Christians are funny creatures.
About six months ago, someone sent me a Tweet saying, “I am reading one of your books. I’m half-way through, and I don’t agree with it.”
I responded (in a series of tweets) the following:
“Twitter isn’t the place for substantial dialogue. In fact, it’s impossible. Make a comment on my blog and let me know where *specifically* you disagree and why.”
“If I’ve written one word that’s inaccurate or unbiblical, I want to know where & how.”
The person declined and essentially said something that was the equivalent of, “I’ve made up my mind. I don’t want to be proven wrong. Don’t confuse me with the facts.”
[Cough.]
In 2012, I wrote a blog post that went viral. It’s called So You Think You Disagree? 4 Reasons Why You May Not.
The article puts a finger on a profound problem today.
If Christians don’t take the time to dialogue with each other on issues where they think they disagree, they will never find out if the disagreement is real or just perceived.
In Revise Us Again, I sketched out the 3 kinds of spiritual conversational styles that Christians unwittingly use. And I showed how countless so-called “disagreements” among Christians aren’t substantive, but semantic — being rooted in a certain theological conversational style.
We have well over 33,000 denominations in Christianity today, which is a horrible witness against the oneness of Jesus Christ and His church.
We have constant wars between leaders, movements, and theologians.
This trickles down to Christian readers who use social media.
The divisions, misunderstandings, and confusion won’t stop unless we’re willing to dialogue.
Regrettably, most authors aren’t accessible at all. Trying to them to answer a question about what they’ve written is just as difficult as trying to get a question in to Johnny Depp.
Part of the reason why I have this blog and why I allow comments is precisely because I want to make myself available for questions from readers.
As I pointed in So You Think You Disagree?, the vast majority of people who have had the courage and intellectual integrity to bring an assumed disagreement straight to me in the form of a question quickly discovered that we really didn’t disagree at all.
But they would have never known this if they didn’t take to the 2 minutes it takes to state their question or objection on this blog.
Point: Don’t be a cowardly Christian who exacerbates the problem of the innumerable divisions among Christians by never asking an author a question you have. On the one hand, hold out the possibility that you may have misunderstood the author’s point or that they may be correct. On the other hand, have enough love for the author to correct her or his thinking if you think they truly are in error on something.
We have not so learned Jesus Christ to do otherwise — Matthew 7:12.
On Suicide
In your 1st comment following this post, you wrote that God “has a remnant who refuse to be sectarian”. Is there a Scripture passage that says this?
I was speaking about the 21st century. However, He’s always had a remnant that refused to go along with the status quo. Recall those who left Babylon to return to Jerusalem. Only 2% of Israel went back to Jerusalem. I tell the story in “From Eternity to Here” http://https://www.frankviola.org/frometernitytohere/
Frank, You made a point about not being a cowardly Christian ……. never asking an author a question you have, so I’ll continue trying to understand your 1st comment….. The reference to “sectarian” was confusing to me and looking up the word sectarian didn’t help. I thought that reading it in the scriptures directly would help and I posted my question. Then you replied that you were speaking “about the 21st century”. In speaking about the 21st century wouldn’t having “a remnant that refused to go along with the status quo” be factional/separatist? Rather than refusing to be sectarian, wouldn’t the 21st century remnant actually be sectarian?
Roy
Roy, not at all. Being sectarian is an attitude of the heart. People who leave the sects to follow Jesus and embrace the oneness of the Body aren’t sectarian. They are standing against it. hey feel they can’t join a sect because to do so would make them sectarian.
Read my article on sectarianism in the archives. It will better explain. I also have a chapter on it in “Reimagining Church.”
The remnant that left Babylon weren’t sectarian. They were leaving the status quo to follow the Lord’s highest purpose. The same is true today. That doesn’t mean a remnant of people can’t be elitist and sectarian. They can if they think too highly of themselves.
Frank, I was planning to switch my questions to the article Rethinking Christian Unity, but I expect that you can’t post to an archived article. In your story, in that article, dialog initially failed, there was a split, then dialog became possible. My 1st thought was that one of the groups left, but aparently that wasn’t the case. Can you comment on what was changed by the split?.
Roy: I’m sorry, I don’t understand what you’re asking here. This is now an old post as I’ve written quite a few since and the blog community has moved on to discuss those. Can you put your specific question in a succinct form? That will help. Thx.
Finally, here between these walls, I get sanity…thank you Frank, for this blog where I can go and count on people who “have so learned Christ”
“Christians will always hold hands over the fence this side of the Lord’s return. But He has a remnant who refuse to be sectarian.”
