There are so many differing traditions, practices and hermeneutics throughout the Kingdom, that it is not a complicated discussion trying to figure out why people look at this beautiful thing we call the Body and just shake their heads.
Just recently I was asked, "If a friend of mine wanted to come to our church and wanted to get involved, would she have to be baptized? She was Catholic, but now goes to a protestant church and was asking about ours. She is a good Christian but I didn't know if she could do anything until she was baptized."
Here is my 26 years of Christian Church, Christian Church school, Christian Church preaching and Church of Christ grad school response...
"Hehehehe... Are you kidding me??? Heck no she can't live out her faith with us until she is obedient to the scriptures. She can come to church, but if she wants to do anything, teach or become a member...I mean if she is a good Christian, then she will want to obey what the Bible says and get dunked!"
Now, I am going to assume everyone will see the humor in that...if you do not, I...well, you should.
So here is my discussion point. What if the scriptures ended with the following...
Luke 10:25-28 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"
He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."
I know it does not end with this, but where does this fit when we consider eternal life and being 'saved'? I know there is so much more scripture has to say involving these wonderful and huge topics, but I am mesmerized by this pericope.
O by the way, I have been immersed.
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Now Todd's gone to meddling! I've been immersed too, but, I fellowship with folks from every pedigree you can imagine, some of whom have been immersed and others who are satisfied with their own baptisms. The church I attend teaches immersion. My analysis of the subject is what I use in any doctrinal discussion. There are two questions that must be asked. 1) is there a difference between what you believe and what I believe? The second question determines how much weight I place upon the issue: Does the difference make any difference? My conclusion is simple. If it involves anything other than the person and identity of Jesus, then it makes no difference. Thus, issues like instrumental music, spiritual gifts (/Charisma/), the various millennial doctrines (I'm a pan millennialist - I figure it will all pan out in the end), and so on make no difference in my fellowship with someone who chooses to believe something different than I. In these instances, we all stand at the foot of an empty cross and everything becomes "discussable". I don't know about you, but, I have changed my mind so much on so many topics that I now reserve the right to be wrong. Our challenge is to love, accept and forgive everyone who comes through the door -- then you can worry about what they believe. Who knows, you might even find they know something you don't. One of these days I'm going to have a bumper sticker printed up which says "I'm not OK and you're not OK, but that OK" with John 3:16-17 below.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to your thoughts.