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 Disagreeing Our Way to Heaven By Marvin Moore
Lets make it even worse. Suppose there were a law that everyone had to look alike. People who insisted on keeping their own appearance would be hauled into the hospital by the police, forced onto the operating table, and their faces would be cut up and sewed back together to fit the common pattern. How silly to imagine a world like that, you say. I agree. God made peoples faces and bodies different, and I have yet to meet anyone who thought that arrangement a mistake. It would be a very mixed-up world any other way. Isnt it strange, then, that some people really do believe that everyone ought to be the samenot in their appearance, to be sure, but in the way they think? Its a sad fact that Christians have been among the worlds worst offenders on this point. They wring their hands at the hundreds of denominations in America today because they think that Christs prayer that all of them may be one 1 means that we must all believe the same. But God didnt make people to think alike any more than He made them to look alike. Forcing people to think alike is intellectual plastic surgery, and theres a word for that: persecution. The fact that God made us to think differently just as He made us to look different from one another explains why there are so many denominations today. People dont think alike, so, instead of bunching themselves into one big church, they group themselves according to their differences. Lets put it down as a foundation principle of Christian unity, then, that God does not require everyone to believe the same way in order for his church to be healthy. If that is true, then what does Paul mean when he wrote of the time he looked forward to when we all reach unity in the faith?2 I believe there are two ways that Christians can be one. Secrets of Christian Unity 1. Unity in diversity. This phrase means accepting peoples differences rather than quarreling over them. When we accept the ways in which others differ from us culturally, when we see where we can benefit from their understanding of things, then our own minds expand and we grow. Personally, I enjoy reading books whose authors differ from my way of thinking. Often I find that they present points I had missed. And in those places where I disagree with a writer, I am forced to think through why, and my own mind is sharpened. The greatest proof of unity in diversity comes when Christians who disagree on certain points can put their arms around one another and say, I accept you as a brother in Christ even though I disagree with some of your beliefs. I expect to see you in Gods kingdom too. The tragedy of American Christianity is not the multiplicity of denominations, but the way some denominations tear others down. Its perfectly all right to disagree and to say so, provided we respect and care for one another in spite of our differences. 2. Love your enemies. Theres no one harder to love then the person you hate. Yet those are the very people Jesus told us to try hardest to love. Love your enemies, He said. Bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who persecute you. 3 Did you ever stop to think who your enemies are? Well, the Communists, for one, you say. And of course the Mafia, the Nazis, and the Democrats [or the Republicans, if youre a Democrat]. No, those are not the enemies you normally encounter. A police officer helped me understand who my real enemies are. Nearly all murders are committed by close friends or relatives of the victim, he said. I couldnt believe it, so I asked why. Murder is a crime of profound anger, he explained. Few people are angry enough at a total stranger to pull out a gun and shoot him. Its the people you live with who irritate you. Eventually some people get frustrated enough that they lose control and kill those who have made them angry. Think of it. The enemy can be your own family, your best friend. The one whom God tells you to love is that blob sitting in front of the TV all afternoon watching the football game. Its the battle-ax who nags you from the moment you walk in the door after work till you fall into bed at night. Help me to love . . . I had a friend who lived for several years in a foreign culture. He told me how hard it had been at first. I thought they were cold and unfriendly and downright rude, he said. Finally, I said, Lord, Youve got to change them or me. I was sure He didnt intend to change all of them, so it had to be me. I asked Him to help me love all those people. Each day my friend prayed that prayer, even when it seemed hopeless. Gradually I began to see them in a different light, he said. Before long I was happy, and I lived with them several more years. Think of the church splits that could be avoided and the families that could be salvaged if each member disciplined himself to pray, Help me to love that person I dislike. The supreme example of Someone who loved those who hated Him is Jesus, who, on the cross, exclaimed, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. 4 If Jesus could say that of those who murdered Him, then surely you and I can say it of those who gossip about us, who cheat us, or who shun us. Surely, we can say it about the husband, wife, or child who gets so irritating, or about the fellow church member who simply cant recognize the right way to do things even when its explained plainly to him. When people do things that disrupt our calm, God asks us to do two things: Accept them as different, and keep on loving them. The key to Christian unity is not getting everyone to believe alike so we can bottle them up in a big superchurch. The key is respect for the different ideas of others, learning from them where we can, and loving them even when they are hateful to us. Thats what Paul had in mind when he said, Until we all reach unity in the faith. 5 Its what Jesus meant when He prayed that all of them may be one. 6 Marvin Moore is editor of Signs of the Times®. ______________________________ 1 2 3 4 5 6 |
        
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