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Page 1 of 2 Words: Paul Virides Baptist, Pentecostal, Anglican, Charismatic, Methodist, Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran… the list goes on, but the point is there are many different kinds of Christian out there – all who share a common belief, yet either choose to express it in different ways or have differing beliefs. We all believe in God as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and most importantly, we believe in Jesus’ death and resurrection for our salvation that is the gospel. And yet there’s an inexplicable wall between many of our church denominations– we, for one reason or another, choose to shun those who are Christians because we differ on certain issues. {mosgoogle left} The Catholic/Orthodox divide, for one, cannot be ignored; it’s an aspect of Christianity that has rivalries, disagreements and differing viewpoints on all sorts of beliefs. Yes, the fact is that there are addition books counted as Scripture (as well as the Bible) in Catholicism Orthodox. Christianity is a big issue for Protestants however, who believe the 66 books of the Bible to be God's Word alone. But all Christian denominations teach us that ‘the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.’ (Psalm 100:3), and that we are God's people through the cross of Christ. So if that’s the case, why do we insist on attacking one another, instead of loving each other?Well, the thing is, we shouldn’t be attacking and despising one another. Of course, we need to be discerning and wise about what different denominations are teaching. As much as we may all be striving to worship God, sometimes traditions and external issues get the better of us. Remember the story of the Pharisees and what Jesus said: in Matthew 15:1-20, we read that the Pharisees missed the point by focusing on external things, such as traditions and following rules, instead of obeying God in their hearts. The point is this: our ultimate concern and priority is our personal relationship with God – loving and obeying Him – and not what worship style we should have in church. While we must love each other and together be God’s church, we still have a very personal relationship with Him, and must always, always remember this. We contradict ourselves, surely then, by professing to love God and obey His commands (one of which is to love our brothers and sisters), and yet refusing to tolerate other Christians! It’s a common day-to-day thing, where Catholic and Orthodox Christians refuse to accept the other’s different beliefs, and end up arguing, fighting and even hurting one another as a result. One only has to think of the 20th century battles between Protestants and Catholics in Ireland, or – to be more extreme – the effect of the crusades (when fighting the Orthodoxy) to understand how damaging this intolerance can be, and what a poor picture of Christianity it gives to the world. It is of course clear that there are some major differences between the denominations – particularly between the ‘traditionals’ (Catholic and Orthodox) and the Protestants . For example, a belief in purgatory bears a significant impact on one’s life as a Christian. Yet I ask the question: how far do we let the more minor differences get between us? The debate over speaking in tongues is a clear example of a peripheral issue being made into a much bigger one – so much so that it divides fellow Christians. Now, this is probably a good time to inform you of my own little story. I grew up as a Christian in a traditional Orthodox family. Since my younger years, however, I’ve constantly been redressing my faith, having now settled on a way that makes sense to me. I almost have my own amalgamation of the Orthodoxy (which bears a small role), the Anglican, the Charismatic and the Pentecostal beliefs – these coming together to remind me primarily of the most important thing in the Christian faith: the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because after all, everything comes back to Jesus. The most important things we can ever remember is that God and the gospel should be the most important thing in our lives. We shouldn't be arguing and bickering unlovingly amongst ourselves about minor issues, because this reveals nothing of our real commitment to Jesus. If all we do is debate about spiritual gifts, or whether to sing hymns or modern worship songs in church, then all we achieve is disunity – something Jesus prayed in John 17 that we wouldn't have. Now, not for a second am I saying that we shouldn’t discuss issues of our faith with Christians who disagree. Trying to discover the correct interpretation of the Bible is imperative to all that we as Christians do. There’s a reason, after all, why translators of the Bible spend months deliberating over the correct translation of a single word into a new language, from Hebrew, Coptic Greek or Aramaic. It’s more important, however, that we remember to love our neighbour – and more so, our one God – and to bring unity to the Church. |
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