Differences Are Inevitable
Conflict Is Not
First a brief definition.
Faith refers to anything you believe which cannot be irrevocably proven or widely accepted. I believe in God. I can’t prove Him.
Unfortunately, that is the nature of faith. We call it faith because it cannot be tested in a lab. The only evidence we have is circumstantial.
And it isn’t the same for everyone. There are so many different varieties of faith it’s easy to see that faith tends to morph.
Therefore, when it comes to relationships based on faith, we must be careful. Before joining hands with anyone just because they have faith, we must determine exactly what they mean by the term.
Faith isn’t equal. Faith ideas can be polar opposites.
Even when they are close, they can be very different. One person believes Jesus is all one needs to get saved. Another adds baptism to the formula. Both believe in Jesus but the two ideas can’t be reconciled.
The uncomfortable truth is faith (the idea, the concept, the stance) tends to migrate depending on whose adopting it, how they promote it and on what they base their faith conclusions.
And since we can’t prove what we believe, it is entirely possible to become emotionally reactive when others respond derisively to the ideas we hold most strongly.
Buddhism, for example, is based on the teachings of Buddha. He excites attention because many of his teachings are at least thought provoking if not obvious. Some are easily accepted by all.
One of his popular statements illustrates the point:
Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present.
Easy to grasp and accept.
I’m not sure Buddha was the first to advocate for such an idea. In fact, Paul said something similar:
Behold, now is the accepted time, today is the day of salvation. (2 Corinthians 6:2)
Paul’s focus was salvation, not life in general, but the application was the same. If it didn’t happen in the past, don’t focus on the future, it can happen right now in the present.
Many have said something similar but Buddhism probably popularized it and the only ones to disagree are the disagreeable.
Ideas of this nature are sensible. They compel us to think and that’s a good thing.
One important observation is the fact that every religion promotes some ideas that are easy to see and accept. They all have an element of faith (that which can’t be seen) and sense (that which can be easily recognized).
But the balance between faith and sense is not fixed and because of that problems can surface.
Faith Divides
The more people play with faith ideas, the more the balance changes. Some religions become more about faith (what you can’t see) and less about sense.
Jehovah’s Witnesses won’t accept blood transfusions.
The Amish all wear the same bland style of clothing (intentional) and refuse to defend themselves in a fight.
Christian fundamentalists refuse to take or allow measures that might harm a fetus even if the mother’s life is threatened.
Creation is a less extreme example. Some believe God created everything in seven days. Others believe evolution was the mechanism God used.
Both individuals believe God was the creator. Both can make arguments for their belief. Neither can prove absolutely the ideas they hold. But in both cases, creation is still God’s artwork.
There are, of course, people who believe God had nothing to do with creation. For them, we just exist, but that’s another discussion. This article is about faith and the people who have it.
Faith ideas can be both very different and very much the same. The truth is it takes no less power to create the universe by evolution than it does to produce the same result in seven days.
The problem is once you’re committed to an idea that can’t be easily accepted by all, or at least the majority of folks, you then have a point of division.
Faith Dominates
Faith doesn’t stop with just a few interesting ideas. The next step is seeking out, identifying with and relating to others of the same mindset (faith). We don’t sit on faith ideas, we assert them.
Some believe, and teach adamantly, that Jesus taught us to do that. And He did, in fact, teach us to preach the Gospel to every creature. But how far does one take that?
Preaching the Gospel is one thing. Requiring it is another.
When obsessively held ideas become law, you then have a religious state. Everyone is then required to obey the law even if their devotions don’t align with the faith ideas those laws represent.
The Church of Christ is a good example. They believe baptism is necessary for salvation.
I don’t mind these folks believing baptism is necessary or that their baptism is the only one that counts. It’s their right to believe that. They are welcome to believe those things as long as they don’t force me and everyone else to follow that guide.
But that is the nature of humanity. Once we have an idea we believe is accurate, we’ll go to great links not only to prove it but to impose it.
Church of Christ folks aren’t the only ones to hold such restrictive ideas about baptism. Catholics have a version of the same thing. If you look closely, you’ll find others who have similar rules.
Can you imagine what the nation would look like if a truly committed religious person became president or advised the president, and the beliefs of said religion became the rule of the day?
Faith Is By Nature Suspect
Faith is always faith but it isn’t always true.
It’s one thing to be true to your religion, it’s entirely another, however, to adamantly call your religion true (meaning, of course, that everyone else is wrong) but that’s what we do.
I’m not suggesting there is no true religion, but it is quite apparent from the many religious variations that humans have a tendency to add their own perspectives when they form religious practices around those ideas.
There are many people who believe in God but they don’t all believe the same things about God. Some of the purported ideas are contrary to others.
All Christian religions attribute divinity to Jesus. Catholics, however, speak of Mary (and a host of saints they recognize) as equally or more important than Jesus.
All those ideas constitute faith but not all of them are true.
Faith Socializes
It’s also true that faith feeds on company. We spend time with people who have it. Face-time is fellowship and we all need it.
It’s human to need and enjoy association with others, but it’s also human to be selective. The people we enjoy the most and seek out first are the ones who agree with us.
