ONE

I have been looking for a new church in the area that I just moved into, and this morning I was contemplating the differences between denominations. As I was contemplating this, I started wondering why there are so many different denominations and what happened in our history to bring about our current state. Sure I learned about the reformation in history classes, but it obviously didn’t stop there and in fact is still continuing today. Seems like every time I turn around some new denomination has popped up. Hell, even “non-denominational” is becoming a denomination of its own. So while I was thinking on all this, a little rant started bubbling up in my head and I thought I ought to put it down on paper (well… computer really… but it’s a figure of speech). So here goes:

Disclaimer: I do not fancy myself a biblical scholar or a theologian. There are simply my own opinions. And I certainly don’t claim to be some sort of prophet with a message from God… (yet I don’t think He would necessarily disagree with me).

God knew what He was doing when he inspired men to write the bible (He’s God… He’s no dummy). Therefore the way it’s written must have been intentional. What I mean is that the things that are clear cut are clear cut on purpose, and the things that are ambiguous are so because He intended them to be. The bible leaves no room for error on things that are central to our salvation, for example: Jesus is the only way to salvation. The bible says over and over, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” There is no confusion here. However there are other topics that are less clear. On one page it will give the clear impression that we choose Christ for ourselves and on the next it will say “In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ.” Or even more confounding, “And those He predestined, He also called.” Wait… doesn’t ‘called’ kind of imply a need to answer, and isn’t answering something we do of our own prerogative? How can we be predestined and called at the same time? What?!

Here’s my take on all this: God didn’t want to just spoon feed us everything like we’re babies. Sure when we start our walk down this path called Christianity we are like infants, not knowing anything and needing to be carried and nursed. And God does that. He makes plain the things we most desperately need to learn and understand at that stage. He spoon feeds us just enough to make us strong enough to stand on our own two theological feet, then He sets us down and lets us teeter away on our wobbly little toddler legs. As we grow in our faith and become stronger He wants us to stretch and use our brains. That’s why I think He built some ambiguity into the bible. He wanted to leave some mystery to it. If it were all plain we could read it once and know everything there is to know about God and faith and life, and then we would never read it again and become bored and stagnant in our faith (which needless to say would not be good). God made some things a mystery to encourage us to search and question and debate and wonder and just generally do things that involve thinking about Him. Hmmm… God wants us to occupy our minds with His word… go figure.

So where does this fit in with all these splits in the church, with these schisms? Here’s what I think is going on: different people within a church interpret what I will call ‘the ambiguous doctrines’ (predestination, infant baptism, etc.) differently. Instead of allowing this to foster lively discussion and study of the word, people are arrogant. The leaders of the church insist that since they are leaders they must be right and if anyone does not agree they must be blasphemers! Those who disagree with the leaders insist that they are right, the leaders must be corrupt, and they go off and start their own church. Now that of course is my much shortened, slightly dramatized version… but you get the picture. But here’s the rub: there are so many nuances and mysteries woven into the bible, that when it comes down to it, it may be hard to find more that three educated people who agree on absolutely everything. So this group that has just split off will find a new topic that they can’t agree on and will split again, and so on until we are nothing more than a bunch of individuals, each with ever so slightly different doctrines.

This scenario may be dark and may be far fetched but it doesn’t have to go that far to be a problem. I believe that it already is a problem within the global church. While we spend our time worrying and splitting up over ambiguous doctrines that we may not find the true answer to this side of heaven, one more thing that the bible is perfectly clear on is the importance and necessity of the church. We are to be ONE church, ONE body united with Christ as the head. How have we come so far from that image? Look how we have let the devil tear us apart and tear us down.

This is my plea to all who call themselves Christians: Do not be so vain as to think that you and you alone know and understand the entire bible. Do not presume to know the depths of the mystery of God. Do not close your eyes and close the door on your brother when he does not agree with you. Do not give the devil a foothold.