Doubtful disputations

Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him. – Romans 14.1-3

Jesus said that when He established the church the very gates of hell wild not prevail against. I am so grateful for that promise. The devil can't win. Hell is powerless.

But I wonder sometimes about another problem. I have to wonder sometimes if we can survive each other.

I never ceased to be amazed at the petty things we fight over. I finally quit posting on a Baptist internet discussion board because of the bitterness, hatred, and vitriol expressed by supposed brothers and sisters in Christ.

And it really is stupid stuff. Should we do this and should we not do that? Should we go here and should we go there? Should we wear this and should we wear that?

The King James translators used a great English phrase for these things. They called them ‘doubtful disputations.’ I think that captures the sense. There is no need for us to dispute over topics that are doubtful. These are areas where the scriptures are not clear.

We fight over everything. The world looks at us and laughs. I remember a public rally against a Christian university because of their ‘liberal view’ in Bible translations. This wasn’t sponsored by the Westboro cult. It was a real group who expected to be taken seriously. Churches split and enemies are made over topics like that and others.

We fight over whether or not we are lapsarian or not and if we are what kind of lapsarian we ought to be. We fight over the ancient topic of sovereignty and grace.

We fight. 

The gates of hell don’t need to prevail against God’s church – we are doing a pretty good of prevailing against ourselves.