If we can only let go of our everlasting compunction to stay on our side of the fence, speaking our minds into the air … or to speak “at” each other across the fence lines. Authentic dialogue is a mark of maturity and humility. More than as individuals, we, together, have the mind of Christ. If we could only contend for the faith while avoiding man-made sectarianism.
Thanks. This was a good one. 🙂
Brilliant. When the rubber hits the road, it is the same old story. Do you want to hold fast your traditions and dogmas or do you really really “really” believe that Jesus is the Messiah and that you can walk with Him in eternal life in every second of every day. Why oh why do we love our traditions? (People will go down swinging haymakers at you over their pet hobby horses or denominations theyve built) And the world is watching. God Bless all. Hail King Jesus. (apologies. Very fast typed note!)
Frank:
One of the biggest “ah-ha” (no, not the 80s pop group) moments I had reading From Eternity to Here was your description of the two trees in the Garden. The realization that the forbidden tree was not a tree of evil, per se, but a tree of knowledge. Since the beginning, humanity has been obsessed with the acquisition of knowledge, especially that which we can gain on our own without the help of God.
Add to this the additional problem today that most of us grow up conditioned (by both our educational system and our religious institutions) that “knowledge” is actually nothing more than the acquisition of information conveyed to us – without the necessity to think and analyze the information – so that we can regurgitate the answers when needed. Thus, some are bothered by the fact that not only do you challenge their fundamental beliefs, but you also challenge the fact that they cannot articulate why they believe as they do.
As a recent “convert” away from religious institutions, I still find myself wanting to know “answers” about everything. I have only slowly gotten to the point that I can accept some answers as unknowable at this point in life. Further, and more importantly, many of the answers sought have nothing to do with building my relationship with Jesus. But after almost five decades of trying use my knowledge to be a “good Christian,” the paradigm shift has been fundamental, and often difficult.
Keep teaching, Brother.
This is an important topic and I hope leaders choose to address this more in days to come. Right on in regard to the need to determine if the disagreement is real or just perceived….After all, dividing the house has be a tactic since the beginning of time. The lies we can believe about brothers and sisters are subtle and crafty for certain.
If any prayer will be answered as yes and amen- fully and completely, it is the prayer of Jesus in John 17:20-23. I cling to this. According to this, there is MUCH MORE to come on earth as in heaven 🙂
….”May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me” prayed Jesus to the Father….
Yes, in today’s environment, it seems He has a lot of work to do…
Christians will always hold hands over the fence this side of the Lord’s return. But He has a remnant who refuse to be sectarian. He always has.
Frank it’s not just a Christian problem. The isue of not listening to one another is deeply Imbedded into all areas of our society. The real issue, in my mind, is the Intractability of the heart of the individual. We think of ourselves as individuals instead of a group/society/nation and so we must defend ourselves against all enemies. If we thought of each other not as an individual but as a community, divisions between people would begin to errode. Of course if we expanded this thinking into the idea of the Community of Christ we would see the advent of the real Christian Church so long forgotten and real love for one another would be the norm instead of the exception.
“We have not so learned Jesus Christ to do otherwise”
What does this mean?
Paul said in Ephesians 4 when making a point, “you have not so learned Jesus Christ.” In the context of my statement, if we act in way other than I described, it just demonstrates that we haven’t learned Christ.
This is all to common especially with us who would consider ourselves evangelicals. I find it ironic that often it is Evangelical teachers who mock those outside those circles as not being able to think outside the box when often it is they who refuse to think outside the box!
For example, for 20 years now I have subscribed to a non pre-trib rapture belief. I was previously a strong proponent of it. Telling people what I think about this you would think I was a pagan witch doctor about to sacrifice a chicken on an altar made of squirrel bones. It’s just unthinkable to not be pre trib in the evangelical world! There’s many other examples too I could give. it’s sad but often in our debates we tend to talk past each other or not really talk to each other at all. Instead, we tend to talk to ourselves loudly at other people. It’s kind of sad and I think tends to drive people away rather than towards Jesus when they experience this.
The infighting *among* evangelicals is often more vicious.
But as a Christian can I really trust a man with a goatee?
You cannot. Nor can you trust someone who wears glasses.
This is just another reason (although not as significant) why I appreciate you, Frank.
I appreciate you mainly for how God has used you in my life via your books, blogs, podcasts, and live messages and interaction. But I also appreciate your accessibility and “down-to-earth” nature. I know the larger the audience, the harder it is to interact with everyone. But I believe you do your best to facilitate the people that want to interact with you.
Thanks for everything, brother!
P.S. As an aside, every time you put “[Cough.]” into a post, I end up having a short, light cough happen. Weird…;-)
Well said, Frank. If we as the Body of Christ can’t/won’t even listen to one another, how can we expect to be heard by anyone else?