"Boy Scouts of America" is a protected name. A boy could conform to all the obligations of "scouting" but wouldn't "be" a Boy Scout unless he officially joined.
If there had been copywrite laws 2000 years ago the denomination problem would not exist. The Jerusalem Synod would have "owned" the name "Christian" and its variations and probably owned "Christian" baptism and communion. Any organization that wanted to call itself "Christian" would have to associate with the Synod.
Instead, the historical church was inclusionary. Anyone could call himself a Christian (but there was no social advantage for doing so). The church solved the problem of heresies by the ecumenical creeds. Any person who agreed to the truth of the creeds was included.
My local congregation accepts anyone who is baptized as a Christian and who accepts the ecumenical creeds as a Christian and is welcome to join us in communion. Our unique catechisms (only) control membership for purposes of voting in congregational meetings and office holding.
Any other eccleasical (sp?) system requires reinventing the wheel every generation.
If there had been copywrite laws 2000 years ago the denomination problem would not exist. The Jerusalem Synod would have "owned" the name "Christian" and its variations and probably owned "Christian" baptism and communion. Any organization that wanted to call itself "Christian" would have to associate with the Synod.
Instead, the historical church was inclusionary. Anyone could call himself a Christian (but there was no social advantage for doing so). The church solved the problem of heresies by the ecumenical creeds. Any person who agreed to the truth of the creeds was included.
My local congregation accepts anyone who is baptized as a Christian and who accepts the ecumenical creeds as a Christian and is welcome to join us in communion. Our unique catechisms (only) control membership for purposes of voting in congregational meetings and office holding.
Any other eccleasical (sp?) system requires reinventing the wheel every generation.