So this weekend I drove up to Dayton, OH with my grandparents and some other family for a weekend family reunion of sorts. On the way up we were talking and someone in the car made an observation that I've never thought of before and left me thinking...
First of all, it is well understood that our country is unified under one document: namely, the Constitution. It is also well understood that there are many differing interpretations of various parts of that document. Some people interpret it liberally in some parts while others interpret it more conservatively. Yet the fact remains that although our country is made up of an EXTREMELY diverse population, yet, somehow, all of us are able to live peacefully, under the authority of one document that no one agrees on how to interpret. Curious.
And my question is: why can't the church do the same thing??
Our situation is strikingly similar: the church is also made up of a diverse population, universally claiming to submit to a very difficult document that has been interpreted in many different ways, namely, the Bible. The only difference is that the United States of America has managed to remain a unified population, able to act as one and respond with one voice, while the church of Christ is sorely lacking in that capacity. What's wrong with this picture?
Why has an enormously diverse and pagan population like the United States of America been able to remain unified with so many different views, while the church of Christ, which is SUPPOSED to be unified with a common foundation, has effectively splintered into hundreds of sub-denominations every time another leader has offered a slightly different interpretation of a Biblical passage?
Even Paul said that in order for a body to function correctly, it needs diverse parts with diverse functions working together, so why is it that the church today has divided itself into subcultures according to its spiritual gifts? This is another puzzling issue along the same lines...
Some would argue that although there are many different denominations today, solid Christians in those denominations still consider themselves brothers with other Bible-believing Christians, and thus that the church is unified. But the fact is that the church is not unified. There are still denominational boundaries. There are still those who refuse to worship in this church because they use a drum set in worship or those who refuse to attend that service because they lay hands on the sick or those who refuse to take communion with these believers because they use real wine instead of grape juice.
It makes me very upset thinking about all of this, but even more upset because I have no answers to offer. It makes me upset to see a pagan society understand more about unity than the church of God. I don't even know how to end this, but it's been on my mind this weekend and so I just wanted to share. As you think about it, I hope it will make you a little upset too. Pray that God would show us how to pray and show us how to treat each other better every day. Pray that we would not get caught up in one-way thinking, but that as we encounter other believers, all the time our attitude would be that of Paul in his letter to Timothy: that "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners -- and I was the worst of them all."
It is easy to point the finger, but change always starts with us.
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