The Church: United or Uniform?

 

Have you noticed the many opportunities we have to disagree with each other?  We can disagree over doctrinal issues, we can disagree over politics, we can disagree over the government’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak.  We can disagree with the Elders’ response to the government’s response.  All of these issues are real, and all of them have both moral and practical (that is financial) implications.

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The problem is that disagreeing, if we’re not very careful, can degenerate into disliking, then judging and, ultimately, hating the person we disagree with.  We seem to have forgotten that there’s a difference between “objectives” and “tactics.”

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As an example; two Christians can both agree that life is sacred and abortion is therefore wrong.  However, the tactics they adopt in support of that objective may differ wildly.  One may believe that voting for the right President is the only reasonable response… regardless of any other aspects of that President’s agenda or character (and wrongly assume that this is all that’s required of them).  At the same time, the other Christian may consider the President’s views on abortion as a secondary consideration while they seek to address the causes underlying the abortion crisis.  They actively work with adoption agencies, they work to provide much needed education, they seek to support unwed mothers, they provide counseling, etc.

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But… we get so entrenched in our own thinking that we lose site of the objective while we’re distracted by the tactics.  This can be, and has been, a serious point of contention.  But it’s only one aspect of a larger issue.  There are many issues where we may agree on the objective, but not on the tactics employed to achieve that objective.

The catch is this; as Christians we have a calling.  That calling trumps (no pun intended) all other considerations.  Everything we engage in, every objective we adopt, every tactic we employ, is secondary to that fundamental call.  That call is to love: John