Division

I'll just go ahead and warn you that this topic is a little weighty for me right now, and if you are feeling like something light and happy, I created another blog this morning called "puppies and ice cream" that may be more enjoyable for you.

I must ask a question. Has anyone noticed that Christians like to fight with each other? I've been wondering how much we have really changed since Paul wrote the Corinthians about how divided they were?

"I follow this guy!" "No, that guy is an idiot, this guy knows how to read the original Hebrew!" "Are you kidding? That guy is a heretic! You should come to my church and get the truth!" (1 Corinthians 1:12 my paraphrase)

I remember when this girl came to a youth conference that my youth group was putting on, and she was pretty messed up emotionally. During worship, she started shaking and hissing and freaking out, so a bunch of us started trying to cast demons out of her. It was quite an ordeal. I don't know if she really had demons in her or if she was trying to get attention or something, but we turned it into an opportunity for a full-fledged charismatic circus in there.

I remember talking to her later about it. This girl had a lot of bad stuff happen to her in her life, and just had a lot of baggage. But the one thing that I really honed in on was that she was Catholic. I'm extremely ashamed of this now, but I'm going to go ahead and tell you what I told her because I was in junior high, and I was a bit of an elitist jerk.

The thought I had in my head was something like "well, of course you have demons, you're Catholic."

So I tried to talk her out of being Catholic. Didn't they worship Mary in those "churches"? They sit there and chant and worship idols all day, don't they?

I told you.

And that was just the Catholics! What about those Baptists, Lutherans, and Presbyterians? They might not be as bad, but they certainly aren't preaching the whole Gospel that my friends and I happen to have cornered the market on!

Today, I don't think most evangelicals are quite as mad at Catholic people as they used to be. Maybe it's because many of us have noticed that many of "them" happen to be some of the most sincere and wonderful Christ followers in the world... But don't worry, there are plenty of others that we can find to aim our swords of truth and destiny at. (I thought "swords of truth and destiny" was funnier sounding than "ignorant bigotry" or even just plain "swords")

If it's not crusading against Muslims to convert, or burning scientists and witches at the stake, or massacring "savages" if they don't accept the gospel, can we at least get some vitriolic sermons about how the "emerging church" is going to be the downfall of America?

It is so easy and comfortable to find all of those ways separating "us" from "them". The Pharisees of Jesus day knew that comfort quite well.

"I heard that they believe..."

If I hadn't already used my cuss word... What is the deal with this? Some of you who are reading this have had conversations like this within the last week probably. I have heard so much "I follow Paul", "I follow Apollos" lately, that I was either going to have to tear my clothes and rub dirt all over my body or write a blog about it.

That was random, and though I'm playing around in this blog a bit, I really am concerned about this.

Here's my point: we are supposed to be on the same team.

Can we forget for just a moment about our privileged knowledge of the "full gospel" and remember that the point of our faith isn't acing a doctrinal multiple-choice test when we stand before the Christ in the end...

For the Christian, faith should be about Jesus, and the new creation of hope, faith, and love that He brings. He wants His Church to be united in bringing His Kingdom into the world, not bickering about whether creation happened in seven literal days or whether you should speak in tongues or not or what the physics of hell will or will not be. Are these things really the point?

I thought Jesus was supposed to be the point! So those of you playing the sides games out there, protestant or catholic, left or right, white or black, modern or postmodern, male or female, jew or greek... Oh wait...

Galations 3:28--There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Please stop.

_Michael Gungor