Why Can’t We All Just Get Along
I don’t like conflict. In fact, I really do everything I can to avoid it at all times. So when it comes to matters of faith you can imagine that it becomes even more important to me to get along with people as much as possible. How do you feel about getting along with people with regard to matters of faith?
The longer I live the more I realize how difficult it is to get along with everyone in the religious community. This is not a God problem, it’s a man problem. There is perfect harmony and unity with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But the creation is subject to futility and weakness and the passions of the human race war and fight with each other without end. People just really like to have their own way! Therefore, as long as human beings are living on this planet you can be certain that there will be conflict.
One of the reasons conflicts exist in matters of faith is human tradition. If we were to peel back all of the layers of human interference over two millennia in the realm of Christianity we would find ourselves simply living like that first-century church. And even in the first century, it didn’t take long for there to be church problems and strife because of the willfulness and sinfulness of church people.
I find that, on a regular basis, people do what they know and what they have experienced. When they have been following traditions for several years these traditions become as doctrine to them. All the time, even among members of the true church, dangers lurk in the area of what people approve and disapprove based on experience. Only a humble and honest appeal to the sacred text from each individual can eradicate the divisions that are constantly caused by the traditions of men and their churches.
But let’s talk about something else that the church doesn’t want to admit. People who follow the pure doctrine of Christ are often just as guilty of the division in Christianity because of their self-righteousness. I can’t enumerate the times that I have had to apologize for my own brethren because of their “I’m right and you are wrong” stance on multiple issues. I do believe with all of my heart that what Jesus said about the narrow road is absolutely true. There are a lot less people going to heaven than not going. However, God forbid that I ever come to some unconscious conclusion in my mind that the pavement of that difficult and narrow road was at some point in time laid down by me.
The key to getting along with people over matters of faith is the mind of Christ. He humbled himself. He never gave up the truth, but he didn’t wield it to win arguments. He asked questions in response to the questions that were asked of him. And even though he was frustrated by ears that were plugged and eyes that were closed he went to the cross for an ignorant and wicked generation of people who rejected his better way for them.
As the church was established and miracles were ongoing many people believed in the Lord and were added to the kingdom of God. But there remained some, even with all the evidence, that continued to be antagonistic to the pure doctrine of Christ and mission of his church. The church went forward, however, because those who understand the higher calling of God are never ultimately interested in getting along with people all the time. True Christianity demands the supreme desire to get along with God. I am learning, slowly but surely, that the only way this is possible is on bended knee.
“For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.” – Galatians 1:10
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AUTHOR: Jeremiah Tatum
