One of the comments on my post about forgiveness described how not forgiving within the Church is one of the reasons for the Church's many divisions. This is a good point, disagreements within the Church have led to schisms. And, as we are commanded to forgive by Christ, it is essential that we do so. I think that there are many more reasons for the Church's divisions, but this comment was a good reminder. It also got me thinking about just how many denominations exist within the Church today...A lot.
The Church seems to be divided on every point and in every direction. And, now that I've been on Revelife for about a month, I'm seeing those divisions first hand. We've got Catholics and every form of Protestant. Charismatic, Presbyterian, Congregationalist, Lutheran...the list goes on. To note, I'm impressed most of the time with how people from very different backgrounds interact with each other on the site. Generally, the open forum is pretty understanding of a variety of Christian views. But- I want to ask the question- what is up with these divides in the Church? And, more importantly, is it Biblical that the Church is so split up?
To start, growing up when I asked my Dad what kind of Christians we were he would tell me just to say "Christian" and nothing more. When asked for a denomination, my Church technically was of a certain kind, but I didn't ascribe my beliefs from one doctrine. And, while to many this is highly un-clear I cannot be more thankful for his response. I was raised in a family where the Bible was primary. This was my doctrine. My Dad is a great teacher and strong believer, and I learned a lot from him. So,we weren't "Christian" only in name. Keeping my denomination unknown was a blessing. Today I simply call myself Christian, and if more clarification is needed I guess I fall under the "Protestant" umbrella.
And yes, I know that doctrine is a good thing. I'm minoring in Religious Studies at school with a focus on the Protestant Reformation. I love studying doctrine, it is really interesting to me. Having studied this subject a bit I also have at least a small basis for understanding why we have so many denominations and divisions in the Church. But...that is pretty dry and I don't want to go into it. What I do want to say is- given the many denominations we see today, what should we Christians do?? How should we act? How do we interact with other Churches, other beliefs etc.
If you want the short answer, here it is: Love. This is our utmost command and the we are especially called to love our brothers and sisters in Christ (Jesus says that they should recognize us as Christians by the way we love each other). Divisions in the Church do pose a small problem to this command. But, "love covers over a multitude of sins" (1 Peter 4:8)- and in this case we're not even necessarily talking about sins, just differences (and maybe some sins...?).
I think it comes down to this- if someone believes in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and you do to, then they are your brother or sister in Christ. You have to love your brother or sister in Christ, not because I say so, but because Jesus Christ says so. Love God first, with everything you are, and then love your neighbor. I think that it is important that there isn't rule 1.5 that says, "and love thy doctrine of baptism before thy neighbor."
When I had half of this post up a really good, thoughtful comment was made that if we hold out the Truth and believe that the Truth is manifest in good doctrine then we love our fellow Christians by putting forth good doctrine. I agree, this is totally valid. I do think, though, that on certain points of doctrine Biblical interpretation is simply disagreed upon- and a lot of the time I get no where trying to tell people otherwise.
Further, and more importantly, we are supposed to love God with everything we are. As we love Him and draw close to Him we come to know His heart better. God loves His flock. We might not love each other very well, but He is all about loving us. So, whether we like it or not, He really loves that person with the wacky doctrine and wants us to encourage them in Him. Yes, one of the ways we definitely should do that is by putting forth the Truth. But also, if that person believes in the Gospel, we can relax in the fact that God has got them. Our doctrine isn't going to save them more or less. When they've got Jesus, they've got Jesus.
If you want to check out more on this- two really good places in Scripture to look are 1 Corinthians 3- where Paul tells the Corinthian Church NOT to have divisions (following Paul vs. Apollos) and also to see that Jesus Christ is the foundation- no man other than Jesus should we follow. Another good passage is Romans 14 where Paul discusses the strong and the weak. He commands the strong to bear with the weak, for though the strong know that they are free in Christ (he uses the example that they can "eat" anything) the weak do not understand their freedom fully (can only eat veggies, funny in light of the Jesus was He a vegetarian post on Revelife). The strong should not hinder the weak be understanding and slowly encourage them to become stronger.
Either way- lets fix our eyes on Jesus and not on ourselves or on rules. Good doctrine is great and necessary, but don't let it overshadow the Gospel and goodness of Christ. Doctrine should simply serve to bring greater glory to God, not to ourselves. Amen.
Comments (2)
There must be agreement on the basics of the Gospel. There are many churches which do not teach the need for regeneration as well as the sufficiency of Christ to save. Paul talks about the unity we have in Christ at the the beginning of Ephesians 4, but then notice how Paul talks about the need to be rooted in truth, right doctrine. That's our unity: our common birthright by His Spirit and our common doctrinal foundation (on the essentials). We can't ignore essential differences for the sake of love, and actually it's not loving if we ignore such differences and say nothing.
yes, i definitely agree, and that makes sense. when it comes to certain points of doctrine, though, (especially concerning communion, for example) both sides just won't budge- there is just a simple disagreement over the meaning of the Scripture. good doctrine is something I really value and like to study- and when it comes to these smaller points, I do have opinions on what is True and what is not True...I need to keep in mind, though, that what makes an individual "Christian" is their belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. These smaller points are important, but we need to fix our eyes on Jesus. I also would reference Romans 14-- "Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgement on disputable mtters. One man's faith allows him to eat everything, bot another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who east everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him." (Romans 14:1-3)
I do think there are a lot of Churches with doctrine that can be shown as entirely incorrect by Scripture...and that is a problem. it is loving to expose that. All the same, if a Church is turning people to Christ and proclaiming the Gospel in Truth...and they have some doctrinal points that I disagree with...while I wouldn't support their poor doctrine, I would have to support the Gospel.This is a really interesting issue, though. And more complex than I'm going to be able to capture in this post. I still have to finish writing it :)