Amputees, Guessing Games & How to Win an Argument

Love Wins.

It shouldn’t be controversial to start a blog post with that phrase.

But somehow over the past few months, that phrase has become one of the most popular catalysts for controversy among groups of Christians on the Internet.

For those that are unaware, a popular yet controversial Christian author, Rob Bell, wrote a book recently called “Love Wins”. In true internet form, before the book was even released, and before anyone had read the contents of said book, a handful of other well known Christian authors and leaders starting disowning this man as even a Christian. They had determined, that because what it seemed he might say in his new book disagreed with what they decided they believed, that he was no longer in the ‘in’ club.

This became one of the top trending topics in the world on twitter for a short time. In fact, it got to the point that other people began to hear about the controversy and wanted to know why all these Christians were bickering so badly, calling each other names and attacking each other.

Having grown up in ‘the church’ and been in Christian circles my whole life, I have been in several situations before where Christians from one group or denomination will refuse to accept that other Christians from another denomination are even Christians.

I’ve heard people make flippant statements like 

Catholics aren’t christians, this church or that church is a cult or that this person or that persons a heretic, so and so is a backslider. Why? Well, because I disagree with them.

And so the truth is this; Christians aren’t always know for their unity. So I am going to ask a difficult question about Christianity.

Why are we so divided? 

Why is it, that even within ” christianity” we can’t all get along?

Most Christians would agree with following statement:

We are called to build the kingdom of God together with the entire body of Christ.

That phrase comes directly from a list of the main core ‘values’ of DCFI, the organization that my local faith community falls under. (This whole post comes from a lesson/sermon/talk I gave at one of our gatherings a few weekends ago) But it could just as easily come from the statement of values of many different churches from a home church to the Roman Catholic Church. It has all the ‘right’ words after all; Kingdom, God, Body, Christ… who would dare disagree with that? 

The term “body of Christ” comes largely from this section of a letter Paul wrote to a group of Christians in Corinth in the first century AD.

In it he writes:

Christ is just like the human body—a body is a unit and has many parts; and all the parts of the body are one body, even though there are many. We were all baptized by one Spirit into one body, whether Jew or Greek, or slave or free, and we all were given one Spirit to drink.

Certainly the body isn’t one part but many… …If the whole body were an eye, what would happen to the hearing? And if the whole body were an ear, what would happen to the sense of smell? If all were one and the same body part, what would happen to the body? But as it is, there are many parts but one body.

So the eye can’t say to the hand, I don’t need you, or in turn, the head can’t say to the feet, I don’t need you…

- 1 Corinthians 12

The body becomes an amputee when we cut off the parts we don’t like.

Very often, because we are human beings, we get tunnel vision.

I’ve realized my “tunnel vision” in the past when I’ve met someone with completely different interests or experiences to my own. After just one conversation sometimes I get that feeling of “Woah, there’s an entire world of hamster wrestling (or whatever) out there that I completely didn’t know existed!”

This happens because as people we get comfortable in our small circles. And that’s ok - once we don’t start to think and act as though our small is group is the only group that’s important or even the only group that is right.

Our small group of friends, our family, our church, even our denomination is only just a small part of the entire “kingdom of god”. We are asked to be in unity with other groups in this “body of Christ” so that together we can live lives that can transform the world.

At the heart of Christianity should be Jesus, and at his heart was unity.

He’s recorded as saying to God.

The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

- John 17

And even further back, in Proverbs, one of the ancient books of wisdom it says

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!

- Proverbs 133

When we think in terms of small groups unity doesn’t seem that hard. Sometimes…Depending the day…

We all get along more or less. Disagreements may be small but we get past them. John may like his coffee with milk while you take it black, but we agree to disagree and all is well.

But the truth is - Christians as a whole aren’t known for their unity.

Now we have all had disagreements over things to do with God. I can promise you there’s not a single person reading this that hasn’t disagreed with someone else about God, even other Christians. In fact, I’d venture to say that there aren’t two people in the world who have exactly the same beliefs about every last thing.

So how does this extend into our beliefs and ideas about God? 
What do people disagree about within Christianity?

Already, I’m sure a few things will pop to mind.

