I have somewhat of a different perspective on the divisions that resulted from the reformation.
I think back to the tower of Babel, and the religious paradigm that was being erected there. A religion of unity... But one that espoused self preservation and built on a sense of fear of judgement. Much like what Adam and Eve did after the fall and hiding in the bushes with self made clothing.
Anyway, the spirit that built Babel didn't go away even after the division. But the division was necessary and was accomplished by God to break up the apostasy. The CC is a modern manifestation of Babel... Babylon the Great. In order to break up that apostasy there again had to be division. People have to be removed from error before truth can take hold... God says "come out of her My people"... So while the system is apostate, God still has people within that system... But he calls on them to divide... To separate themselves from what will eventually destroy them. The unity in Christ that we all desire and seek must come after division. While many point to the numerous discordant voices of Protestantism add evidence of error and dysfunction, I see it as a necessary process before the final unifying move of the holy Spirit that will bring all surrendered believers into Christ.
In Revelation we read of the Laodicea church that is luke warm. Note that there is no rebuke from Christ over doctrine, but over attitude. If the church was cold, the people would sense their need and come to Christ. If they were hot, and perhaps fanatics, they could be balanced out... But Laodicea had no sense of the need... They were self satisfied and content in their seeming affluence and comfort.. Both physically and spiritually. Yet it is within that Laodicea church, the final church before the second coming, that we find a doctrinally correct church and which will be found unified before the end...a repentant church...a church no longer luke warm...a church surrendered and filled with the holy Spirit..a church devoid of idols, complacency, and in which is found no guile. The church that will... Is... Taking the everlasting gospel to all nations Kings tongues and peoples in these last days.
The church today is being divided, not into 1000s of disparate groups, but into two. Spiritual Babylon and spiritual Israel. The sheep and the goats... Wheat and tares.
Not sure if the above makes any sense to anyone... But it does to me. Lol. That's the way I see it.
What went wrong at Babel? The world had already been divided according to tribes. The people were supposed to cover the earth and subdue it. There were supposed to be differences, just as there are differences in the Body of Christ in its members. Each nation should have its own unique style; and when they all accomplish that, they fit together. That is why the multitude before the throne must have people from every nation. The whole wouldn't be complete otherwise; something would be missing.
Instead the people disobeyed the commandment to go subdue the earth and wanted to build their own way up into Heaven. Man's way was using bricks. Easy to use since they're all alike. Trying to make every nation alike might seem the way to promote harmony; but to do that, you have to reduce people to a slavish mentality. They have to be talked into believing the way to Heaven is by using human means, with everyone thinking alike taking orders from one authority.
Christianity was fine when there were three centers of authority: Rome, Antioch and Alexandria. They minded their own business. Rome exceeded its role at time when it insisted too much that everyone else had to follow them. That was exhibiting a Babylonish tendency. That is like your hand looking at your foot and criticizing it. Rome should have a role if problems existed between Antioch and Alexandria. If Rome could be called the head, they should have reconciled things so Antioch and Alexandria cooperated. It was that way for a while too. They would write the Pope, saying they had a problem and asking him to reconcile it. He would answer, and both parties agreed. They remained different members of the body, seeing things from different perspectives, but they found out how to live in harmony.
Your head doesn't tell your feet and eyes to behave the same way. It wouldn't work. The head gets messages from the eyes and then sends messages to the feet about what to do. The head is coordinating things. If your stomach says it needs food, your head hears that; then it uses the eyes to look around, and the feet to go get it.
God confounded the tongues at Babel so they couldn't believe everyone had to think the same way. Then they moved out and spread across the earth according to the commandment.
It is also interesting that people with a slavish mentality may keep that mentality even after being called out. This error of slavish thinking needed to be corrected -- and God told him that his children would have to be in bondage in Egypt. They had a Pharaoh who oppressed them and refused to allow religious freedom -- the Babylon type of thinking. Then when they were called out, most of them still had that slavish mentality. They talked about going back since they missed the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic. They did not enter the Land of Promise, but they also didn't go back to Egypt. They followed the Pillar and all perished in the wilderness; but their children entered.
