There are many different types of churches in the Christian world today. The main denominations are Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Anglican/Episcopalian, Lutheran, Methodist, Southern Baptist, Presbyterian, and Assemblies of God. From there, they branch out into hundreds of churches, each with their own doctrinal statements, church constitutions, laws, bi-laws, etc. In some denominations, the differences may be minuscule, and some are so vastly different its hard to believe they come from the same starting place.
There is one big difference that has been greatly troubling me lately; one issue that seems to divide us all, and I have just recently really been able to pinpoint what it is.
On one side of the spectrum we have the view that seems to have sprung up from the Beatles song, "All You Need is Love". This group gives the messages that don't "cause controversy" within the body. They don't step on anyone’s toes or give anyone reason to feel uncomfortable with who they are and how they choose to live.
On the other side we have the cliché "hell, fire and brimstone," "turn or burn" group. They have no objections to stomping toes, telling people where, when, why and how they're wrong, and giving the solution, how and what they must change to be back on the path of righteousness, etc.
Now there are many verses in the Bible talking about love. The greatest commandment is "....You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind....And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:37). "....but love covers all offenses...." (Proverbs 10:12). "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love" (1 John 4:7-8). Love is not a difficult word to find in the Bible!
On the other hand, God's wrath is not hard to find, either. The old testament is full of war, God's people being conquered because they chose to go their own way. There was the flood where God wiped out the entire earth except for 8 people because of their wickedness, Sodom and Gomorrah, two cities that God devoted to utter destruction for the perverseness and their pure evil, and the list goes on. The new testament speaks of God sending His one and only Son into the world as a literal sacrifice for our sins. His excruciating pain, humiliation, bloodshed, His death, the price He paid for OUR sins. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23), "For the wages of sin is death...." (Romans 6:23), Revelations- the end of the world- not a pretty picture of a picnic in the park!
So my question is, why do a vast majority of churches cling to on OR the other? Why is it I can hear sermon after sermon at one church all about the love of Christ, and another church, I can hear sermon after sermon of God's wrath and retribution, and from both sides I hear about why we’re right about this issue and that passage, and why this church is wrong, and that preacher is leading his flock astray?
(First off, we don’t pay enough attention to context. We look in the concordance of our Bibles and find the verses that go with the words we like, look at those verses ONLY, and make the Bible say whatever we want to say. But I don’t want to go off on that trail tonight.)
This next passage is one that I have read, and heard talked about often, but I’ve never really given much thought to until just this week when I was just kind of reading through it. It’s 1 Corinthians 12:4-6, which says "Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone." And in verses 12-26 gives the analogy of a body, having many parts, but only being complete when put all together, the different members working for the good of all.
Now, I know this passage is in reference to spiritual gifts, but it was really helped my figure out just what I am so very frustrated with in Christianity as a whole! Because, as Christians, we SHOULD all be of the same body. If we truly are in Christ, we are each members of the body of Christ. And it seems to me that we are acting as Paul describes, different members of the body warring with each other over certain things, each one thinking they’re right and the others are wrong. “God is love” vs. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” (For one thing, both sides of this argument are right to some degree. God is love, but He is also a Holy God who cannot look upon sin; therefore, there has to be some kind of payment to atone for us humans and our inherited sin nature. But again, I don’t want to get into this right now.) I guess what really has me frustrated to no end is that we all claim Christ, but we all think we’re right. And we want everyone to know we’re right (maybe a bit of a pride issue in the undercurrents), so we point to who we think is wrong, and we fire missiles, and grenades, and all kinds of awful things at the people who are members of our own body! Satan’s work is made so easy because we’re tearing ourselves down. We’ve got the guns pointed at members we don’t agree with, when we should be dealing with the bigger issue at hand: a lost and deceived world that sees how we treat other Christians we disagree with us, and therefore wants no part in us and many even hate us for it.
Now I’m not saying we adopt the Beatles theme and just love, love, love each other (at least not in the way we typically think of love). Love is a complicated thing. God loves us, and yet, he disciplines us because of that love. He doesn’t want to destroy us for our wickedness, He doesn’t want us to go down in flames, but neither can he accept us with all of our sin. And He will punish those who do not receive Him. I think churches need to find a balance between love and wrath. And more than anything, we need to stop tearing other churches down and start tackling the real problem: the lost world that is so desperate for a Savior.
Now, I realize I need to do more studying on the subject, but these are just my thoughts for now. Any input on the subject would be much appreciated! :)
4 comments:
I think the first thing we need to remember is that God is a jealous God. He wants us to love Him, and Him alone. He should be our one and only goal, our one true desire. He demonstrated time and time again with the early Israelites that straying from His path, burning the wrong fire in His temple, resulted in instant death. It was a consequence that was made to make the Israelites respect and fear the Lord, but it also harbored a deep, honorable love in them. Here was a God that took them out of the hand of Pharaoh, blessed them with many gifts, and caused Abraham's lineage to surpass the stars in the sky.
I don't think there should be an either/or situation with God's love and the realities of hell. The fact of the matter is they walk and in hand.
This is something that I argue with my friends almost on a daily basis. They present the question of, "If God is love, why would He send someone to hell? That alone mean He doesn't love us so I don't want to serve a God that just wants death and destruction." They've heard the sermons from varying churches--the conflict between love and wrath. It's hard for people to understand when they have hardened their hearts towards the truth.
But no matter a person's denomination, we as Christians, as imitators of Christ, know that our Father is a jealous God who wants nothing more than our love because He has such love for us!
Now I'm not sure if that made sense because my computer is freaking out on me and won't let me re-read anything :) I can't really explain what I mean! I hope it's kind of understandable :)
I think I understand :) I think thats the hardest thing for us--being an imitatior of Christ! There's so many ways we fall short! And when we fall short, others see a tarnished view of Christianity :P
Thank you God, for being so forgiving!
I'm starting to read "In the Grip of Grace" by Max Lucado. He says it so much better than I ever could!
Sadly Sweetheart, we live in a fallen world where even Christians misrepresent Christ. Usually it is because of two ways that we get the two extremes. Either someone grew up in that sort of teaching and they just continue in it, or they grew up in the opposite...it didn't go well for them, so they navigate to the exact opposite end of the spectrum.
A good response might be that we live so as to not only be a light and testimony to unbelievers, but also to fellow believers. We are here to sharpen each other and encourage each other, to spur one another on. Christ is our best example of unconditional love WITH discipline!
Love you, Mom
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