I have been thinking
lately on what divides the body of Christ locally and universally. I came to
the conclusion that it was/is doctrine. We can get past a lot of things with
one another, but doctrines account for most of the large scale divisions as far
as I can tell. Doctrine of course is essential so there is no doing away with
it, or else you end up with relativism and liberalism. So upon further review I
think I’ll say that it is incorrect doctrine that divides us. Doctrines,
whether correct or incorrect, become ingrained in us and at some point they
become our traditions. Traditions aren’t bad either, it’s just incorrect ones
that are the culprit.
The conundrum is that
those who study the most devoutly are the ones who have the strongest doctrinal
and tradition stances while those who study the least end up adopting one of
these devout people’s doctrines/traditions, whether for good or ill, and none of
us will budge because of course we are all correct.
It seems to be quite the
unfixable problem.
As a man who believes in
the sovereignty of God I often wonder why God has caused me to live in such a
divided and confusing time as ours. Regardless of His reasons I know one thing
for sure: I would rather live in such a time as ours in Christ and apart of His
Body than to live in the most devout age in history outside of it!
God has placed us in
such a time as ours my dear brothers and sisters and it will be to His glory if
the Holy Spirit uses us to unite His Body. Let’s begin in Wilkes County
If this has touched a
cord in you I encourage you to read and meditate on 2 Corinthians 3-6.
Caison Well said; these passages from Pastor(Elder) Kevin rang a bell about a doctrinal issue with church of Christ members that I have discussed the issue of Water Baptism is required for Salvation:
ReplyDeleteActs 20:17 From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. 18 When they arrived, he said to them: “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia. 19 I served the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents. 20 You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. 21 I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.
In verse 21 Paul said that he Preaches "Repentance and Faith"
Nothing said about Water Baptism though..
After a lot of study I'm going to have to agree with our Church of Christ brothers on the baptism issue. It definitly seems to be apart of the salvation equation, but even though there is much disagreement about this issue there is definitly a bridge between us because even we, at MPBC, do not allow membership into the congregation without first submitting to baptism. So whether you are going to the Wilksboro CoC or MPBC there are no unbaptized believers in either gathering of believers.
ReplyDelete