Guess it's a good thing there is no daily deadline to writing on the blog.  We will just start over again this week with much better intentions.  The problem is we all know where intentions can lead.  So our last post was about growing up as a church.  Turns out that can be a timely topic after all.  Way too many congregations fail when it comes to dealing with issues.  Our usual choice is between denial or disintegrating into anger.  Experience tells me that our usual preference is name calling or dividing up groups.  Having genuine dialogue seems alien to us.  We absolutely must learn to face whatever comes our way in mature and holy ways.  Failure is not an option.

Sometimes our troubles grow out of our sincere desire to understand scripture.  The problem is here that too many believers subscribe to other's theories without really making them personal.  Time is seldom made to work though or think through what we believe.  One big area where this happens is how we view the end times.  We make one approach the ultimate agenda for this theology.  Many sincere and bible believing academics come to different answers to the same question.  I only ask that a person holds to a literal, visible, personal and historic faith that Jesus will return.  My theology is large enough to let God decide when that will take place.  Yet, how many churches or believers simply quote what another says without really examining all of the meaning?  Can't we do better?

Another problem shows up when we major on minors in scripture.  We again have many academics or plain believers who live with certain issues that motivate their life.  My own denomination fractures time and time again over things that are not at the heart of the gospel.  Name calling is our prominent method of dealing with these differences.  Scripture often displays tension in various areas of doctrine.  What makes this worse is there is no attempt to solve those tensions.  So we argue over how much God calls or elects and how much a human being can do in believing.  Churches work themselves into a frenzy trying to count the number of weddings for deacons.  Maybe they worry that the female gender carries to much weight in ministry.  Doing biblical interpretation is not always easy or neat.  It can be very messy.  Let me warn you that some arguments really do not have simple answers.  Some questions in theology remain beyond resolution since the beginning of scripture.  It is just what it is.

What are we supposed to do?  One thing is to just take a deep breath until you decide whether you deal with a mountain or a molehill.  Just be sure that what is one to you will be the other to someone else.  Another thing to remember is discussion may not lead to a change of mind.  Trying to alter another person's belief can be perilous at the least.  Never hide from honest discussion.  It's one way we grow as human beings much less as believers.  Always try to listen to the perspective of another person.  You may not agree but you can show respect.  I also find that accusing someone of not believing the Bible because of their faith is a sure fire way to mess things up.  Be sure that doing this is an unbiblical behavior when it comes to relationships.  Lastly, do not fail to love another person even if you think they are wrong.  The whole point of growing up is to be a positive influence on people.  Do not abdicate that role in the pursuit of being right.  Life is hard enough without learning how much we need each other. 

Let's stop there for now.  We may pick up with this theme again tomorrow.  May we all learn how to mature even when there are differences among us.

Bro. Trey