Fighting the Good Fight
What are the Christians fighting about all the time?
Us Christians are better at fighting other Christians then we are at preaching the Good News of Christianity.
There is Good News
We do have Good News to tell the world but there’s little time for that when a war rages in our midst. We fight hardest against other Christians who dare to present a biblical view or interpretation that is different than our own.
It’s a fight worth fighting, it is often stated because it’s the Gospel itself that is at risk. We claim this fight is essential so many fight hardest against opposing Christian viewpoints. Those opposing views are deemed to be straight from the devil. Instead of actually preaching against real devilish doctrines and deeds, we prefer to preach against the teacher down the street with a different take on some doctrine.
We call it a different gospel in order to justify our strong stand. Granted we are commanded to be aware of false gospels. Those do exist and we should lovingly teach correct doctrine instead. But we aren’t really doing that in most cases.
The world, which needs the truth and peace presented by Jesus, turns away from the Christians wrestling over stupid things.
All the while the Gospel is rarely if ever preached effectively. Yes, we do hear the standard verses quoted.
“For God so loved the world.” “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel.”
But these verses are preached to the choir. The world isn’t hearing or seeing the Gospel. One might get the impression that the “Good News” we talk about is a reference to the fight against other Christians. That’s not the Gospel. It is a mark of shame on the message of Christ.
A Mark of Shame
After Jesus rose from the grave nearly two thousand years ago there were a few things he needed to attend to.
The first issue he needed to address was the shock of his resurrection. His followers never expected him to die, though he told them about it several times. Once that shock wore off the Lord began to prepare them for his departure. He would leave soon to return to heaven to be with His Father. He would return to where He came from before He was born a baby in humble beginnings.
“Good News, Joy to the World,” and all that great stuff our neighbors need to hear more about.
After that shock from the death and resurrection was settled, Jesus focused on preparations for preaching the Gospel.
“You must go to Jerusalem. There you will be filled with the Holy Spirit.” “This will enable you to fight more effectively against Christians you don’t like.”
Wait!?
I don’t see where he said anything about fighting Christians but we do that so well. We do it so often. We are more comfortable telling Christians how wrong they are as opposed to telling the unsaved world they need to hear more about the love of Christ.
This current article you’re reading is a result of some research I was preparing for a completely different subject. The first research article I stumbled upon was so stupidly offensive I went with this subject instead.
I came upon an article on a well-known website. The author of the article tore into another Christian teacher who had a differing view of scripture. So the author had no choice but to unleash holy hellfire upon the teacher of the devil’s doctrine.
I’m going to try to avoid doing what he did. I’m not going to point out doctrinal disputes I have with the author of the “stupidly offensive” opinion. (Sorry, am I giving away my bias?) I will give you the link for you to come to your own conclusions.
The stupid fight against another Christian.
Check out the article. Come to your own conclusions. Which one do you think is correct? Should they both be sent to their room until they can learn to get along? I think that might be the case. Or, is one of them really teaching the devil’s devilishly demented doctrine?
A better Jesus?
My early faith was birthed in the days of the “Jesus movement” of the late 60’s and early 70’s. During that era of the church, our faith was expressed very different than it is today. Back then we told strangers on the street, “Jesus loves you, bro!” That simple message was very well received.
Today our message has changed. We need to go back to “Jesus loves you.”
Let me know what you think.