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IN ESSENTIALS, UNITY

I just had a board meeting where I went over a study on the word "unity" and "divisions." The question that immediately came up was, "Well, Christians don't have to agree on everything...right?"

My response went something like this, "Well, wouldn't we want to?" It hit the fan like a lead balloon, which is not at all what I had expected. I thought all of the other board members would be shouting, "Yes!" and giving me high-fives and chest bumps. Well, maybe not chest bumps at this age. 

There were some other ideas, thoughts and opinions expressed, and I was like, "We just went over this study of like 25 verses that state we are to be unified and have no divisions among us. Why don't you get it?"

Seems like I was the one who actually didn't get it. It wasn't that I thought my interpretations were wrong, the weren't. The question centered around their application. "How in the world are we to agree on everything?" I was too myopic to see outside the scope of what I was thinking--which was in the church. It doesn't bother me, really, what you decide at home on stuff. That is mostly between you and God. But I wasn't tracking.

I've since thought a lot about my response and while doing another study, I ran across the old axiom, "In essentials, Unity. In non-essentials, Liberty. In all things, Charity." I have seen this posted on church walls all my young adult life, but in recent years it has been missing. 

I then saw a title of an article, "What all Christians must believe." Due to the word, "must," I decided to read over it, and thought, "Well, yes, I agree with those five things. But certainly there are more!"

Then I heard a age old voice of a man in church in my head, asking me, "Why are there so many denominations?" And after thinking through through this along with the above conversation, I think each body of believers want to know what they believe in as "essential." I do too. And I think where some have decided "these are the marks that will from now on identify who we are as a group of believers," is how denominational groups got their start. 

It is an interesting study to not only look over what groups believe are essential, but also the history of when and why those beliefs occurred. For example, in my recent course on Methodist History, the Wesleyans, United Methodist, Free Methodists, African Methodists, and Brethren churches were all in unity. Slavery was one "essential" a group of believers decided a line should be drawn upon and those who agreed departed the one group and left. I think that was the right move.

I have worshipped in Free Methodist, United Methodist, Wesleyan, Brethren churches and the core essentials are the same. I have fellowshipped with Baptists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Reformed, 

The problem for me is when people try to impose their "convictions" using slip-shod citations of biblical verses in support of them. Things like the need for taking communion every Sunday, no drinking of alcohol, no dancing, no mowing the lawn on Sunday, expressing our strong emotions, or being a pre-trib and pre-millennialist, to name a few. 

So, here are the five from the article ALL must believe they say.

1. GOD CREATED THE UNIVERSE - Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

2. CHRIST IS A LIGHT IN DARKNESS - John 1:5 “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

3. COMMUNION BRINGS UNITY - Matthew 26:26 “Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it, broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body.'”

4. WE’RE CALLED TO MAKE DISCIPLES - Matthew 28:19 “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit …”

5. JESUS IS COMING BACK - Revelation 22:20 “He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.”

Would you add any? Remove any? Thoughts?

And I think I might put the Essential saying on a poster and back up my recent church. Truth is, it might actually already be around somewhere. --kk

https://www.christianity.com/wiki/sin/things-christians-label-as-sin-that-arent-actually-sinful.html

https://relevantmagazine.com/faith/5-big-ideas-all-christians-must-agree/

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Location: Marion, IN, USA

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