People often wonder why the Church has so many different denominations if we all believe the same things. It is becoming more and more common for people to not identify with any particular denomination, as one might feel that is focusing too much on division. For a long time I felt this way; that we should focus on the core of the Gospel and our unifying belief, and not get distracted by the small differences we have amongst ourselves. While I still do think the focus on our common faith in Jesus Christ is what is most important, I do believe that having different denominations has an important purpose in the Church, and can actually allow it to become more beautiful in its diversity. I think that the best way to illustrate this would be to use the analogy of the Spanish language as the Church.

Amongst Latin American countries, there are many different accents. A Mexican will probably sound much different than a Spaniard, and a Guatemalan much different than a Peruvian, much like the different parts of the United States. While people of these countries all speak Spanish, they speak it with different accents. This doesn't mean that any countries speak Spanish "better", but rather, differently, even though some may believe that their country speaks Spanish "the best."

The Church is much like this, and each denomination has its own "accent," or way of loving God. While we all worship the same God, one can love God with a "Baptist accent" or a "Reformed accent," without the beauty being diminished. Perhaps one could see Spain as the Catholic Church, as it is the origin for the other accents, but it is not better than any of its counterparts; it's just different. Spain has a very different accent than the other Latin American countries, and Catholics love God in a very different way than Protestants, but they are all still speaking the same "language."

I'd like to add a disclaimer that sometimes there are issues that are so important in their differences that the language is no longer the same. Judaism perhaps is like Latin, which although has the roots of the Spanish language, would not be considered Spanish if one was speaking it. Something like Mormonism may be similar to Portuguese, which although has many traits of Spanish, is not Spanish but rather another language.

If we are able to realize that we are all worshipping God, but with different accents, it can really enhance the beauty of the Church. We don't need to try to change each other's accents, but rather speak with them in our common language, and love God and others together in our common faith -- perhaps just in slightly different ways. In doing this, we are able to see the beauty of the Church in all its diversity, but while also maintaining the same faith in Jesus Christ.