If you keep up with the news and what is going on in our country lately you most likely should know the name Candace Owens and you should by now know how many Hollywood celebrities have come out to voice their objection for President Trump. Last March Candace posted a video on Prager University telling celebrities no one cares what they think. In a Q&A with students at a College campus a student attempted to call her out for supporting Kanye West’s comments about President Trump. Candace corrected the student by stating that Kanye expressed his support for the President that was unlike other celebrities who attack anyone for supporting the President by using labels like bigots, homophobes, sexist, racist, and many others along with declaring that everyone should be thinking as they think.
Our country is divided. People possess strong political and social views on both sides of the issues. This isn’t anything new for our nation. Before the birth of our nation people were divided on many different issues. However, due to the development of technology and the availability for information to go from point “A” to point “B” in a matter of seconds what people believe and support can be expressed to the world faster.
The Church is divided as well. This should not be a surprise. The church has been divided since the very start when James and John’s mother asked Jesus for her two boys to sit on his right and left side at the throne. The other disciples were not very happy with their request. Today the division of the church has gone to a deeper level. What is worse is there are people in the church who will make outlandish claims and accusations towards one another for not believing as they do. That is the truth. I have been accused of not being a Christian for not believing in the pretribulation rapture narrative. People are divided by what translation of Scripture we should read, on the issue of baptism, the style of music that should be sung in church, how people should dress for worship, whether women should or shouldn’t be preaching, and many others. To disagree is one thing but to falsely accuse others or to insult them for their views isn’t Christ like.
Division in the church is dangerous. Paul warns against division numerous times in his letters (Romans 16:17; 1 Corinthians 1: 10; 3: 1-4; 11:17-19; 12:25; Galatians 5: 19-21; Titus 3:10). Division in the church was so terrible that he had to address the church of Corinth as children rather than mature Christians. Division is a trait of the immature. The root of division is pride because people do not want to be wrong about what they believe and anyone who challenges their views is a threat and makes them feel uncomfortable.
So what causes such division today? The answer is traditions, presuppositions, and biblical illiteracy. People refuse to test what they believe and they cannot say why they believe what they believe without making reference to that is how they were raised or exposed to by those who are leading. Traditions and presuppositions make people feel safe and secure in what they believe. But when traditions and presuppositions in relation to one’s theology before the Scriptures much will be taken out of context. When conversing with people one may hear familiar clichés and metaphors they believe are from the Bible.
The trouble with this line of thinking is due to familiar cultural views one lives in. I tell people that if they wish to know more about the Bible they need to get out of the Bible. People need to learn cultural context in relation to the biblical authors. The Bible is a divine human document written by real people living at a real time dealing with real issues and wrote according to their world view and culture. I’m not saying we do not deal with similar issues today as they did then but when reading and studying the Scriptures we must begin with the authors point of view first.
The usual method of biblical discussion with others who possess a different view than our own is people tend to take a single text to defend their belief system. The Scriptures are not a collections of clever sayings. When we read any given letter from the Bible we are receiving a very small glimpse into their world. The Bible does not possess an exhaustive collection of works into a person’s world. When we read Paul’s epistle to the church in Corinth he is not dealing with everything the people are facing on a daily bases. If we want to learn more about the people and culture of Corinth we should look for a resource that is focused on dealing with that very topic. Better yet, discover multiple resources on the topic of the people and culture of Corinth. The same goes for any book/ letter we read from the Bible.
With a better view and understanding of the biblical context we are very well able to dismantle many of misconceptions and false understandings we have come to believe. We have to be willing to unlearn what we have learned and work through those difficult issues we have always believed were true. The body of Christ should be unified and that unity should be founded on the truth, not tradition and presuppositions. In addition just because someone does not agree with our theology and biblical understanding we should never attack and make false accusations against another brother or sister. Scripture tells us to, "flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.” (Timothy 2:22-26)
Our country is divided. People possess strong political and social views on both sides of the issues. This isn’t anything new for our nation. Before the birth of our nation people were divided on many different issues. However, due to the development of technology and the availability for information to go from point “A” to point “B” in a matter of seconds what people believe and support can be expressed to the world faster.
The Church is divided as well. This should not be a surprise. The church has been divided since the very start when James and John’s mother asked Jesus for her two boys to sit on his right and left side at the throne. The other disciples were not very happy with their request. Today the division of the church has gone to a deeper level. What is worse is there are people in the church who will make outlandish claims and accusations towards one another for not believing as they do. That is the truth. I have been accused of not being a Christian for not believing in the pretribulation rapture narrative. People are divided by what translation of Scripture we should read, on the issue of baptism, the style of music that should be sung in church, how people should dress for worship, whether women should or shouldn’t be preaching, and many others. To disagree is one thing but to falsely accuse others or to insult them for their views isn’t Christ like.
Division in the church is dangerous. Paul warns against division numerous times in his letters (Romans 16:17; 1 Corinthians 1: 10; 3: 1-4; 11:17-19; 12:25; Galatians 5: 19-21; Titus 3:10). Division in the church was so terrible that he had to address the church of Corinth as children rather than mature Christians. Division is a trait of the immature. The root of division is pride because people do not want to be wrong about what they believe and anyone who challenges their views is a threat and makes them feel uncomfortable.
So what causes such division today? The answer is traditions, presuppositions, and biblical illiteracy. People refuse to test what they believe and they cannot say why they believe what they believe without making reference to that is how they were raised or exposed to by those who are leading. Traditions and presuppositions make people feel safe and secure in what they believe. But when traditions and presuppositions in relation to one’s theology before the Scriptures much will be taken out of context. When conversing with people one may hear familiar clichés and metaphors they believe are from the Bible.
The trouble with this line of thinking is due to familiar cultural views one lives in. I tell people that if they wish to know more about the Bible they need to get out of the Bible. People need to learn cultural context in relation to the biblical authors. The Bible is a divine human document written by real people living at a real time dealing with real issues and wrote according to their world view and culture. I’m not saying we do not deal with similar issues today as they did then but when reading and studying the Scriptures we must begin with the authors point of view first.
The usual method of biblical discussion with others who possess a different view than our own is people tend to take a single text to defend their belief system. The Scriptures are not a collections of clever sayings. When we read any given letter from the Bible we are receiving a very small glimpse into their world. The Bible does not possess an exhaustive collection of works into a person’s world. When we read Paul’s epistle to the church in Corinth he is not dealing with everything the people are facing on a daily bases. If we want to learn more about the people and culture of Corinth we should look for a resource that is focused on dealing with that very topic. Better yet, discover multiple resources on the topic of the people and culture of Corinth. The same goes for any book/ letter we read from the Bible.
With a better view and understanding of the biblical context we are very well able to dismantle many of misconceptions and false understandings we have come to believe. We have to be willing to unlearn what we have learned and work through those difficult issues we have always believed were true. The body of Christ should be unified and that unity should be founded on the truth, not tradition and presuppositions. In addition just because someone does not agree with our theology and biblical understanding we should never attack and make false accusations against another brother or sister. Scripture tells us to, "flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.” (Timothy 2:22-26)
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