It has been explained by a Christian apologist that disunity amongst Christians is not at all an indication that there is no God at the helm, as long as the disunity relates to doctrine and not to the one true essential point of unity…loving one another.
This seems at first glance to possibly have the appearance of a good point. But with the application of logic, let us see if this little nugget may actually be self-defeating for the Christian.
The word “doctrine” connotates the noun “teaching.” Think of it as an accepted way of understanding something or believing something. For instance, it is a doctrine that American Presidents believe that democracy is good, and “teach” that other countries should also adopt democracy for their governmental health. A foreign leader who refuses to adopt democracy for his country could be said to have a “doctrinal” disagreement with American leaders.
In religion, doctrines are necessary in order to establish order and to prevent sheep from being led astray by wolves. How are the wolves recognized except by their variances from orthodoxy (from the latin for “right doctrine”)? People are quite capable of appearing to love even when they don’t, but their status as faithful Christians can be called into question if they introduce thoughts/ideas/beliefs which are contrary to acceptable doctrine.
I have elaborated on this point before, in a recent post called “Theists Need Religion”.
Who gets to decide what issues are essential or fundamental or central, and what issues are secondary or simply a matter of different perspectives or levels of maturity? Is the Doctrine of the Trinity essential? Is the Doctrine of the Humanity of Jesus essential? Is the Doctrine of Predestination essential? Is the Doctrine of Original Sin essential?
If doctrinal disunity is perfectly acceptable and no one has the authority to say which are essential and which are secondary, and all people have to do is love one another…then what stops the atheist, muslim, jew, mormon, etc from going to the Christian heaven when they die…as long as they have been unified in loving one another?
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2 comments:
It sounds like hippie mentality. Believe what you want man, it's all good as long as you have love. There were Christian hippies and jewish hippies, and no doubt muslim ones as well. Maybe heaven is a place of tiedie and sharing. Maybe I'll see you in that great Woodstock in the sky. Peace out.
Yes, the hippie mentality is all a Christian is left with when they argue that doctrinal uniformity is unnecessary. It is plain ole individualism, which as far as I'm concerned is just fine. But for those who are trying to defend Christianity, individualism testifies to the absence of God and presents them with a problem.
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