When I pointed out that many Christians don’t believe the Scriptures are inerrant , a great number of Christians do believe in evolution, numerous Christians don’t believe in original sin, some Christians don’t believe in hell, and even more Christians believe in conditional immortality, my uncle was just flabbergasted. To each one of my points, he would say, “well, most Christians do believe that.”

Granted, I don’t know how many Christians hold these unorthodox positions. I haven’t done a survey on them. Over the past two millennia of Christianity, these are undoubtedly minority opinions. However, the fact is that Christians disagree on these issues. The unifying feature of Christianity is in it’s very name – Christ. It is by our faith in Christ that we are saved, not our faith in creationism or the Bible or hell or the apocalypse. One cannot reject the Christian faith based on their distaste for any one of these doctrines. So these are not the issues that we should argue with atheists.

We're supposed to be preaching for Christ, not against Darwin.

If Joseph Porter had argued with me about the earth being 6,000 years old, I would have never become a Christian. I’ve done extensive reading on the subject and would have probably laughed in his face if he had brought the subject up. Instead, we argued about Christ and sin and redemption – the key doctrines of Christianity, the essentials of the gospel. I know of people who have left church entirely because their peers sneered at their beliefs regarding one of these disputable matters. (Granted, the person who left was probably in error for leaving over such an issue, but imagine what a difference it would have made if they were reminded of Christ’s love instead of berated for valuing science.)

That is what Christ commands us to do: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

We are supposed to teach people to obey what Jesus’ commands, not insist upon particular doctrines that don’t affect one’s life as a Christian. Of course, these are all issues worth discussing and debating among Christians, and which are fun to debate in forums like blog posts and pub nights! But we cannot let these disputable matters take precedence. When we preach these things instead of the gospel, we are putting other doctrines above Christ. If we are talking to atheists, we should preach sola evangelium – the gospel alone.

In reading through the New Testament recently, I have been frequently struck by how wildly foreign this modern dichotomy is  to the early Christians.  For them, doctrine and godliness go together.  Truth is meant to lead to love, and love is not genuine without truth.  What God has joined together–orthodoxy and orthopraxy–let no person separate.  Christians have become obedient from the heart, because they have been “handed over” to the proper form of teaching (Romans 6:17). 

In I Timothy 1:5, Paul writes that “the goal [telos] of our instruction is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”  It is often (correctly) pointed out that sound doctrine is not an end in itself, and those who treat it as such actually–and ironically–show themselves to possess bad doctrine.  Yet the opposite also necessarily holds true–and, perhaps, is far less acknowledged today.  If “instruction” has a goal in right practice, then we must also insist that “love” has its only and proper source in orthodox Christian truth.  Orthopraxy does not arrive on the scene via creation ex nihilo.  It derives from gospel doctrine.  And faith comes from hearing the Word of Christ.

Back to my recent perusal of the New Testament.  I’ve been noticing that the apostle Paul has a favorite phrase he likes to employ when some practical problem or contentious issue rears its ugly head in his churches.  It abounds particularly in Romans and I Corinthians.  “Do you not know,” he writes, “that [insert truth here] ought to prevent you from doing [insert grievious sin here]?”  Paul strove passionately against ungodliness, hypocrisy and spiritual complacency in the body of Christ with sound doctrine!  Do we find that our spiritual intuitions are presently wired this way, or are they out of tune? 

Romans 6:1-3—“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?  By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?  Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?”

Romans 6:15-16—“What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!  Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?”

Romans 7:1—“Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law- that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives?”

Romans 11:1-2—“I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.  God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel?”

I Corinthians 3:16-17—“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?  If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.”

I Corinthians 5:6-8—“Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?  Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.  Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

I Corinthians 6:1-4—“When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?  Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases?  Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!  So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church?”

I Corinthians 6:9-11—“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.  And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

I Corinthians 6:15-20—“Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!  Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.”  But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.  Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.  Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

I Corinthians 9:11-14—“If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?  If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more? Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.  Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings?  In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.”

I Corinthians 9:23-27—“I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.  Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.  Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.  So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.  But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”

Two millennia later, there exist literally thousands of different Christian denominations and communities worldwide; the Body of Christ has been drawn and quartered a hundred times over.

What are we going to do about it?

In the past few decades, there’s been a tremendous shift toward ecumenism in Christian circles. In most parts of the world, we are long past the religious wars of yesteryear, which is a great blessing and victory. Yet I wonder what exactly this “unity” means.

But what does it mean if Lutherans, Methodists, Episcopalians, and Evangelicals are united if they all attend different services on Sunday mornings? That cannot be what Jesus had in mind. The solution, then, cannot be simply to call ourselves “unified” and acquiesce to the status quo.

Nor would it be prudent merely to gloss over the differences among the various different branches of Christendom. What is the role of the Church in a Christian’s life? What about apostolic tradition? Free will and predestination? Homosexuality? The list goes on of questions that are too important to ignore, questions that have divided Christians for centuries and continue to do so today.

Unfortunately, Arminians spend most of their time talking to other Arminians; conservatives spend most of their time talking to other conservatives; Protestants spend most of their time talking to other Protestants; and, surprisingly, very little is every accomplished in terms of true reunification and reconciliation.

Is the Catholic Church the true Church? How am I supposed to know unless I take the time to talk to a Catholic? I certainly cannot find out simply by reading books about Catholicism written by Protestants; and yet, ironically, the very same Christians who would implore atheists to read Christian books as well as non-Christian ones hardly ever familiarize themselves with the thought of other Christian traditions.

Of course, unity won’t emerge from being well-read. But a great starting point for unity is talking to each other – about those things upon which you agree, yes, but especially about those things upon which disagree. Learn each other’s languages, patterns of understanding, and practices. Explain to each other why it is that we disagree – and if we do agree, explain why we are not more unified.

That will constitute just one small step toward true unity.