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Let's say someone is looking for the best Christian church/group/denomination, a place where they hope to find the right kind of fellowship, support and the teaching of accurate and sound doctrines. For such a seeker, there should be nothing better than being guided by God Himself to the right church. Which Christian denominations or groups consider themselves to be in that position, with such a degree of confidence that they openly invite/challenge people to ask God Himself for confirmation that they are the right church? I know that Latter-day Saints are one example. Are there any others?

A somewhat related question: Do any Christian groups/denominations encourage their members to seek personal revelations from the Holy Spirit to accurately interpret Scripture?

  • I don't perceive the Mormon experience as being meaningfully different than that of Pentecostals, for instance; both seek for a physical manifestation of the divine, to prove to themselves that their respective faiths are true. –  Aug 21 '21 at 12:54
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    I can't imagine there are any denominations that are so scared of being wrong that they discourage their people from praying to God for guidance. – curiousdannii Aug 21 '21 at 13:23
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    @curiousdannii - but that's not quite the same as actively, openly and explicitly encouraging the opposite. They could just be silent about it. –  Aug 21 '21 at 15:30
  • @Lucian both seek for a physical manifestation of the divine, to prove to themselves that their respective faiths are true. - I don't know about Pentacostals, but I'm pretty sure Mormons don't seek a physical manifestation of the divine. Mormon testimonies are usually about being "filled with the holy spirit" when they read the book or mormon, or listen to a prophets words. Very few Mormons ever profess to have an experience they would describe as a "physical manifestation". Unless you're referring to "being filled with the holy spirit" itself as a physical manifestation. – TKoL Aug 21 '21 at 16:00
  • If I'm misinterpreting that, @Lucian, let me know. The most immediate interpretation of the phrase "physical manifestation" is like an appearance of a god or an angel in front of you, a la Paul's experience on the road to Damascus. – TKoL Aug 21 '21 at 16:02
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    @TKoL: See burning in the bosom. –  Aug 21 '21 at 16:07
  • Right okay. Sorry, this is the first time I've ever heard that referred to as a 'physical manifestation'. – TKoL Aug 21 '21 at 16:43
  • There is only one rightful church: the Catholic Church. Some other churches may be theologically correct too (the Eastern Orthodox) but nonetheless the Catholic is the one all Christians should be part of. – LoveForChrist Sep 06 '21 at 13:44
  • @LoveForChrist - And the basis for this claim is ... ? –  Sep 06 '21 at 15:58
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    Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich: "The Church is the only one, the Roman Catholic! And if there were left upon earth but one Catholic, he would be the one, universal Church, the Catholic Church, the Church of Jesus Christ against which the gates of Hell shall never prevail" https://www.olrl.org/prophecy/emmerich.shtml – LoveForChrist Sep 06 '21 at 16:23
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    And by giving Stigmata only to Catholics, God Himself shows us that the Catholic Church is the only rightful church. – LoveForChrist Sep 06 '21 at 16:24
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    This question contains a strange premise: namely that one or another denomination may be right "for me" as opposed to right because it contains the fullness of Christian truth. Denominations split primarily over matters of doctrine, so one would think that a better approach would be asking God to lead us to the truth, rather than the right church "for us." The right church for everyone is the right church absolutely speaking. – jaredad7 Feb 03 '22 at 16:24

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I'll assume that researching what the Bible actually says rather than blindly accepting what the minister says is a form of "asking God for confirmation".

The original Worldwide Church of God explicitly encouraged people to test what it taught, facts and doctrines that often contradicted mainstream Christianity (or Churchianity, as they often referred to it).

Twenty years after Herbert W. Armstrong's death, I am still trying to do what he told everyone. "Blow the dust off your Bible and prove it for yourself. Don't believe me, believe the Bible." He clarified so many truths with Scripture that it became too easy for us all.
— "Blow the Dust Off Your Bible"; "Purify the Bride"; "Hold Fast": Remembering Mr. Armstrong | United Church of God

Most of the groups that formed following the breakup of the church still preach that same philosophy. For instance:

As he [Roderick C. Meredith] so often said with great power and emotion, “Dust off your Bible! Don’t believe me because I say it! Believe it because you read it in your own Bible!” He often challenged his audience to “check up on me!” In other words, check up on what he was teaching and prove for yourself whether he was right or wrong. How often do you hear mainstream ministers challenge you to do that?
— "He Tells It Like It Is!" | Living Church of God

Their message is quite different from those organizations whose preachers appeal to emotion rather than to logic, and the exact opposite of the one that requires one to believe what their leader says because he is infallible.

Anne
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Ray Butterworth
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  • I think @TKoL (edit: who appears to have deleted his message) has a good point. If the WCG relies very heavily on logical reasoning and encourages skepticism in its members, how do they convince people that the Bible is true in the first place? –  Aug 21 '21 at 15:39
  • @SpiritRealmInvestigator sorry, deleted my post because I don't think my comment was relevant to the OP's question. Ray gave a pertninent answer, and whether or not the preacher in question assumes the bible is infallible truth is not necessarily relevant to that question. For posterity's sake, I'll repeat what I commented: the exact opposite of the one that requires one to believe what their leader says because he is infallible does not seem entirely on point, if the preacher in question is still preaching that the Bible itself is infallible. – TKoL Aug 21 '21 at 15:51
  • @TKoL, that line, admittedly a gratuitous job, should perhaps not have been part of my answer. The point is that the WCG appealed to people that believe the Bible is true, but are much more rational and logical people than they are emotional people. Many members of various denominations accepted God's truth, but questioned what their preachers were telling them. The WCG offered them logical and reasonable answers to their questions and doubts. – Ray Butterworth Aug 22 '21 at 00:18
  • @SpiritRealmInvestigator asks "how do they convince people that the Bible is true in the first place?". They don't, at least not "in the first place". Their mission is to evangelize (proclaim the message to the world and personally set a lifestyle example to the world), not to proselytize (convert people). From the millions that hear the message, a few will be called by God to join them. E.g. see Tomorrow's World, 2021 April–May — Editorial – Ray Butterworth Sep 06 '21 at 13:34
  • @SpiritRealmInvestigator asks "how do they convince people that the Bible is true …?". Their approach is generally one of logic and reasoning, not of emotional appeal. Typically they show that many popular "Christian" beliefs are non-biblical, and then show that much of biblical prophecy has already happened, or currently appears to be about to happen, letting the Bible prove itself. E.g. (from a different group than the link in my previous comment): Is the Bible True? | United Church of God. – Ray Butterworth Sep 06 '21 at 13:40
  • @RayButterworth - regarding Biblical prophecy, I recently asked a question that you might be interested in: Is there a consensus among Christian scholars / apologists as to which Biblical prophecies have been fulfilled?. And regarding the overall divine inspiration of the Bible, I asked this question as well: What are the strongest arguments for the belief that the Bible was supernaturally inspired by God? –  Sep 06 '21 at 15:56