By Michael Bell
I am not sure whether to laugh or cry when I read this joke. It was overheard at Internet Monk and attributed by Ed to Emo Philips.
Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, “Don’t do it!” He said, “Nobody loves me.” I said, “God loves you. Do you believe in God?”
He said, “Yes.” I said, “Are you a Christian or a Jew?” He said, “A Christian.” I said, “Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?” He said, “Protestant.” I said, “Me, too! What franchise?” He said, “Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?” He said, “Northern Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?”
He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?” He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region.” I said, “Me, too!”
Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?” He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912.” I said, “Die, heretic!” And I pushed him over.
This strongly reminds me of how much we quibble over the smallest things, and are not generous with those who differ slightly from what we believe. Pastors and denominational leaders, take a good look at your membership requirements. What is essential to the gospel? What other things can you put aside in order to fellowship with someone in your church and call him brother. Who are you excluding that Jesus has already included?
Your thoughts and comments are welcome.
Michael Bell
Joshua Hearne
Tim Melton
Joel Black
I will not exclude anyone.
The Lord will handle that job on the last Day.
While I judge no one, it is good to talk about proper doctrine and to criticize improper teachings.
This can be done, and it should be done. It’s always better to do it in love.
I started a thread somewhere, asking what we need to believe in order to be saved. It degenerated into a debate about Mary and her role in our salvation.
I realized at that time that God’s grace will cover my sins and transgressions, and my misunderstanding of Biblical truth. I know myself well enough to know that I can’t know Absolute Truth. I’m just not smart enough. Much smarter people have debated these issues for centuries, and I’m not going to answer them in my spare time.
I can’t exclude others just because we believe differently, or have liturgical or congregational differences, because what if I’m the one in the wrong?
It reminds me of the great advances that were made in China by Jesuits that were undone by the Pope. The Christian way to honor God is with candles and prayers to the Saints, not firecrackers and prayers to ancestors. The Evangelical movement has moved forward from it’s earlier denominational moorings and I think is at a cross roads in Christian history. Some believe in a Christianity that can maintain unity in diversity, and others still want to make the world Nashville ( I’m sure Yankees have their own isolationist/chauvinist churches to).
Mikelioso,
Not sure I completely understand your comment. What did the Jesuits do that was undone by the Pope? What does that have to do with candles or firecrakers? How are either candles or firecrackers honoring to God? How has the evangelical movement moved forward?
I hope you can elaborate a little bit?
The Jesuits were making good ground introducing the Chinese to Christianity, albeit in a Renaissance catholic form. Catholics use candles as a devotional tool, like singing or making a pretty church rather than the cheapest one possible. the Chinese used fire crackers as a ritual way of purifying a sacred area. the pope thought this was a terrible aberration of Christian practice and forbade it. The Chinese felt it impious to worship God in an area they felt impure(plus the insinuation that only Europeans knew how to worship God) and the emperor asked the Jesuits to leave. The point being inflexibility on liturgical practice is a hindrance to the gospel.
The modern Evangelical movement is rooted in southern Baptist religion (Billy Graham was a Southern Baptist!)While I may be prejudiced toward my own religious background, I think these Southern Revivalist movements reinvigorated evangelicalism after the mainline churches turned more to purely economic/political action and dropped the spiritual/metaphysical aspects. But the growth in evangelicalism is not merely in baptist or church of Christ or methodist. It is now moved into all sorts of nondenominational entities. as it becomes international it moves beyond organ music, 4th of July picnic fellowships, and debates on whether women can wear slacks. It’s not just an American phenomenon any more.
I know God must groan a lot over our pompous absolutes and the way we have divided and divided because not everyone could accept all the details. I belong to a homeschool oranization that demands that everyone sign a paper of beliefs. I do not accept them all as true but end up signing with several astericks (***)For example, must I paint the same picture of hell as someone else, when neither of us have any evidence of the certainty of our own image? There are a few things esential to Christianity…a few. But even getting us all to agree on what they are soon breaks down, alas.
Cynthia,
While I have been a faithful church attender my entire life, I recently have found it difficult recently to be a member anywhere. Each church seems to have its own distinctive that they hold in such high regard that they believe that the world would somehow cave in on itself if they admitted someone who didn’t hold to their position.
For the Pentecostals it is the tongues as initial evidence doctrine.
For certain Baptists it is Baptism as a believer by immersion.
For Fundamentalists it is inerrancy.
For Calvinists it is Eternal Security.
For the Christian Brethren it is “the pre-trib rapture”.
Yet at the same time, I can go to the statement of faith of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada and see none of these things listed.
If church can have membership in an organization that doesn’t hold to these particular beliefs, surely they can have membership in their own ranks that don’t hold to it either.
Churches can make a broader statement that says, “if Jesus has accepted you into his family, then we accept you into ours.”
Mike Bell
Mike Bell