in necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas. Translated into English, this means, “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.”
The above quote is often attributed to St. Augustine of Hippo, but is more often thought to have been first penned by either an obscure German Lutheran theologian of the early seventeenth century named Rupertus Meldenius, or Marco Antonio de Dominis (1560-1624) in 1617, a Catholic Bishop. I'm not sure which actually wrote/said it, as there is a large number of sources attributing the saying to each of them.
This quote often comes to mind when I watch Christians from different denominations squabble...often over the strangest stuff. When to worship, what to wear, how the Eucharist (communion) should be served, can you sit during worship or have to stand, do we kneel, what hats do we wear, what music can be played (or not!) in the House of God, what to eat.....the list goes on and on, my friend, it's the fight without an end.
People tend to like to be correct, especially about what they hold dearest to them....
for many of us, that is religion. (Hence, some of the horrible atrocities done in the name of faith throughout the years.) By and large, most Christians now are fairly peaceful folks, seldom resorting to anything other than raised voices and name-calling.
But boy are we good at that!
And I've come to believe that inter-denominational verbal fencing is a sport in and of itself. There are people who love to compete (I told him, HA!) and those who love to root for their favorite debaters (you tell that heretic!) and those who watch from the sidelines with avid interest (anyone have some popcorn?).......And then there are those who watch such fighting with a sick feeling in their heart and soul, wondering how people who claim to love the same Christ also love to tear each other down.
Now....there are reasons to correct one another...there are genuine heresies that must be faced and dealt with, lest poison, like a cancer, spread through the Body of Christ's Church. I don't object to heresies being exposed or important issues of doctrine being discussed and debated (indeed they must be) as long as the spirit of love is present.
For if we are without love when dealing with such important matters, we run the risk of using faith as a bludgeoning weapon, instead of a surgeon's scalpel used delicately, and in a life-saving manner, to cut out the spreading rot.
For whether we deal with a Christian following bad doctrine, or someone who doesn't claim Christ as Lord, we are still dealing with someone made in the image of God. Someone that we should treat with love and kindness. I don't know about you....or if I am particularly hard-headed, but scolding me or yelling at me was never an effective way to motivate me. It usually just made me defensive, and my natural reaction when I'm defensive is to become angry and stubborn. I shut down and "circle the wagons" to protect myself from what I perceive as a threat...and I suspect many people are the same.
I've not yet met someone who has been brought into the Kingdom of God by being screamed at and called names.
I've met a lot of people though who have fled from even talking about God because
they were treated cruelly by a Christian, who might have had the best of intentions,
but chose the worst of methods.
And I've met a lot of wounded Christians, stumbling about spiritually, because they've been attacked by other members of the Body over minor doctrinal issues. People who are gun-shy now of a whole denomination (or ten) because of how they were treated. Which is really very sad...for that just means there are parts of the family of God that aren't speaking to each other.
"Cousin Baptist won't talk to Uncle Anabaptist, Nephew Methodist is angry with Aunt Anglican, and the Presbyterians won't even talk to their own siblings. The Moravians don't even know about Great Uncle Coptic, and the Lutherans are feuding amongst themselves again. Not to mention the Grandparents, the Roman Catholics and Orthodox, who are just now starting to speak again after a 1,000 years."
Wow, guys, really?
Aren't we a little old to be playing the "estranged family with loads of baggage" game?
Yes....there are issues we disagree upon. Good heavens, people always find issues
to disagree upon...I think it is just part of the human condition.
But do you love Jesus Christ? Do you hold to the basic, fundamental tenets of
the Christian faith? (Belief in all aspects of the Triune God (Father, Son and Holy Ghost,) Christ born to a Virgin, Death on the Cross, Resurrection from the grave, forgiveness of sins (and acknowledgement you are a sinner in need of forgiveness), Salvation through Faith, the call to Repentance and the gift of God's grace and mercy, the promise of eternal life for those who believe and trust in Jesus, etc)
Great! We're family!
For if you love God, you'll try your best to honor Him by repenting of sins and living your life out loving God and your neighbor...then you've hit what is really important.
For if you genuinely love and trust in Christ alone for your salvation, and you will attempt to live in accordance to His will. And that flows right into loving your neighbor (Jesus did after all make a REALLY big deal about this), and you'll find it comes easier and easier as time goes on, as Christ remakes you into a new creation; His love then flows through you.
And if you deeply love Christ, and I deeply love Christ, then we've got a familial bond.
We've got a shared family member, a shared cause, and a shared passion.
I'm not going to fight you over non-essential aspects of faith, and in the essential elements of faith, I only ever try to reason in love with people.
If I am dealing with someone who does not yet know my beloved Jesus, then I will attempt to shower them with His great love,and my feeble shadow of that love.
Because....it all comes down to love.
If you don't know that I love you, by how I talk to you and treat you, then you'll never listen to the life giving Gospel I want to share.
And if you're of another denomination with significant differences to my own, let us start by affirming and agreeing on our love for Him who loved us first. And should we disagree on this point or that point, then you can just say I'm your odd, goofy cousin...but hey...at least I'm family!
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”--John 13:34-35
"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."
