Know When to Hold 'Em

We live in a fractured Christendom, where Christianity around the world is often as much at war with itself as it is with the world. The well-known term, "Evangelicals", is a term intended to fragment. "Those churches are headed into the oblivion of liberalism, so we will separate ourselves from them and remain true to the truth." And that's a single example. Much of denominationalism is largely a matter of preference, I think, but a significant portion is due to serious differences. I, for instance, wasn't allowed to join a church that held to infant baptism unless I changed my theology, and another church offered to change my thinking for me on the purpose of the church as God's tool for building the saints rather than evangelizing the neighborhood because my thinking was wrong. The Eastern Orthodox church is sure that the Baptists are wrong and the Baptists are sure that the Lutherans are wrong and the Lutherans are positive that the Methodists are wrong and they're all pretty sure the Roman Catholics are wrong, and by "wrong" I don't mean "misguided", but "possibly not even Christian at all".

As a result, there is a large and growing number of voices that cry, "Can't we all just get along?" They decry the fact that doctrine divides and want all Christians everywhere of any stripe to just be nice and play well together. "Let's agree to disagree, set aside our differences, and sing Kumbaya." Seems like it should be simple to just settle for the lowest common denominator ... which is very little truth.

Post-modernism had its day in our society, leaving behind a loss of meaning, a destruction of clarity, the demise of certainty, and, of course, rampant relativism. Many in our society and even in our churches believe that "all beliefs are valid" (and will argue with you about how wrong yours are if you don't agree). This, of course, makes no sense. As an obvious example, a theist and an anti-theists cannot both be right. Simple logic. So there is truth and that which is not truth is falsehood. The question, then, is how far we should go in defending the truth? Because the question is how sure we are that we have the truth.

Instead of "going along to get along", we need to be more careful. There are various questions and positions that carry different weight. Dr. Al Mohler lists them in orders of magnitude, so to speak. He lists three orders.

- First order - Fundamental truths of the Christian faith, the denial of which eliminates Christianity.
- Second order - Believing Christians may disagree without denying the faith but causing significant disagreement (e.g., meaning and mode of baptism, women as pastors).
- Third order - Believing Christians disagree, but can remain in fellowship (e.g., eschatology).

I would add a fourth category, one that is called "adiaphora" -- that which is debatable and spiritually neutral (Rom 14:1). (e.g., identity of the two witnesses (Rev 11), dancing, men and women swimming in public). (Seriously, you can find those who argue that males and females should not swim together in public.)

With these in mind, you can begin to see the levels of agreement and disagreement. You can see that there are places where we need to hold our ground, to not give in, to stand firm. "Agree to disagree" is not sufficient for these, because if we disagree on these, Christianity is ended. What would these be? Well, easily, these five:

1. The Trinity: God is one "What" and three "Whos" with each "Who" possessing all the attributes of Deity and personality.
2. The Person of Jesus Christ: Jesus is 100% God and 100% man for all eternity.
3. The Second Coming: Jesus Christ is coming bodily to earth to rule and judge.
4. Salvation: It is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
5. The Scripture: It is entirely inerrant and sufficient for all Christian life.

Based on Scripture, I would certainly add the Resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Cor 15:3-8,13-19). And the universality of sin is basic to Christianity, given that salvation is basic to Christianity (we need to be saved from something). But it's not a really long list.

I think that too often we "get fuzzy", trying to get along, trying to avoid disputes, trying to avoid division. I think that too often we gear up for war where it's not needed, trying to defend "key doctrines" like whether or not Christians can drink alcohol. There are times that we need to stand firm. There are times when we don't. We need to know which is which.