Beliefs are very important. Do you believe the land mines have been cleared? Walk on, if you do.
But eternal life is much more serious than life. Jesus said to Martha,
Beliefs can be life or death "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:25,26) Beliefs can lead to eternal life or death.
There are also important ideas that may lead us to separate from other Christians. Paul says, "I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment." (1 Cor 1:10)
But there is a reason why we should agree besides a suggestion from the Apostle Paul. Jesus says it this way,
that they may become perfectly one "that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ... 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 17:21,23)
And Jesus immediately follows up saying it a second time but also adding "perfectly" to the oneness he says we should have. The amazing thing is that it seems he wants us to be an influence on all the unbelievers around us. He wants us to make the Gospel and Jesus attractive. Jesus says we should be like minded, "so that the world may believe." He seems to be giving a recipe for success in attracting the world to Him! Division is way to push people away from Jesus! As we obey Jesus in this area it does a lot more than make us feel good.
They may believe in Budda or Mohammed. All paths lead to God... But some may think we are to welcome everyone into our group just as they are. They may believe in Budda or Mohammed. All paths lead to God they say. Lets just allow all the views of everyone. But to compromise truth in our community of Christians does serious harm as the Bible plainly says. (Galatians, Rev 3:15-16, Jude 1:3-11, James 4:4, 2 Cor 6:14-16, Matthew 6:24, 1 Kings 18:21, 2 John 1:7-11)
Now here is the big deal. We may all agree with this so far. But when we disagree with other Christians, it usually feels like we are right and they are wrong. So, in the natural man's way, the situation is quite hopeless. However, God calls us to seek like mindedness. The implication is that we will not have this as a starting point. Rather, when we listen to God's way, we can honor him by honoring his Word and we ought to approach like mindedness. The final result is the prayer of Jesus in John 17 that we become perfectly one. This will certainly not happen if we are not following the biblical instructions for relational church in 1 Corinthians 14 or if we ignore many of the "one another" passages.
One particularly serious problem is when popular teachers and influencers teach us that certain statements in God's Word and some of its obvious modern day applications are not important. This idea of shutting down what is important can be very subtle and a seriously destructive force against like mindedness. Sometimes we will know what God's Word says, but give too much attention to experts who "teach" us what God's Word "really" says. We need to read well. There are usually two sides to an argument. Don't just read one side and think that settles it. If we are going to follow the experts, rather than knowing God's Word well on our own, we may be at risk.
Often this rather serious problem takes the form of listening to teachers who boldly avoid following the plain reading of the Bible. These teachers may undermine your understanding of God's Word by saying your view is not a priority to God. They may say you are arguing about something that is unimportant. This may be true. You must know God's Word well. There is a call for wisdom. But sometimes these teachers know what the Bible says, yet they want to take a view that fits better with our modern day views. They may counsel you to "let it go." They may say you should not argue about your ideas because we should all be agreeable. This may be true in some cases but it also may be very wrong. Knowing what is important to God takes a lot of knowing God's Word along with a keen eye for how the modern world wants us to compromise. Confusing the truth is not a solution. This will never help us have the same mind. If you have held a long term view based on your personal reading of God's Word and the teacher says your beliefs don't matter (they are a very low priority to God), then beware. You can be deceived. A teaching may come from a Bible expert who knows the linguistic styles well and offers to help you interpret God's Word. This teaching may say that God didn't mean something that he plainly does say. How willing are you to follow the Garden of Eden line of deceptive thinking? Are you willing to go along with, "Did God actually say..."? (Genesis 3:1)
The first destructive thinking from Eden... "Did God actually say"?
One modern solution to disagreements is denominations. We organize our religion into institutions. Our churches no longer operate in the simple way of the Bible anymore. We cannot follow the example of the apostles in 1 Corinthians 14. We need modern organizations to survive. Our institutions begin to control how we relate and operate. We look to organized religion and begin to trust it. Beliefs are usually expressed for us. We choose which institutions we will join. We join or leave these institutions based on how much we like them or how aligned we are with them. The Bible speaks about a different way in 1 Corinthians 14. It speaks of men relating in respectful dialogue and talks focused on building up, encouragement and consolation. 2 Timothy 3:16 speaks about scripture being useful for teaching, reproof, correction and training in righteousness. Colossians 3:16 speaks about "teaching and admonishing one another". These are the ways the Bible encourages us to relate. But we like our institutions where the men are generally silent along with the women. In the more relational church, the men and women spoke more to each other, and the men, were given a special time where they alone spoke (1 Cor 14). But with denominations, we give in to the idea of perpetual dis-unity.
