We ought to be a lot more worried about the fact our petty squabbles and divisions and hatred show that we're on the path from Babel. You know the story: mankind puts itself ahead of God, Who responded by making mankind unable to work together. Does that not remind you of the divisions within Christianity today?
When you say "at the expense of truth," you imply that somebody -- you? me? -- knows what the actual truth is in any given situation, and other people just won't listen to it. And that provides just the exuse we need to cast them into the outer darkness.
"Knowing the truth" is a wonderful excuse for putting ourselves ahead of God. Especially when we "know" that the other guy has it all wrong.
And how do we decide which truths are important enought to divide over and which are no big deal?
"We decide?" There's your first problem right there. Where does God enter into that discussion?
Oh, yeah, we often talk about God in such discussions ... but in my experience, God is usually no more than a subject to be discussed, not a participant in the discussion. You marshal your arguments, I marshal mine, we bash each other about the head and neck with our Bibles ... but we do not pray together. We do not dare entertain the thought that we might both be right and wrong, or that the Holy Spirit might be trying to tell us something entirely different.
Unity requires humility, charity, and a willingness to go together before God. We have a problem with that.
Absolutely, and that was kind of my point. All humanity was united . . . in the defiance of God, in the refusal to spread out and differentiate, and in the attempt to build its own tower to the heavens. Therefore, the Holy One divided their languages and forced them to scatter into many nations.
Therefore, we have to wonder just what was Christianity's sin, Christianity's Babel, that made the Holy One divide it into hundreds of denominations and tens of thousands of independent churches?
And if indeed the Holy One has divided us in response to some sin, we need to be very careful about how we come back together lest we find ourselves back to work on the ziggurat.
When you say "at the expense of truth," you imply that somebody -- you? me? -- knows what the actual truth is in any given situation, and other people just won't listen to it. And that provides just the exuse we need to cast them into the outer darkness.
That's true, and that is the other threat, but the fact is that there IS Truth! How do we sort out the core Truth from mere differences in perspective or interpretive quibbles on minor matters?
Again, I'm not saying it can't be done--I'm saying that the difficulties and the pitfalls must be faced head-on and the questions must be asked up front.
Where does God enter into that discussion?
He is at the center of the discussion, through His Word. However, since we seem to have a lot of differing beliefs about just what His Word says, until He raises up another prophet or sends back our Messiah to settle those differences, we have to pray for wisdom amd guidence and then wrestle with some choices.
If it helps, let me rephrase: And how do we discern which truths are important enought to divide over and which are no big deal?
Unity requires humility, charity, and a willingness to go together before God. We have a problem with that.
All true. So what does truth require?
Shalom.