Not the ones that have faith but the ones who share the particular faith we endorse.
And the more close we become with people we agree with, the more distant we are to people who disagree, even family members.
In order to enjoy the fellowship, it often happens that group members confess to ideas they don’t necessarily agree with (even extreme ideas) just to maintain the connection to the group.
When questions emerge, the connections are splintered. It happens all the time and is referred to as church splits.
Sometimes people take on ideologies and mindsets because they like the people they spend time with and entertaining their ideas is a way of fitting in.
We know this. It’s a core teaching of psychology. We naturally socialize with people we like and in turn become more like those people the more we spend time mixing.
It’s also true that we recruit. No one is happy in isolation and no one wishes to be thought of as different.
There is nothing unusual or strange about that but this natural tendency, when combined with a basic teaching of the Bible, runs counter to the spirit of Christianity.
We are commanded to reach all people, the ones we agree with and the ones we don’t. To do that well, we are commanded to love all people and Jesus is the point.
But where do you start?
One way to love everyone is to aim for unity. I agree that uniformity is not the same as unity but unity does mean we should have core ideas in common.
That’s not difficult to prove. On a biological level we have many things in common. The same should be true emotionally, mentally and spiritually.
A good place to start is with whoever is closest and begin with the teachings of Jesus, not your favorite political ideology.
We are supposed to find a way to love our “enemies” and by that effort find a way to share ideas they may not be aware of, and possibly find offensive, but do it in a way that leads to discussion, not disagreement.
Faith Punishes
Although faith isn’t the same for everyone, everyone who has it makes an effort to define the one they hold and claim it as superior to all others. In other words in spite of the fact that no faith idea can be proven, the effort to promote one idea over another becomes a mandate.
And it gets personal.
Rather than a discussion, it becomes a conflict.
Jesus taught that those who have faith would experience persecution. His words:
Behold, I send you forth as sheep among the wolves. (Matthew 10:16)
We read over this passage quickly and assume He’s referring to a faith vs unfaith conflict, but that’s not the case.
In the next breath He says men will deliver us to the councils (a religious body) to be scourged in the synagogues (a religious institution). And when you look at history, there is a lot of evidence proving that religion can be quite threatening.
Charlie Kirk is a good example. He was a Christian. Some of his ideas all Christians could believe. Some of them were extreme like gays should be executed.
He isn’t the only Christian to entertain such notions but he was particularly good at making his points through the art of debate.
He was effective at winning arguments.
Winning the argument, however, is evidence of cleverness, not proof of concept. So, if you like his ideas, you loved how he performed in a debate.
The problem is he used his public platform to repeatedly punish those he disagreed with even when they weren’t attacking him or his ideas personally.
Simone Biles (the celebrated Olympic medalist) was scathingly ridiculed by Kirk on his show (at the 54:03 mark) after she dropped out of the 2020 Olympics. According to Snopes, he called her a selfish sociopath, weak, a national disgrace and more.
The point, of course, is not that Charlie was right or wrong, although his remarks were completing unbefitting. The point is he was an avowed Christian evangelical attempting to disgrace another confessed Christian publicly.
This was faith on faith persecution and it was done in the name of truth, justice and Jesus. Religion naturally tends to attack religion.
Maybe this is what Matthew 10 was referring to. Maybe we should fight the temptation.
Faith Unifies
This point seem like a contradiction since I previously said it divides. Here, however, I’m making a difference between faith properly expressed and faith misused.
Christians disagree on many things: music, lifestyle habits, legal restrictions, religious observations and so on. The list of categories about which disagreements exist and the variations within those categories is endless.
But Jesus did pray that we would be unified (John 17:11). He prayed His disciples would be unified and it isn’t unusual for us, in our time, to assume that was the case. They were all led by the Master teacher evangelist. How could they not fall in line with His leadership.
But if they were unified, why would Jesus need to pray for that? We don’t pray for things that already exist or that can’t be disturbed.
Jesus’ prayer indicates His concern over vulnerabilities. He wasn’t as comfortable with where the disciples were as we might think, and it wasn’t too long after the prayer that they were scattered and running for their lives.
Unity was not evident and it’s fair to say it’s not easy.
It’s difficult to define what unity means.
I didn’t vote for Trump (I’ve never voted for Trump) and was viciously criticized for that by an associate. Someone I thought was a friend.
Obviously, their definition of unity is voting for the same political candidate. I think we must narrow the field. Agreeing on everything is not possible.
My argument here is that faith, when properly understood, enables Christians to accept inevitable differences without rejecting one another. Core ideas, like Jesus is the Savior and died for every soul. That anyone can be saved and will be saved at the moment of belief whenever and wherever that happens, baptism or not.
That’s a unifying concept.
Faith Works
According to Jesus, salvation is based on any person hearing His words and believing in God (John 5:24). That is faith. You can’t really add anything to that.
Since His words are spoken in every church and hearers are able to quietly respond, it isn’t inconceivable that there are many Christians in every church.
It shouldn’t be strange that they each tend to come up with nuanced ideas that complicate salvation but those ideas can’t become the basis for every person’s faith and they shouldn’t be allowed to interfere with unity.
THINK!AboutIt
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