1 Corinthians 11:19
There must be heresies among you...
I am afraid I am going to disappoint Toni Birdsong at www.stickyjesus.com.
Citing Mother Teresa as an inspiration of unity she begs us to pray for unity among believers online. I want to challenge the concept that the type of unity she has in mind is really "Jesus' idea of unity." I challenge the idea that we ought to be unified online. I challenge the idea that as diverse as the Christian world is in any community, it ought to be unified in the sense I think Toni thinks, certainly in the sense Mother Teresa thought. I challenge the idea that this sort of unity would be healthy even within the community of believers called Baptists.
I am afraid the type of unity Toni seeks is built upon the principle not of agreement, but of indifference, this sort of unity ignores doctrine for the sake of peace.
And here is the problem with that, without grappling with doctrine, truth begins to slip. The fact that we contend for our faith provides for an environment where truth may rise to the surface rather than settling in the bottom of the unstirred jar. I am not advocating for physical battle. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. Neither do I believe there is any room for hatred of among the contestants. If God loved man so much that "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" then there is reason for the child of God to love even those we have the most heated contest with.
But we must have the contest. We must prove out truth and expose the heresies among us. Only then will truth be manifest.
The online forum is the most liberating form of worldwide communication history has ever known. It has great potential for the spread of the gospel. But it has an equally great potential for the decimation of truth.
No, Toni, I won't pray my guts out for unity among online believers.
But I will pray that the gospel has free course and that the truth of God will rise to the top amidst all the biblical heresy that is disseminated online.
Marvin McKenzie
In the fields
There must be heresies among you...
I am afraid I am going to disappoint Toni Birdsong at www.stickyjesus.com.
Citing Mother Teresa as an inspiration of unity she begs us to pray for unity among believers online. I want to challenge the concept that the type of unity she has in mind is really "Jesus' idea of unity." I challenge the idea that we ought to be unified online. I challenge the idea that as diverse as the Christian world is in any community, it ought to be unified in the sense I think Toni thinks, certainly in the sense Mother Teresa thought. I challenge the idea that this sort of unity would be healthy even within the community of believers called Baptists.
I am afraid the type of unity Toni seeks is built upon the principle not of agreement, but of indifference, this sort of unity ignores doctrine for the sake of peace.
And here is the problem with that, without grappling with doctrine, truth begins to slip. The fact that we contend for our faith provides for an environment where truth may rise to the surface rather than settling in the bottom of the unstirred jar. I am not advocating for physical battle. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. Neither do I believe there is any room for hatred of among the contestants. If God loved man so much that "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" then there is reason for the child of God to love even those we have the most heated contest with.
But we must have the contest. We must prove out truth and expose the heresies among us. Only then will truth be manifest.
The online forum is the most liberating form of worldwide communication history has ever known. It has great potential for the spread of the gospel. But it has an equally great potential for the decimation of truth.
No, Toni, I won't pray my guts out for unity among online believers.
But I will pray that the gospel has free course and that the truth of God will rise to the top amidst all the biblical heresy that is disseminated online.
Marvin McKenzie
In the fields