Accepting the modern idea of church and rejecting the biblical example of one-another based church leads to one of two things. Either the men become passive consumers or the men get overly involved in leading an institution. I say overly involved, because they are not submitting to the concepts in 1 Cor 14. To do this well, one normally needs to get a seminary degree and become a pastor. If you strongly disagree with the plain reading of the Bible in 1 Cor 14, a woman can also get a seminary degree and pursue becoming a pastor. The expectation for the more passive men is to become "active" members of the institution they have "joined". 5 However, the longer we attend and the more involved we become, the more we will see belief differences. If there are too many belief differences we may become disillusioned. If we become very disillusioned, we may resort to passively sitting back and watching or even leave the group. We may remain disengaged for a while or we may look for another group that catches our fancy. If there is not a good match and we are constrained by the belief that we should be more connected to our local community, we may feel frustrated. There is also the case when all the institutions require an institutional church membership and you happen to believe the Bible discourages or forbids the modern kind of formal church membership. If this is the case, you either stick with the Bible or you will get frustrated.
Everything was different in the New Testament days Everything was different in the New Testament days. There was plenty of division and plenty of argument, but things were fundamentally different. There was a powerful institution led by the Pharisees, in those days. This institution was probably the most godly of the institutions in that day. The Apostle Paul was in one sense part of it. In one situation Paul said, "Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. (Acts 23:6) But this institution was also very wrong in some ways. This is recorded in Acts 15:1-41. This group called the Pharisees often caused division with the new way called "The Way" (later called Christians). What was different with most groups in these days was an openness to discussion. The early church (Christians and non Christians) were open to debate and discussion in a way that we avoid. Today we are so sensitive to discussion and debate. Argument is almost a sin. In our day there is a view that everything must be positive. If you disagree, you can leave the institution. You can join another institution. You don't need to express your views, unless you want to become one of the leaders of an institution. Generally you don't say anything that has any material effect. You have your opinions, but you only express them in a very guarded way, that protects the institution. The main point is that there were individual voices heard in the early church days, but these individual voices have been generally silenced so that you will generally not ever experience a 1 Corinthians 14 style meeting.
In the early church days, a man was often free to speak in the regular religious community meetings (synagogues and churches). The speaking of ideas were tested. There could be consequences to speaking. Jesus spoke and they got so mad they wanted to throw him off the cliff. But they were still used to allowing men to speak. Besides the well known 1 Corinthians 14 meeting, here are some New Testament examples to illustrate.
And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. (Acts 19:8) And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, (Acts 17:2)
In this article we list a few beliefs that divide. Our beliefs are in green and listed as Editor. We have listed the issues that divide in a rough priority order. We have listed "Creation" as much more important to us than the last ones. Whenever we find ourselves in disagreement God still calls us to "speak the truth in love" (Eph 4:15).
We should find the right hills to die on Gavin Orlund says 2, We should find the right hills to die on. Yes, this is true. But we should also be able to discuss our ideas with fellow Christians in the hope of finding agreement. In his book on the topic, Gavin tries to convince us that Genesis 1 can be taken figuratively and that the issue is really not that important. 3 How do we rightly respond to those with whom we disagree? Do we ignore Christians who we disagree with? Should we confront them? Should we merge their beliefs into our belief system (syncretism)? How do we pursue the like minded goal that Jesus speaks about? We do not want to endorse what is false. We do not want to be quick to argue. We do not want to distort the priorities that God teaches in the Bible. This calls for wisdom.
1 Corinthians 14 model shows a different way where the common man does have a voice The modern church operates without the 1 Corinthians 14 model. The modern church assumes denominations and organizations as a way to bring order to our differences. The common man no longer has a voice. Usually, the institutions with more money and power will have more influence. Books, theologians and experts are often ones who are heard. The 1 Corinthians 14 model shows a different way where the common man has a voice and going to church means actively using your mind. (1 Cor 14:19)
Sometimes issues and views are assigned the wrong priority. This can really confuse the truth. If God says he created in six days, why should we doubt him? We are in serious danger of disrespecting God to say he didn't really do it like he says. We believe, "Creation" is a high priority issue. For us, "Theistic Evolution" is a serious compromise of the authority of God's Word and affects the Gospel (1 Cor 15:21-22, 44-49, Rom 5:12-19, etc). 4
This article shows the teachers of a few issues. Many times, it is the influence of teachers that have an impact on people. James says,
"Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness." (James 3:1)
Today, on the topic of Creation, there is a strong aversion to follow the plain reading of scripture. Sometimes we wonder if God has confused some of these leaders as the scripture says God sometimes does (Isa 29:10,13,14,16,21, 30:10,11, 8:12, 9:16, Job 12:20, 2 Thess 2:10-12). We wonder why so many Christian theologians are leaning on "science" rather than trusting God's Word. We should seek to please God rather than man (1 Thess 2:4, Gal 1:10, Col 3:23, Prov 29:25, Eph 6:6, Eph 5:8-10, Rom 12:1-2, Acts 5:29).