When the controversy over Rob Bell’s book happened I came across a blog post by Jason Boyett with a list of things that various groups of Christians differ in opinion on. I highly recommend giving his original post, “How Flexible is Christianity” a read.

From that post I started to see that if by “Unity in the Church”, we’re looking for every Christian to agree on every single thing, well, we’ve got an impossible task on our hands.

I took some things from the list he created, removed a couple and added some of my own.

Bear with me - it’s kind of long, but it’s to make a point.

Some believe… while others believe…

• Some Christians believe it is a sin to touch alcohol. Others believe they are free to drink in moderation, conducting themselves honorably.
• Some Christians venerate saints like Mary, St. Anthony, or St. Christopher. Other Christians view this behavior as superstitious (at best) or idolatrous (at worst).
• Some Christians observe the Sabbath or set aside a day for God on Sunday, and others do this on Saturday. Some worship in ancient cathedrals. Some worship in homes. Some worship in rum factories (This cued a chuckle at my church since we meet a Rum Distillery…yes we’re full of spirit ;) 
• Some pray casually or spontaneously. Some prays using liturgy or written down prayers that they read.
• Some Christians believe that the Bible is the literal word of God, without errors of any kind and inspired word-by-word to ancient scribes. Other Christians believe the Bible is inspired or somehow divine, but not without error. They see it as a book written by Gods people who made mistakes sometimes but whose message about God was inspired.
• Some Christians believe the creation story in Genesis is a literal account of a 7 day creation. Other Christians see the creation stories in Genesis as being non-literal, but an important story to convey that there is one God who created everything and we are to worship the creator and not the created.
• Some Christians accept deuterocanonical books like Tobit, Judith, or 1 and 2 Maccabees are parts of the biblical canon. Others deny that these books are biblical. (And many Christians, to be perfectly honest, don’t even know they exist.)
• Some believe you are saved at the moment your baptized . Others believe baptism to be an important, public confession of salvation — but only symbolic. Some believe only in baptism by emersion, others believe it’s ok to be sprinkled. Some believe in the power of infant baptism, other reject this.
• Some Christians believe salvation is eternal. Others believe it can be lost or cast aside depending on what we do.
• Some Christians believe hell involves conscience torment forever, others believe it is only for a time, some believe souls cast into hell may eventually cease to exists, others believe that Gods redemptive power is accessible after death. (and some of us think we shouldn’t be disowned from God’s family for sharing this thought!)
• Some believe Christ is present, mystically or literally, in the bread and wine of the Eucharist, or communion. They believe participating in communion is the central act of Christian worship. Others believe communion is more of a metaphor which plays a symbolic role in Christian worship.
• Some Christians believe we are called to keep certain old testament laws including the dietary laws that forbid shrimp and bacon. Others believe we are not called to follow those laws after Christ, or that they applied only to the Jews.
• Some Christians believe we are predestined by god to be saved or not saved, others believe our choice from freewill has a lot more to do with it.
• Some Christians believe that a ‘Gay Christian’ is an oxymoron and that homosexuality is an ‘abomination’, other Christians believe the Church’s views on marriage and homosexuality need to be challenged in the same way slavery, oppression of women and other ‘biblical’ views needed to be challenged in the past. 
• Some Christians seem to focus primarily on God, the Father. Some seem most interested in Jesus. Others emphasize the Holy Spirit. And some don’t see them as distinctly separate at all.
• Some believe a Christian’s highest calling is to remove him- or herself from the world, in order to spend their remaining days in solitude, contemplation, and prayer, like the monastics or monks. Others believe a Christian’s highest calling is to be active and present in the world, in order to spread the kingdom of god.
• Some preach evangelism and personal salvation as the apex of the Christian faith. Some preach social action or missional living as the core element of Christian practice.

This list could go on and on and on…

The question now is this - Do differences in opinions mean that we can not be united?

Disagreements between Christians is not by any means a new thing.

Quarrels and differences in opinion in Christianity came up so early on that Paul wrote to the church in Rome telling them how they ought to treat those they disagree with.

During the first century AD most meat available for food had been offered to idols from the religions of the Roman empire. Some Christians at the time felt that it was ok for them to eat the meat even if it had been offered to idols, while others disagreed, and they became vegetarians. In his letter to the Romans Paul tells them:

Welcome the person who is weak in faith—but not in order to argue about differences of opinion. One person believes in eating everything, while the weak person eats only vegetables.

Those who eat must not look down on the ones who don’t, and the ones who don’t eat must not judge the ones who do, because God has accepted them.

Who are you to judge someone else’s servants? They stand or fall before their own Lord (and they will stand, because the Lord has the power to make them stand). One person considers some days to be more sacred than others, while another person considers all days to be the same. Each person must have their own convictions. Someone who thinks that a day is sacred, thinks that way for the Lord. Those who eat, eat for the Lord, because they thank God. And those who don’t eat, don’t eat for the Lord, and they thank the Lord too.

Paul goes on to say…

God’s kingdom isn’t about eating food and drinking but about righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Whoever serves Christ this way pleases God and gets human approval.  So let’s strive for the things that bring peace and the things that build each other up.

Don’t destroy what God has done because of food.

Paul deals with the “some Christians believe this ” while others believe this” scenario by asking his readers to strive for things that bring peace, and that build each other up.

This doesn’t mean that Paul was afraid to say what he believed in the matter, he does state his opinion clearly, but his focus is not on who is right or wrong in the issue, the orthodox or the heretic, the saved or the unsaved.

Instead he urges them, not to judge each other, not to tear each other apart, but to strive for peace and building each other up.

Now I encourage you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: agree with each other and don’t be divided into rival groups. Instead be restored with the same mind and the same purpose.

- 1 Corinthians 1:10

There are reported to be as many as 38,000 Christian denominations in the world.

And there are probably no two people who agree on everything. So how can we work together to build “Gods kingdom” with other Christians when we might disagree with them?

We all believe what we believe for a very important reason…because we believe we’re right! We wouldn’t hold the opinions we hold unless we thought they were the best ones. And that makes it very hard for us when we have to deal with people that disagree with us.

We love being right.

And more than that, we love proving that we’re right.

Plus on top of all of that, sometimes when we encounter a person that disagrees with us their position really and truly upsets us. If we see their view as harmful or destructive it can be hard not to get emotionally tied up in a disagreement and often we start saying and doing things out of anger, forgetting all about loving one another.

In the face of all those things it’s hard to disagree gracefully. Even for me. ESPECIALLY for me.

I encourage you to live as people worthy of the call you received from God.  Conduct yourselves with all humility, gentleness, and patience.

Accept each other with love, and make an effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit with the peace that ties you together.

You are one body and one spirit just as God also called you in one hope.

 There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all who is over all, through all, and in all.

- Ephesians 4:1-6

We are asked to be humble, gentle and patient.

Accepting each other in love.

At the end of the day, we all find our hope in God.

Rachel Evans, a blogger and author I grown to really enjoy reading lately, started an experiment a few months ago called Rally to Restore Unity ( as a play of off Jon Stuart’s “Rally to Restore Sanity” ). It started as a response to the explosion of Christians fighting each other and calling each other heretics online after Rob Bell announced his book.

As a response to the fighting the Rally’s goal was to get Christians to write about unity, discuss unity and see how they could agree to disagree gracefully. People started positing a series of fun photos or protest signs to the Facebook page. Several of the images are as greatly profound as they are witty and well worth a browse.

This kind of movement was a welcomed breath of fresh air in a place where Christian conversations about anything remotely controversial had become toxic. And not every participant agreed with the theology of the others - but they agreed in something greater.   

One Father of all who is over all, through all, and in all.

The fact that different people arrive at different conclusions about God and about Christianity tells us something…

Some of us have something wrong, somewhere.

As a child, getting the Sunday newspaper after church meant only one thing. The Sunday comic section, and in colour no less!

Funnily enough I’ve never been a huge comic fan, especially not action comics or graphic novels, but the small comic section inserted into the Sunday paper was just right for me. It had a few funny cartoons that I would try to redraw as i dreamt of becoming an artist someday, and more importantly a games section.

