Thoughts About Unity

Unity is a great thing. It is "the quality or state of not being multiple: oneness" (Merriam-Webster). It's important, however, that we hold on to Truth when seeking unity. Making the gospel palatable is fraud, remember. Compromise is great unless we're sacrificing Truth. Then it's not compromise at all.

What is Truth?

Pilate asked Jesus this question before the crucifixion (John 18.38). No answer is recorded, but Jesus had already offered the answer in previous teachings: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14.6)

The big problem we meet is that in our post-modern, relativistic world, Truth doesn't actually exist. Everything is based on feelings, and everyone has their own "truth", and if you tell them there is an actual, objective Truth then you are cast out.

I see so much wrong happening in the name of "truth" and supposedly honouring others' "truth" and so on. An example here in Canada is Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD), which purports to grant people who are terminally ill dignity in choosing their death. In fact, it (a) turns health care workers into murderers, and (b) is being offered to (and used by) homeless people, mentally ill people, and disabled people (it is not lost on me that these three categories often overlap and that they tend to be populations that depend on society's care). It's considered merciful to "euthanize" people who are going to die anyway. We are all going to die anyway.

Words Have Meanings

A tricky thing about all of these things is that language keeps changing. Words change definitions and it may not be obvious right away that we are most certainly not talking about the same thing anymore.

This means it's important that we ask questions. Ask a lot of questions. Don't just assume that everyone who says "truth is important" means the same thing by "truth". Remember what happens when you "assume".

It also means that we need to be clear on what these words actually mean. We need to know what we believe and why, and what these things imply for us and for the world.

Back to Unity

So, unity.

The Church is called to unity. Some people think that having all these denominations is a sign of disunity. The thing is, most of the divisions that have occurred over the centuries have happened for good reasons. A lot of the time, it was due to corruption in church leadership. At this point, we are not going to get everyone to agree on things like how to worship, but since that's not a salvation issue and not reliant on Truth (how we meet God is definitely an individual thing) it's fine. We need to stop arguing about these little issues and get back to what matters.

We need to get back to the Truth.

1. We live in a fallen world. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3.23) Nobody in the world is capable of doing enough good to pay for their sins. We need to recognize this, not pretend that it's fine actually, and humans are basically good. We are not basically good. We all want to be in charge of ourselves, to pursue happiness as the ultimate goal, to follow our feelings. We don't deserve salvation; we don't deserve anything. It's only by the blood of Jesus that we are able to come into His presence.
2. We need to confess and repent of our sins. Accepting the gift of salvation is great, but if it doesn't lead us to a change in heart and behaviour, it's hollow and false. This is an ongoing struggle, because humans naturally want to feel comfortable, happy, in charge, etc. Our very nature is to chase the things that promise happiness and pleasure. That's always a lie, though, because the "things of this world are passing away, here tomorrow, but they're sure not here to stay" (DC Talk, "Things of this World", Nu Thang). We are not worthy of salvation, but even so Jesus lifts us out of the mud of our own sin, gives us fresh clothing, and tells us to "go, and sin no more." (John 8.11)
3. We must embrace the Fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, faith, goodness, self-control, and humility. Love rejoices in Truth. Joy is not the same as happiness. Peace requires Truth. Patience is hard. Gentleness is strength. Faith is our bulwark. Goodness follows faith. Self-control contradicts relativism and our feelings. Humility allows us to accept criticism, take it in, and make adjustments as necessary.
4. We must make sound judgments in our dealings with the world, because we need to pursue righteousness. God's standards are high, and He does expect non-Christians to adhere to morality. Our behaviour matters, our intent matters, and justice is found in Christ. Our character is judged by our behaviour, and we need to do our best to exemplify our faith through the things we do. That's all others can use to understand who we are.
5. We will always have to deal with the result of sin. Remember that the world is fallen, that people are broken and need healing, that our natural pursuit of pleasure leads to disaster. They say that hurt people hurt people, and that's true, but it's not an excuse. Sometimes our sin doesn't hurt us right away. Sometimes it hurts someone else instead. There are always consequences.
6. We cannot continue to hide our faith. We are meant to be salt and light. Flavour the earth, preserve the good, shine a light on the evil and be a beacon that guides others to Truth and freedom. Speak out, be obvious. Live transparently, sincerely, in the open.
7. We need to be open about our faith and about the Truth. We have to stand up for righteousness in our churches and hold each other accountable for our behaviour. No more allowing church leaders who speak heresy to retain their positions (I'm looking at you, Spong and Ingham). No more allowing Christians who have power to abuse that power and the members of their parishes (I'm looking at every church that has just shuffled pastors or priests after someone has come forward regarding abuse).
8. We have to be prepared for opposition. The world doesn't like Truth. People will call us names. They will say that we are mean (the Truth feels mean sometimes, but we can speak it in love), that we are exclusionary (Christianity is exclusionary by its very nature, so yes), that we are bigoted (in a world that defines a person's identity by everything except who they are to God, insisting on defining identity through God's Word feels bigoted), that we are hateful (it is not hateful to speak the Truth, but definitions matter and we need to keep that in mind). We will lose friends and communities. It will suck.

I'm going to try and write a long-form post about each of these points. We'll see how I go.

In the meantime, hold firm and stand strong. We have Truth on our side. It is real.

Peace & Blessings.