Friendly Fire: Has the Church Turned Against Itself?

Growing up I remember playing video games with amazing graphics in a machine known as the Nintendo.

I loved playing games where I could do something through the machine that I could have never done in real life. I loved playing games where I was fighting against something that was attempting to take over the world. My band of commanders and I were ready to take out the evil empire.

However, as a child I would get bored with the games really quickly. There were never enough of the enemies to take out and I would look for something else to do within the game.

When I wasn’t walking out of the level (some of you are tracking with me), I would occasionally begin to fire at my own side… My own teammates.

It wasn’t because it was the goal, I knew it wasn’t, it was because I had lost sight of the real mission of the game – to take out the enemy.

I’m afraid the Church has often been guilty of playing out much the same way.

We’ve lost sight of the real mission and began to fight amongst ourselves. We’ll fight over doctrine, theology, and processes, while often forgetting that it’s all about Jesus.

We need to turn this around. We have to.

In order to reach the world.
Let’s find the essential things we agree on and fight for the ‘good guys’!


Comments

10 responses to “Friendly Fire: Has the Church Turned Against Itself?”

  1. I agree to a point. There are a lot of subjects that we definitely shouldn’t be fighting each other over. What we don’t usually fight over is Truth. That is the only thing that we should fight over. Of course, a lot of people justify their “friendly fire” fights by declaring it to be over truth. But if they were honest, they would admit that most of the time it’s not.

    1. I think you’re onto something. I think we often “debate” as an excuse to not look at our lack of effectiveness at reaching the world and being Jesus to the world. Thanks Larry. Good thoughts!

  2. I think we often forget that the way we are recognized as followers of Christ is in how we love each other. And we wonder why so few people see Jesus when they look at His church. Great post!

    1. So true man. Thanks!

  3. Good thoughts. Too often, we’re so busy correcting each other that no one around us is given an opportunity to see Christ. Yes, there are those who have gone too far in a wrong direction. But most have doctrinal differences that are so inconsequential that we ought to be fellowshipping around what Jesus did for all of us instead of minor differences. And those who’ve gone off into spiritual lala land? The last time I looked, God was omniscient and omnipotent. I suspect that means He can handle it better than I can.

    1. “spiritual lala land” like it. :) And I agree… he can handle it and bring conviction. Thanks, Bill!

  4. Peter & Angela Avatar
    Peter & Angela

    True in most cases, but I’ve got a question, which is, who do you consider the Church? Those who are Protestants / Evangelicals, or other who are not essential Believers in the Blood of Jesus, the Cross & the Diety of Jesus?

    Most hills with the Protestants just aren’t worth dying on – and we end up splitting hairs; but others such as Sound Doctrine & the Essentials are key to the Health & Welfare & relevancy of Today’s Church. God’s Doctrine never changes, but a Fresh New Move of God never stays the same.

    We can adhere to Sound Doctrine & Agree to Disagree on the Non-Essentials, but we can’t compromise when it comes to the Foundational Truths, which are anchor in the Essentials of the Word!

    The Bible warns us in Jude to CONTEND for the FAITH & to be aware of those who have crept in unawares – we are seeing before our very eyes, how we have to do so like never before.

    What is your denomination if I may ask & clearly you are a Believer – do you agree about the Essentials?

    1. Yeah. I do agree on what I would call the essentials. To be honest, I don’t really claim ‘denomination’. I believe Jesus died for my sin that I couldn’t repay. Would go into more, but replying on my phone. :-) Good question though!

  5. I believe it was Augustine who said “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.” I do not believe we can treat the essentials of Christianity (Virgin Birth, Bodily Ressurection, Propitiation, Salvation by Faith alone – through Christ alone, etc) lightly and must hold each other accountable to these essentials. However, I wholeheartedly agree that do much of our disfunction within the Church stems from our inability (or unwillingness) to show grace and allow liberty regarding those non-essential things (tongues, pre vs. post millennial, etc). In those things in which the Christian community finds disagreement we MUST show the love to each other that is to be te hallmark of being His. “Look at how they love one another!” should be the gasp of an astonished world.

    Thank you for the post. I look forward to reading others. God Bless Brother!

    1. Well said, Mike. Thanks for the input and for dropping by!

Leave a Reply to LarryTheDeuce Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *