There seems to be a lot of judgment within the body of Christ between different denominations, churches and even within churches themselves. The kind of judgment I am referring to here is judgment based upon differences of opinion. Where someone states that someone cannot be a Christian or follower of Christ for differences of opinion, differing interpretations of scripture, etc.
However, I am reminded of Jesus words to his disciples:
38 Now John answered Him, saying, “Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us.” 39 But Jesus said, “Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me. 40 For he who is not against us is on our side. 41 For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward. (Mark 9:38-41)
I think so many times we, as believers, are quick to disassociate with each other or label someone as a heretic or apostate based upon our opinion of them when we don’t have all of the facts. I think of folks who say that well-known personalities are not Christian for any number of reasons. But in fact their “opinion” comes without due diligence. It is based upon something they have heard from a third party like the media or a friend, but in reality they’ve probably never even held a conversation with the subject of their criticism.
I can’t judge whether any of you are right or wrong before the Lord, because I am not personally involved in any of your lives. But my hope in being here is that we can deal with issues, and learn from mistakes made. Our own, and each other’s.
I will say that having personally suffered under the heavy hand of someone in leadership, it has made me re-evaluate my own heart. Most times finding that I was just as guilty (on some level) as the one who wronged me toward someone else.
Hopefully, I am a stronger man for my experience. And hopefully I will not make the same mistake when in similar situations, because except for the grace of God there go I.
It saddens me to see the disunity in the body of Christ at large. We all think that we have the correct way of thinking. That we alone possess God’s plan for reaching the lost, when in reality we’ve simply placed God in a box. We’ve tied His hands by stating what He will and will not use and do.
I wonder how He feels about our haste to forbid those (who call themselves by His name) from accomplishing God’s will simply because they don’t follow us?
heretic
i agree with you. it is very sad that we arent unified. as francis schaeffer wrote, we cant show the world that we are christians without loving each other. and division demonstrates that we are no different than the world. thereby we cant be as powerful a witness as God intended because of our petty divisions.
personally, i grew up in a “orthodox” protestant background. i always believe the orthodox view of the trinity with no questioning at all. but recently i finished a church history book. and i discovered that the arian “heresy” wasnt as heretical as we make it seem today. arius believed that Jesus was divine and that He was one with God, but not in the same way the “orthodox” believers thought. arius believed God begot Jesus before the universe was created (firstborn from among creation so that in him…) and then He created the world. personally, while i tend to lean toward the orthodox understanding of Scripture, we cant prove arius right or wrong. his theory does line up with Scripture. and in some ways better.
the bottomline, i think it is very very very sad that thousands (if not millions of christians) were persecuted and rejected by fellow believers for many centuries because they didnt exactly agree with Jesus’ relationship with God. interestingly, the “orthodox” term of “one substance” was suggested by constantine (who was still a pagan), not by any of the bishops at nicea. i dont think we can truly PROVE or KNOW which is correct, but even if arius can be PROVED wrong, then we shouldnt split over it. God, i think based upon Scripture, cares less about orthodoxy than orthopraxy. besides, the “orthodox” view of trinity is never a basis for our salvation in scripture. the only basis is faith in Jesus.
anyway, just my perspective
shalom
peter
I tend to agree, too, Heretic. As the cliche goes, we should have unity on the essentials, liberty on the nonessentials, and charity on all things. I think that we should focus on the essentials and allow room for disagreement on nonessential things.
But, the problem with this is that folks can’t agree on what is essential or not. If we just had a list that said: “This is essential, there can be no compromise” life would be easier, but no list will ever agree.
I’ve talked a lot with a Disciples of Christ guy. I’m in the Christian Church, another branch of the “unity movement” with the DoC. We split about 50 years ago. He believes that we should have unity NO MATTER WHAT, even with those who don’t agree that Jesus is God or that the bible is the Word of God. I think that we should have unity, but only with those who agree on the essentials (though we can work with everyone for common goals like feeding the poor, etc.). Just a difference of viewing unity, I guess.
You’re right, though, our division, and especially the hatred that goes with that often makes us look no better, or worse, than the world.
Great post heretic and great comments, peter and sprocket! I couldn’t agree more. I read a blog the other day that someone wrote about how liberalism is sweeping through the church deceiving people and causing them to depart from the living God. He had a list of things but the ones that had me baffled were instruments, humming and clapping during service. He says we will be departing from the living God by doing these things. Since it goes along with what you’re saying here -this was part of my response:
I think there are some things that Christians can have a difference of opinion on and there isn’t necessarily a right or wrong in God’s eyes. Using the music for example – you may not think music should be used and I can believe it should be but that doesn’t mean that one of us is right and the other is wrong in God’s eyes, we just worship in a different way. I think that’s okay. I think where we have to be careful is when we start changing what Scripture says to fit our wants and desires. An example of this would be homosexuals holding positions in the church and teaching that it’s okay to be a homosexual. (This is something going on in some denominations and it’s causing splits.) The Bible clearly teaches that this is wrong so to say otherwise is teaching against Scripture. In my opinion, these are two totally different things. One is a worship style and the other is a sinful lifestyle. I think too many churches split over things that don’t really matter in the whole scheme of things. We need to be teaching about Jesus and what He did for us and not worry about little things. There is a good analogy I heard someone use once that I think is fabulous – we have a closed hand and an open hand, in the closed hand we have the things that we are not willing to waiver on, such as Jesus being the Son of God, the virgin birth, the resurrection – things of that nature. In the open hand we have things that people interpret different ways and that don’t affect a person’s salvation – these would be denominational issues such as the music, speaking in toungues, alter calls, things like that that each church might do differently. Let’s worry about the closed hand things and not the open hand things.
Just as stated above – “our division, and especially the hatred that goes with that often makes us look no better, or worse, than the world”
momlbah-
Good comments. I agree. There are certain non-negotiables for followers of Christ, but the rest should not bring division. We should celebrate those differences, realizing and knowing that God is unfathomable! He cannot be contained by any liturgy or denomination.
Hey, Heretic! Glad to have you back! I just found your blog not long before you left so I’ve been anxiously awaiting your return.
My favorite part of this post:
It saddens me to see the disunity in the body of Christ at large. We all think that we have the correct way of thinking. That we alone possess God’s plan for reaching the lost, when in reality we’ve simply placed God in a box. We’ve tied His hands by stating what He will and will not use and do.
Amen to that, brother! While there are certainly requisites to being “a Christian” as defined in the Bible, there is a lot of room for differing opinions that in the long run, don’t affect the central message. How dare you say it was a whale, it says it was a “big fish”! Christ wasn’t born under a rocky overhang, we all know it was in a stable, and three kings came and visited Him that night, which was obviously on December 25th.
The problem comes in that every denomination defines additional “rules” as requisites and anyone with another opinion is obviously, well, a heretic.
Whether it’s speaking in tongues as the only evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit, confirmation, or baptism, many denominations tack on a few more requirements, much as the Pharisees of Christ’s day. No eating on the Sabbath. No dancing. Nothing with a rock tempo. No drinking. No burning the American flag, as that is the ultimate disrespect, unless of course you’re an 80 year old WWII vet who realized the flag touched the ground and then burning it is the ultimate respect.
Sorry for the digression…..