1 Peter 4:8
The above quote is often attributed to St. Augustine of Hippo, but is more often thought to have been first penned by either an obscure German Lutheran theologian of the early seventeenth century named Rupertus Meldenius, or Marco Antonio de Dominis (1560-1624) in 1617, a Catholic Bishop. I'm not sure which actually wrote/said it, as there is a large number of sources attributing the saying to each of them.
This quote often comes to mind when I watch Christians from different denominations squabble...often over the strangest stuff. When to worship, what to wear, how the Eucharist (communion) should be served, can you sit during worship or have to stand, do we kneel, what hats do we wear, what music can be played (or not!) in the House of God, what to eat.....the list goes on and on, my friend, it's the fight without an end.
People tend to like to be correct, especially about what they hold dearest to them....
for many of us, that is religion. (Hence, some of the horrible atrocities done in the name of faith throughout the years.) By and large, most Christians now are fairly peaceful folks, seldom resorting to anything other than raised voices and name-calling.
But boy are we good at that!
And I've come to believe that inter-denominational verbal fencing is a sport in and of itself. There are people who love to compete (I told him, HA!) and those who love to root for their favorite debaters (you tell that heretic!) and those who watch from the sidelines with avid interest (anyone have some popcorn?).......And then there are those who watch such fighting with a sick feeling in their heart and soul, wondering how people who claim to love the same Christ also love to tear each other down.
Now....there are reasons to correct one another...there are genuine heresies that must be faced and dealt with, lest poison, like a cancer, spread through the Body of Christ's Church. I don't object to heresies being exposed or important issues of doctrine being discussed and debated (indeed they must be) as long as the spirit of love is present.
For if we are without love when dealing with such important matters, we run the risk of using faith as a bludgeoning weapon, instead of a surgeon's scalpel used delicately, and in a life-saving manner, to cut out the spreading rot.
For whether we deal with a Christian following bad doctrine, or someone who doesn't claim Christ as Lord, we are still dealing with someone made in the image of God. Someone that we should treat with love and kindness. I don't know about you....or if I am particularly hard-headed, but scolding me or yelling at me was never an effective way to motivate me. It usually just made me defensive, and my natural reaction when I'm defensive is to become angry and stubborn. I shut down and "circle the wagons" to protect myself from what I perceive as a threat...and I suspect many people are the same.
I've not yet met someone who has been brought into the Kingdom of God by being screamed at and called names.
I've met a lot of people though who have fled from even talking about God because
they were treated cruelly by a Christian, who might have had the best of intentions,
but chose the worst of methods.
And I've met a lot of wounded Christians, stumbling about spiritually, because they've been attacked by other members of the Body over minor doctrinal issues. People who are gun-shy now of a whole denomination (or ten) because of how they were treated. Which is really very sad...for that just means there are parts of the family of God that aren't speaking to each other.
"Cousin Baptist won't talk to Uncle Anabaptist, Nephew Methodist is angry with Aunt Anglican, and the Presbyterians won't even talk to their own siblings. The Moravians don't even know about Great Uncle Coptic, and the Lutherans are feuding amongst themselves again. Not to mention the Grandparents, the Roman Catholics and Orthodox, who are just now starting to speak again after a 1,000 years."
Wow, guys, really?
Aren't we a little old to be playing the "estranged family with loads of baggage" game?
Yes....there are issues we disagree upon. Good heavens, people always find issues
to disagree upon...I think it is just part of the human condition.
But do you love Jesus Christ? Do you hold to the basic, fundamental tenets of
the Christian faith? (Belief in all aspects of the Triune God (Father, Son and Holy Ghost,) Christ born to a Virgin, Death on the Cross, Resurrection from the grave, forgiveness of sins (and acknowledgement you are a sinner in need of forgiveness), Salvation through Faith, the call to Repentance and the gift of God's grace and mercy, the promise of eternal life for those who believe and trust in Jesus, etc)
Great! We're family!
For if you love God, you'll try your best to honor Him by repenting of sins and living your life out loving God and your neighbor...then you've hit what is really important.
For if you genuinely love and trust in Christ alone for your salvation, and you will attempt to live in accordance to His will. And that flows right into loving your neighbor (Jesus did after all make a REALLY big deal about this), and you'll find it comes easier and easier as time goes on, as Christ remakes you into a new creation; His love then flows through you.
And if you deeply love Christ, and I deeply love Christ, then we've got a familial bond.
We've got a shared family member, a shared cause, and a shared passion.
I'm not going to fight you over non-essential aspects of faith, and in the essential elements of faith, I only ever try to reason in love with people.
If I am dealing with someone who does not yet know my beloved Jesus, then I will attempt to shower them with His great love,and my feeble shadow of that love.
Because....it all comes down to love.
If you don't know that I love you, by how I talk to you and treat you, then you'll never listen to the life giving Gospel I want to share.
And if you're of another denomination with significant differences to my own, let us start by affirming and agreeing on our love for Him who loved us first. And should we disagree on this point or that point, then you can just say I'm your odd, goofy cousin...but hey...at least I'm family!
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”--John 13:34-35
"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."
1 Peter 4:8
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