Highest Priority: The Gospel
Jesus is the only way and our works don't help (Right)
Editor, BLCC, many Christians, probably a minority these days.
Jesus is one way. Many religions lead to God. Our works help (Wrong)
Many churches, many Christians, possibly most Christians these days.
High Priority: Creation and Evolution
Genesis 1 is literal (6 days, ~6000 years ago) (Right)
Creation
Editor, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday,
James Clerk Maxwell, Henry Morris, John Witcomb, Terry Mortinson, Robert Carter,
John MacArthur, R.C. Sproul (in later life), ICR, AIG, CMI, BSI, IsGenesisHistory,
Cedarville University, Twin Valley Bible Chapel, etc.
Genesis 1 is figurative (earth is very old) (Wrong)
Theistic Evolution
Augustine, Billy Graham, Charles Spurgeon, Verne Poythress, John C. Collins,
John Piper, D.A. Carson, Wayne Grudem, Tim Keller, Michael Behe,
Stephen Meyer, N.T. Wright, Gavin Orlund, James Tour, Joshua Swamidass,
Dr. Steve Ball of Leturneau University, Many BLCC friends, BLCC's senior pastor?,
etc.
High Priority: God's Sovereignty
God is not dependent on us choosing (Right)
Editor, BLCC, many other Christians, but probably a minority
God is dependent on us choosing (Wrong)
Most churches, most Christians
Medium Priority: Divorce and Remarriage
Marriage is for life without exception
1
(Right)
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/divorce-and-remarriage-a-position-paper
Editor, John Piper, a few other Christians
Divorce and remarriage is allowed (Wrong)
https://www.gotquestions.org/divorce-remarriage.html
BLCC, most churches, most Christians
Medium Priority: Biblical Membership
Biblical membership is based on belief (Right)
https://fivewords.org/o.membership.html
Editor, Zambian Churches in the 1970s, Calvary Chapel, Elizabeth Elliot,
Thisselton, John A. T. Robinson, etc
Biblical membership is a formal process (Wrong)
BLCC, 9Marks, J. Leeman, Mark Dever, most churches, most Christians
1 Corinthians 14 describes a relational church model
rather than a consumer based model. This view would see the
preaching of Peter, Apollos, Phillip, Stephen, etc as evangelistic
preaching. This view would see Christians sitting in pews
and not participating in speaking as a consumer model that is
not seen in the Bible. This view would view Timothy as an apostolic
helper/worker rather than a pastor. According to this view,
1 Corinthians 14 shows a typical church meeting. According to this
view, we dishonor Jesus by dismissing the Apostles way and
instead choose our own way.
Editor, NTRF, Watchman Nee, John Zens, Robert Banks, Francis Chan,
D.A. Carson* ("both trends"), David C. Norrington, Tom Wadsworth, etc.
Modern church practice is chosen with little
concern for following the traditions of the Apostles. (Wrong)
BLCC, most churches, most Christians
Christians should meet at the town level (Right)
Editor, The Early Church (Jerusalem, etc), Watchman Nee, very few other Christians.
Modern church practice with each church independent (Wrong)
BLCC, most churches, most Christians
The command in 1 Corinthians 14 for women to be silent
is meant for all time. We disrespect Jesus and his Apostles when
we choose our way over their way. (Right)
Editor, NTRF, John MacArthur, very few other Christians
Modern church keeps both men and women silent.
If speaking is granted (e.g. Sunday school), both men and women
are equally allowed to speak. (Wrong)
BLCC, John Zens, David C. Norrington, Doug Moo, most churches, most Christians
Medium Priority: The Lord's Supper Includes Children (Right)
In the Passover model of the Lord's Supper, Children are included.
