Christ's desire for unity in His Church is the reason I'm on this journey.
So why do I find myself mucking around with issues like total depravity, hell, penal substitution, Calvinism, a so on?
I think it's because I'm seeing our different Christian traditions have gradually wandered from using language and the main focus of Scripture, to using language that was created to explain and defend different positions of past Christian leaders. Each tradition has had different leaders, and each leader has had some different interpretations (we all seem to).
If all Christ followers focused on using the same language used in Scripture we would find we have greater unity.
Any Christian leader from any tradition or denomination could walk into another assembly of a different tradition, open up and read from our share Scriptures, and be welcomed and accepted for speaking the truth. No Christian assembly would take issue with someone sharing wisdom straight from the Word.
When we go off defending things that are not central to Scripture, using language not found in scripture, we will certainly find we create dis-unity.
So where do I find myself these days:
- I am not Catholic, but am not anti-Catholic
- I am not a Calvinist, but am not anti-Calvinist
- I am not Protestant, but am not anti-Protestant
- I am not a defender of denomination X, Y, or Z, but am not anti-X, Y, or Z
- I am not Emergent, I came into this conversation too late to use that label
But I wish we could drop all the labels and traditions that divide.
I just want to follow Christ, the words he spoke, and be part of the Church He founded.
And I propose the more we focus on language that is clear in scripture, I think we'll look more like Christ's one Church, and others will see and believe.
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