The Denominational Debate

Probably the worst thing that a church could do to its members is to tell them that they will go to Hell if they go to the “wrong” church. This is a fairly common problem between denominations within the Protestant family of churches. The Lutherans do not tolerate the Baptists and the Baptists dislike all non-Baptists. The Methodists believe their way is the only way, and so on and so forth. Obviously, I’m exaggerating a lot here, but the point is, if Christ is the head of the church, then shouldn’t the church’s main goal be to bring souls to Christ? Never mind the method as long as it gets done.

Too much of the time our perspective gets skewed in a direction far flung from the main goal, Christ, because of silly little details that really mean nothing in the long run. Details consume us, with trivialities like, how, when and where should a person be baptized, or how many verses of “Just as I Am” should be sung and how many times a year communion should be taken, and oh yeah….should communion be taken with real wine or grape juice? Nonsensical trivialities that wear down the Christian and force him or her away from what is really important,–namely, faith in Christ Jesus.

What is wrong with a member of one church visiting another church once in a while and seeing how the “other half” lives? Why are we so stuck on a building when we should be stuck on the Word of God? This is one of the largest reasons why some Christians refuse to attend any church at all. They still get into the Word, and they still fellowship with other Christians on a regular basis, but organized churchianity is not for them. Jesus said that where two or three are gathered together in His name, there will He be also, and this is the simplest, purest form of worship there could possibly be. Just Christ and His flock in fellowship together with great joy.

Fellowship with Christ can take many forms. It can be done over the internet, in a home church setting, in a public church setting, or even within one single family watching Christian programming on television. Two or three being gathered together in Christ’s name does not necessarily mean two or three people within a couple feet of each other. One person could be in Montana, a second could be in Perth, and a third could be in China, but they are gathered together via the internet, for one singular purpose….worship of the same God.

Rules can break a person’s faith really fast, especially if there are more rules than there is love going around. Remember, Jesus Himself chose to break some of the “religious” rules that He encountered on a regular basis. For instance, he healed on the Sabbath day, a day devoted to rest and prayer. His disciples did not wash their hands before eating bread, and this was a matter of great consternation among the religious leaders of His time. Jesus knew those men were hypocrites out to squeeze blood from stones, and He told them so in no uncertain terms.

Rules written by God Himself can be changed only by God. For example, He determined that noone on Earth was sinless and good and that each of us would have to make daily blood sacrifices in order to be forgiven for our sins. God decided to change all that, and sent His only Son to die once for all, so that the repetitive sin offerings and endless death could finally cease. That was a God-written rule that changed according to God’s will alone. Heaven itself changed according to God’s will as well. Before Christ finished His good Work on Earth, the righteous dead (those who believed in Christ Jesus even before He appeared) had to sit and wait in a place called Paradise, because since Jesus had not yet died on the cross to redeem their souls, they could not yet enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

While they died as believers, their sins had not yet been washed away by the blood of the lamb, but as soon as Christ died, His soul went to Paradise and He personally escorted all those waiting (and no doubt, rejoicing) believers up to Heaven, where they are today. If Heaven itself can be changed by the Word of God, then so too can the sinner be changed the same way. The trouble with religiosity however, is that of man creating God’s rules for Him, and then wondering why God is displeased.

Do people really believe it matters at all to God exactly HOW a believer is baptized? Whether by dunking, or sprinkling or being baptized as an infant or as an adult or somewhere in between? Is all that really important in the eyes of God or does He merely welcome that beautiful new believer into His Kingdom with all the rejoicing of Heaven? Does it matter to God which church we go to? No, as long as it is His church and He is welcome in it. Does it matter to God how his children dress when they attend church? Probably not, though I would expect that He would be best pleased by at least a modicum of modesty.

But here we are, in our various denominations, writing and re-writing rules all over the place, trying to change what the Good Lord pre-ordained just to suit ourselves. It’s no wonder there is so much dissension within our churches these days. It is difficult to have peace and fellowship with the Lord, when half of your congregation is on fire, and the other half is lighting the matches! The motto of this story is this: Let God write the rule book, and then you play fair–for this is the only way to peace in our lands.