In this games section, from time to time, there was the “can you guess what this is?” game. Given a zoomed in crop of a photograph the goal is to try to guess what the whole picture is of, but without all the necessary information (ie the rest of the photo).

Sometimes what one thought looked like exposed brains was actually something as boring as cabbage, or what seemed to be some exotic animal was really a flower. Sometimes a dog’s nose looked like..well, a dog’s nose and you got one right, while other times it seemed completely impossible to know without sneaking a peek at the answers.

And so goes the “can you guess what this is?” game.

Far from being just some childish past time, I think I’ve learnt a lot recently from this exercise of guessing what we cannot see.

In the important questions in life I find all of us are playing a game of “can you guess the bigger picture?”

Why are we here? Is there a God? Who or what is he or she? and how do we relate? What about religion? Which religion, why? Which version of which religion? What positions do I hold on the hot topics?

In all honesty, I struggle with all these questions (frequently) and I’d even venture to say most of us do at some point. But I do think as difficult as those questions are to face, that they are healthy and necessary and good.

We only see things in part.

The problem when we see things in part, is that we are all prone to seeing things incorrectly. Just like the picture game, we see just a small glimpse of God and his ways and that’s bound to leave us with some questions.

Paul in one of his letters to the Corinthians tells them:

Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

- 1 Corinthians 13:12

And Cyril of Jerusalem, a Christian and bishop from the 4th century, in a lecture  titled, “Concerning the Unity of God”, said:

“…of God we speak not all we ought (for that is known to Him only), but so much as the capacity of human nature has received, and so much as our weakness can bear. For we explain not what God is but candidly confess that we have not exact knowledge concerning Him. For in what concerns God to confess our ignorance is the best knowledge.”

When we have just a small part of the picture, sometimes we can make out what we were looking at pretty easily. Sometimes we are certain we know what we are were looking at, but it turns out were wrong. Sometimes some of us just don’t know what to make out of a picture at all.

And this is why we need “the whole body”.

It is why I need you and you need me.

On our own, as individuals or even as small groups, we will understand some things correctly about God, but it’s guaranteed that we will get some things wrong as well.

We need other Christians that will challenge our views.

If we as gods children can learn how to disagree with humbleness, gentleness and humility we will be able to learn from each other and grow with each other.

It’s not usually comfortable to be challenged, but we learn from disagreements. We may learn something that will broaden our understanding or change our position, or we may become more convinced in the trueness of the positions we already hold.

As we pursue unity we should still discuss our differences, defending our positions and correcting positions that we think are wrong, this is how we grow in our understanding of God, but the way we do this determines everything.

To Win or to Love?

Jesus put it this way to his friends and fans:

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” - John 13

“The love chapter” is read at just about every wedding ceremony, every Christian one at least, well not mine, oh wait, but anyhow, most! And reading it at wedding ceremonies is perfectly fine and great because it applies within marriage too…

However applicable it is to the married, this portion of Paul’s letter was not written to a young engaged couple in Corinth. It was written to a community of people who needed to get along despite differences, despite seeing puzzling reflections in a mirror.

This time as you read it, remember that this is the kind of love that you are asked to love everyone with.

Your friends, your small group, your church, other churches, the people you disagree with, even the people you would call “the enemy”

If I speak in tongues of human beings and of angels but I don’t have love, I’m a clanging gong or a clashing cymbal.

If I have the gift of prophecy and I know all the mysteries and everything else, and if I have such complete faith that I can move mountains but I don’t have love, I’m nothing.

If I give away everything that I have and hand over my own body to feel good about what I’ve done but I don’t have love, I receive no benefit whatsoever.

Love is patient,

love is kind,

it isn’t jealous,

it doesn’t brag,

it isn’t arrogant,

it isn’t rude,

it doesn’t seek its own advantage,

it isn’t irritable,

it doesn’t keep a record of complaints,

it isn’t happy with injustice,

it is happy with the truth.

Love puts up with all things,

trusts in all things,

hopes for all things,

endures all things.

Love never fails.

Love wins.

————————————

What do you think?
What do you think causes the divides within Christianity? What cases them the to get ugly? Can we get past them? Should we get past them? What is your hope and where do you fit in?