Why Don't Church-People Agree?
Why do church-people disagree on so many things? We all have practically the same documents (the Bible). True Christians all have the same Teacher, the Holy Spirit. It seems almost impossible to not all come to the same conclusion on eschatology and doctrine. I believe there can be some slight difference of understanding or a little variation of honest interpretation.
A pastor once said to me, “If you don't agree with me it's because you haven't prayed about it”. How can you argue with reasoning like that?
I have heard a number of YouTube teachers say, “If you don't see it my way it's because you just don't read your Bible”.
While I believe there can be a small window of Bible interpretation differences, it seems that the main reason for this uneven landscape is:
We don't like something.
In terms of spiritual gifts we need what every member of the Body may bring forth, even new believers. In terms of doctrine we need “fathers” and the 5 fold ministry gifts to equip the Church. I do not mean ancient children. I mean mature fathers who have passed through spiritual puberty and who have God-given insight. James says, Do not become teachers (James 3:1). You do not want some of that. The Teacher is under a more strict evaluation than the average Christian. In today's YouTube environment, everyone is a Doctor of Expertise. Everyone is a Teacher. According to James, then everyone is going to go through the meat grinder, figuratively speaking. There is no reason for this. People without experience and insight should be learning from equippers. They should be quiet and not be criticizing others and not trying to establish doctrine.
Selfishness is natural in all of us but when faced with the claims of Scripture we must make a choice. Jesus said in His prayer to the Father, “Thy Word is Truth” (John 17:17). If we are genuine Christians shouldn't we have a special love of the truth? If we have the Spirit of Truth living within us, shouldn't embracing any error be instinctively repulsive to us? Again, there may be allowance for some honest differences of opinion but that is the point: honest differences of opinion. Most of our doctrine comes about because we do not like something.
An anti-God (atheism) philosophy is developed because we hate the mistaken understanding about God that evil has planted in our hearts.
An anti-faith (carnality) doctrine is brought forth because we want to live by the natural senses.
An anti-spirit (Sadducee-ism) bias is created because we do not like anything we cannot see with the natural eyes.
An anti-creation (Godless evolution) idea is made because we do not want to honor God as Creator of all things. Biblically, this is the most basic truth in the world.
An anti-miracle (Cessationism) philosophy came about because of excesses but also because of hatred of responsibility.
An anti-responsibility (childishness) doctrine is simply our natural tendency toward laziness.
An anti-rapture teaching comes from being tired of hearing this for centuries. A pre-trib view is dogmatically held onto because we honestly see it in our Bible study or, many times, because we do not want to hear another word about persecution, as Jesus promised us (John 16:33).
An anti-inconvenience system is made because this is the god of the West. Anything that is inconvenient to me must be avoided.
An anti-righteousness (immorality) law is created because we love our sin. There is no mystery about it. Men will not turn away from evil and turn toward God because they love their sin.
What is sin? The common idea is that it is what the neighbors do. Maybe so, but the reality is that the principle of sin is resident in the human heart, yours and mine. Actually, it is quite remarkable that we hold onto as much truth as we do. God's word does not seem to drive our truth. Our selfish heart does and that is the problem.
I think the Bible has much to say to baby Christians. There is a lot of comfort and consolation offered to the “newborn”. Much is taught about the love of God and the work of God. But when the new growing believer starts to realize that there is something of maturity required of him, all kinds of doctrine comes forth (with the help of evil spirits) and we do anything to remain an infant, spiritually speaking. I am not condemning anyone. It's just that I have gone a ways on the spiritual journey (that we are all on) and I see what others who are a few steps behind me and what I myself have done in the past. We need to firmly hold onto the basic truths we have been taught as spiritual infants and grow up into maturity. It's not an easy thing, but with the daily present Holy Spirit and the Scriptures, it can be done.
Sept 3, 2024
Note: I hope you know the spirit in which this article is presented. None of us is perfect or without error or weakness. Basically, many doctrines come about because of fear or immaturity or dislike of something. If we can recognize that about ourselves, we are a huge step ahead of where we were a short while ago. We also are closer to”correct” because we embrace the Scriptures, the Truth, instead of our naturally occurring thoughts.