Slowing Down

Being slow to speak and slow to anger is harder than you’d think. I don’t like to associate myself with either political party or with a church denomination because I think they all stand for some great things and some not so great things. I don’t mind discussions or debates, but when people stake claim to something and do so in the name of Jesus, and I don't necessarily agree with them, I get heated. And it’s in those moments that I’m trying to learn to just sit back and listen more instead of being in attack mode.

I just get so passionate about us as Christians being set free from what holds us captive. Politics or denominational affiliations, to name a few, have held Christians captive for years. Instead of recognizing that we are under the same Lordship, we tend to bicker, argue, and debate over details and the meaning of words or phrases.

Instead we should be united in our convictions with a common purpose and mind (Philippians 2:1-2). Jesus didn’t die for church doctrine or for your political party. Jesus didn’t die so we could spend our time arguing over who is more right than the other.

Yes, there is much to be said about guarding ourselves against those wolves in sheep’s clothing and against false teachers. But again, Religion that our God accepts is that we guard ourselves against the pollution from this world, AND that we care for the poor and the marginalized (James 1:27).

Here is an interesting question that the one person (if there is one) who reads this can help to answer. The way I’ve come to grips with some of the hot topics that really create the most division that I’ve seen in the Church (predestination/free will, limited atonement/universal atonement, conditional salvation/once saved always saved) is recognizing that there are valid arguments and evidence to back each particular view (maybe that's wrong in itself.. but anyways). So this question was asked to me:

How can you be in direct ministry with somebody that believes the opposite from what you do? (pertaining to those three things I listed)

And my question back to them was is it really that important to get all of those details correct? Aren't there more important things we should be discussing and uniting against? And that if it truly was one or the other it would explicitly say it in the Bible instead of leaving the door open for these different interpretations.

Then I made the general statement that I know each camp can back up their view with an ample amount of scripture. But uh.. that didn’t go over very well either. And the conversation just went farther and farther south after that. Any thoughts?