You know what bothers me? The way we christians cannot get along. I am not talking about getting along with those outside of our beliefs and our way of thinking, we cannot get along with fellow christians. We are to love those who think and believe differently also, but we are to be known for our love for fellow believers.
Now I do not expect everyone to agree with each other. God gave us minds and personalities and we are all different. But as I read different blogs and postings I see a trend sometimes that is more than just disagreeing. It seems to get down right ugly.
We Can Disagree without Getting Mad
Obviously we are going to disagree on things, but can’t we disagree and yet respect and love the other person? It discourages me so much when I read a blog and go through the comments and see disagreements that turn into arguments. It gets to a point sometimes that I have to get away and stop reading.
I always wonder why it is we just cannot accept the views of others and go on. Seems like a lot of people really get upset when they cannot get someone else to think the same way they do. We have to go on and on trying to prove our point or our way of thinking.
I know when you write a blog you are opening yourself up to comments and disagreements, but do we have to go to some of the extremes of getting mad and losing our tempers because someone else has a different viewpoint.
Are we not being just like the worldly crowd, fighting, arguing and expecting others to see things our way or else? What happened to being known as Christians by the love we have for one another?
Humans are never going to agree with others on every point, but we who are following Christ should be able to disagree with our brothers and sisters and yet do so in a way that non-believers will still be able to notice the extreme love we have for God and for one another.
It gets worse. I have been called a ‘child of Satan’ for standing up to one particularly hardline blogger. And to be fair I didn’t really treat him with the same respect I usually treat others with. But the essence of the disagreement meant that he was offended that I hadn’t stood up for him as a fellow believer; this was of course because I didn’t agree with his point of view (it was about gays etc.).
Anyway I defused the situation simply by apologising to him. Hopefully that brought a little light back into the discussion…..
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It is sad these things happen isn’t it? You did all you could.
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Oh I am a brand new blogger and stumbled upon your blog today! I am very excited to read more! I also really struggle with this fact. Especially between churches in our small town. Instead of unity between them there is so much competition and even resentment. My husbAnd, who is still somewhat on the fence about fully surrendering to Christ, says one of the biggest turn offs is the lack of unity between believers. I just wrote a post today on what the early church looked like in Acts 2. Check it out, you may enjoy the post and possibly find it informative. I am very passionate about removing religion from the church and making it about relationship with our Saviour.
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Thank you for your comment. Your article about Acts 2 was very good. I think this is what Jesus means about building his Church. The church is not a building we go to and sit and listen to one person talk. It is like you talk about, a community of people who love God and care for one another. Thanks again for your comment.
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I personally think that sometimes the posters (people who are posting comments) are imposters. I too have seen this increase, however the places where this seems to be found the least is on the blogs that promote a grace gospel, we seem to agree a lot easier.
I am glad to have found another one to follow!
Angela
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Thanks you for the nice comment Angela. I appreciate it.
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Is it any wonder the “Nones” want nothing to do with the established church? Believers have lost sight of what the Church should be doing- loving one another and making disciples. They seem to be obsessed with correcting everyone instead.
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Sadly that is so true. Thanks for your comment Marion.
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I think a significant source of the problem comes from an insistence that everything essentially comes down to “good doctrine” and “bad doctrine.” If I don’t agree with you, clearly your opinion is rooted in bad doctrine, because of course, my opinion is rooted in good doctrine. Further, if you have bad doctrine, you can’t even be a Christian, so you should not be trusted. That may be a bit overstated, but unfortunately, I think it is a natural result of a seminary system that leads people to believe the Bible can be systematically and 100% accurately deciphered and disseminated to the masses.
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I think you are right. Good comment.
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