Which Church is the Right One?
- judymcclary
- Jun 16, 2019
- 2 min read
I have not been able to forget how disturbed that young waitress was about which denomination was the 'right' one and what part water baptism should play as she was adjusting to being newly-pregnant and wondering which steps she would need to take to get her baby "right with God."
Her problem with the contradicting salvation doctrines in the various churches is not that unusual. Most know the worldwide church has two branches, two different water baptisms and they teach two, wildly-different ways of gaining heaven.
It wasn't that many weeks later that I was flying home from Orlando, Florida where I had been on a business trip with my husband when I met a lady - this time an elderly lady - who was struggling with the same question.
I entered the plane early and settled in my seat as others were being boarded. I pulled my Bible out of my carry-on, thinking I could get in a little reading as I waited. It was not long before a woman in her mid-seventies entered the plane and started moving slowly down the aisle. When she came to my row, she matched her ticket to the aisle seat beside me, sat down and began making conversation.

She volunteered that she was on her way to Phoenix where she and most of her six children were gathering for Thanksgiving the next day. She said she and her husband had been farmers in Iowa but she was alone now and owned a small condo in Florida. Noting my open Bible, she said she had been raised Methodist but married a Catholic. She had taken instruction in the Catholic Church before marriage and had signed over her children to be raised in the Catholic faith.
Growing up, none of the children had been religious, she said, but now two were attending Lutheran churches, one was still Roman Catholic, two had joined the Mormon church, and the last had become a Pentecostal. She said this diversity of religions was threatening to tear her family apart.
“I tell them all roads lead to heaven,” she said. “I tell them ‘don’t talk about religion,’ but my Pentecostal son says all roads do not lead to heaven. He tells his brothers and sisters they aren’t even going to get there unless they find out what the Bible says about salvation!”
She sighed, “It’s getting so I hate to even go to family gatherings anymore!”
I asked what she believed and she pondered my question before answering. Finally, she said, “To tell you the truth, I don’t know...
... but I’m getting older—and I need to know!”
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