Division

I thought this was an interesting read. Parts of it echo something running around in the back of my brain:

http://paceebene.org/blog/jarrod-mckenna/heretics-calvin-and-luther

Here is a highlight that caught my attention (after the statements from Calvin and Luther that made my jaw drop):

Why is it that the litmus test for orthodoxy for many evangelicals has been frozen in the 16th century in the thought of brilliant men who never the less had theologies that made it possible to disobey Christ's commands to put away the sword, love our neighbor and even enemies like God has loved us (i.e. not drowning, beheading or burning those who disagree with us).

The underlying attitudes behind such statements haven't gone away today. Rather than "killing for Christ" instead of "dying for Christ" we now have a bunch of division in the form of "denominations" (and splits within individual denominations!) and even animosity between them.

I just don't get it. We're supposed to be united. A house divided against itself cannot stand. We don't follow Paul or Apollos or Cephas. We follow Christ. Was he divided? No.

Now this is just a bunch of rambling on my part. I don't say any of it to reflect what I see in my own church home (CRB) or in churches that have archived sermons I listen to (New Life London, Shadow Mountain, Cavalry Chapel Costa Mesa, etc). Its just a rambling comment on the whole idea behind why all these various "denominations" exist in the first place.

So I still don't get it. But I see that its not a recent thing. Its not a Reformation thing. Apparently it was around 2000 years ago and isn't going away anytime soon. C'est la vie.

Praise God for solid Bible believing churches that preach Christ crucified and don't get hung up on other crap.

Grace and Peace