Editor, some Christians
Children should be baptized before participating in the Lord's Supper (Wrong)
BLCC, most churches, most Christians
Medium Priority: Romans 7 and Christian Living
Paul did not struggle in the flesh, Romans 7:14. (Right)
Editor, Doug Moo, Longnecker, Kruse, D.A. Carson, N.T. Wright,
very few Christians in the Editor's context
Paul struggled in the flesh, Romans 7:14. (Wrong)
Luther, Calvin, Thomas R. Schreiner, Will Timmins, BLCC, most churches,
most Christians
Low Priority: The Lord's Supper and the meal size (Right)
The Lord's Supper should be a full meal.
Why not follow the pattern/tradition set up by the Apostles?
Editor, some Christians
The Lord's Supper can be a token meal.
It really doesn't matter. (Wrong)
BLCC, most churches, most Christians
Low Priority: Biblical Theology (NCT,CT,DT)
New Covenant Theology or something similar (Right)
Editor, Doug Moo, D.A. Carson, John Reisinger, etc.
Covenant or Dispensational Theology (Wrong)
Classic Covenant Theology or Classic Dispensational Theology are seen
as best. We believe that the current trend is toward progressive versions
of these that are closer to NCT. But this is such a complicated area,
that we put this lower on the priority. It may be very important for
various reasons, like causing disunity, or accurately reflecting the
Gospel through Biblical Theology, but these ideas need to be worked out
very carefully to avoid causing divisions for no good reason.
BLCC, most churches, most Christians?
Low Priority: Drinking Wine
Wine as a drink is ok if taken in moderation (Right)
Editor (never drank wine, but support this view), most Christians
Wine as a drink is sinful and wrong (Wrong)
Some Christians
Low Priority: Rock Music
Rock music is not evil. It is the words and meaning that matters. (Right)
Editor, most Christians these days, but few years ago.
Rock music is evil. It doesn't matter if the words are good. (Wrong)
Some Christians, but not many now a days.
Low Priority: Church Buildings
Church buildings are optional and may get in the way (Right)
Editor, a few other Christians
Church buildings are a high priority (Wrong)
Most Christians
Low Priority: Mark 16:9-20 and Signs will accompany those who believe
Majority text preferred. Signs will accompany those who
believe was meant for those times and would phase out gradually on
God's timescale. Do not expect snake handling and poison drinking today. (Right)
Editor, many Christians
Siniaticus and Vaticanus preferred. Mark 16:9-20 should be omitted. (Wrong)
Many Christians
Snake handling and poison drinking still for today
Very few Christians
Very Low Priority: Paul and Barnabas
Paul was right when he left Barnabas because of Mark. (Right)
Editor, some Christians
Paul was wrong when he separated from Barnabas. (Wrong)
Many other Christians
Very Low: Job and Elihu
Elihu was mean like Job's three friends.
God did not rebuke Elihu, not because he was right, but, probably because
he was young and foolish. It was sufficient to mention the older three
friends, since they were older and more responsible. (Right)
Editor, some other Christians
Elihu was right, so God did not rebuke him (Wrong)
Some other Christians
Extremely Low Priority: Eating Meat Sacrificed to Idols
Not wrong, depends on conscience, but not noticed today. (Right)
Editor, most Christians
Eating Meat this way is wrong (Wrong)
Perhaps some Christians in other cultures like India?
1.
Without exception is referring to the argument that the exception clause
in Matthew is meant for certain cases that are not currently an issue
in our modern days. There are no exceptions like that of Joseph, who
had a right to get out of his "betrothal marriage" due to the situation.
Matthew provides a clarification since his audience was Jewish. He
wanted to make sense to the Jewish mind. In our modern day, however,
we do not have an exception because we do not live under the law and
follow the Jewish Law (with its betrothal customs).
One example of this being explained is in John Piper's article on this topic.
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/divorce-and-remarriage-a-position-paper
The opposite view is explained here:
https://www.gotquestions.org/divorce-remarriage.html
2. Gavin Orlund, "Finding the Right Hills To Die On", 2020, Crossway
3. p 137-144, Gavin Orlund, "Finding the Right Hills To Die On", 2020, Crossway
4. Read more about how the Gospel is compromised from Al Mohler's video, Terry Mortinson's "Coming to grips with Genesis", AIG, CMI, ICR, etc. See our Creation Verses.
5. Read more about this in the "Biblical Membership" section above or see our membership article.
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