept fully the love part. God is love but also just. 

Your father may have disciplined you when you were a child, but you knew he loved you and did it for your own good. In the same way, God has rules BECAUSE he loves you. He doesn't say don't do it because I said so, He says so because he knows what it can do to you. All Christians need to stop hiding behind whatever doctrine they do or don't have and start delving into the Bible. We need to rekindle a true zeal for God and all that He is  so that our fellow man can see what it means to love God and love man. God hasn't changed His mind about anything but did remind us about love (Matthew 5), so let's take what he has said and bring it into our lives.

Foods

Someone told me that I should invest in Kosher marshmallows, so I was looking it up. When I saw the price (4.99 for a small pack), my first thought was why am I even doing this? So, I looked up the ingredients of marshmallows and found that it's made up of sugar, high fructose corn syrup and gelatin. Now curious as to what's in gelatin, I look that up too. Gelatin is boiled animal skin, bones and tendons. The liquid is left for the fat to rise to the top so it can be scraped off. Then, sweetener is added. Naturally, this is a simplified version of the process. The point is, I have been looking up information about foods that have this ingredient. Below is a list I have compiled of foods that contain this.

Candy corn

marshmallows
Rice Krispie Treats
Poptarts (the inside)
Mentos
Gummy candies (ie: gummy worms, starbursts, peach rings, etc)
Sweethearts
Trident Layers Gum
Velveeta shredded cheese



The following list are of foods that sometimes contain gelatin but not always.

fruit snacks
cheesecake
gums
foods from McDonalds


There are many more foods that contain gelatin, so just read the labels are be more conscientious eater.

As a sort of disclaimer, gelatin is used to thicken many foods, especially sweets. It's also used to preserve some fruits and other foods. It's a very widely used agent. This post is just for those who are trying to avoid the ingestion of any form of pig and for vegans to be aware of what they are eating.