Why I Was Wrong About Ecumenism

[Stringfellow_Hawke]

I hate to crash this party, but didn't Jesus say, "...they will know you by your love for one another?" In fact, I don't see Jesus or the Apostles putting as much exacting emphasis on 'correct doctrine' as some sectarian minded churches have been doing ever since.....well, since the time of Peter and Paul.

So, maybe we need to place less emphasis on ontological Christian doctrines and more upon practical, ethical doctrines that comport with God's Will for the facilitation of our ongoing unity and sanctification in Christ. Maybe?

^^^^^THIS^^^^^

 

[Billy Evmur]

Jesus took the bread saying "this is My body" and broke it, His body [the church] will remain broken.
Unity is a myth, the Catholics were held together by force, even today it is split into as many divisions as the Proddies...

 

[Billy Evmur]

^^^^^THIS^^^^^

Paul's letters would seem to disagree, even though Paul hated factions he was realistic enough to see that they are inevitable.

....can still love each other. The devil likes outward conformity.

 

[Halbhh]

Paul's letters would seem to disagree, even though Paul hated factions he was realistic enough to see that they are inevitable.

....can still love each other. The devil likes outward conformity.

We are to conform to Christ (not men) of course. He also tells us a key thing to look for in recognizing our brothers and sisters: "By this everyone will know you are my disciples, if you love one another." We know this is not only a good thing, but required of us.

 

[Mark Quayle]

Ecumenical Movement is an effort to bring Christian Churches back into the union that existed at least prior to the Council of Chalcedon. A noble endeavour, to be sure.

But why attempt to join everyone together into one body, while their minds, their beliefs, and their practices remain dissimilar and contradictory? This is not unity! How can there be one body but different minds? This is impossible! Colossians 1:18 states, "And he is the head of the body, the church." In order to belong to this body of which Christ is the head, we must be of one body, believing the same things. For as a head cannot have multiple bodies, so we cannot differ in beliefs yet belong to the same head. It turns a blind eye to differences in fath, belief, doctrine, and practice, as if these things do not matter. On the contrary, these things are of the utmost importance! These things are the very basis and foundation of our lives; they are the Church. If we cast these things aside, what is left? All that is left is a shallow, hollow shell of what was formerly the fullness of the Church. If we cast these things aside, we are casting aside our own salvation.

Against Ecumenism

I haven't read the replies to your post because I'm in a hurry. Forgive any redundancy.

I am of the Reformed persuasion, not that I learned it from the Reformed, but that they seem to agree with me a lot. I came from a quite a bit less than Reformed background. Yet there are many many things that by background and my current persuasion have in common. For example, the words, "God is sovereign", is agreed to by Calvinist and Arminian alike, though the implications of that are different.

I have noticed that the Arminian leaning members of my family, in spite of their doctrine, pray Reformed --entirely dependent on God for everything, including salvation and choice.

My point is that there are many things in common that are precious and believed by all those to whom God has given saving faith, even if their words for these things do not agree. I find these things to be the most basic of the Gospel and to "boil down" to the simple Gospel --that it is God who has done the whole work of the Gospel, and that it is undeserved by the saved, and that this is to his glory and for his own sake that he has done this, and that this is his reason for all creation --he is creating (or maybe from his point of view, "has created") the Bride of Christ, God's dwelling place.

 

[Dan the deacon]

Doctrine is important and I agree we need a substantive amount for true unity but I still think love is the most important thing. Part of the modern ecumenical movement is no longer organizational unity without diversity, but just simply cooperating together as a Christian witness in the world.

Some of this is reflected, for instance, in our joint declaration with the Catholic Church. We can recognize diversity of emphasis on some doctrinal points within the body of Christ, without having to abandon the validity of our received tradition.

Doctrine is not as important as many believe.
Dogma is important. On this we cannot differ and remain of one Church.

 

[FireDragon76]

It's funny that, isn't it? I can accept you guys with all your extra-religious trappings and pageantry, but you guys can't accept me simply because I don't run in your specific circles and repeat the exacting doctrinal formulas...even though we're both Trinitarian believers in God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, and even though I too incorporate the value of the Creeds into my historical perspective of our faith.

Pietist churches divide up just as much over praxis as confessional churches do over orthodoxy.

I believe the solution is to accept denominationalism and to embrace secularism in the public square, so we don't kill each other in crusades or waste energy needlessy in a pluralistic society. Organized religion has been, and always will be in this world, largely culturally conditioned to meet particular human needs. And that's just as true of Christianity as any other religion.

 

[thecolorsblend]

People sometimes think we should all unite in to one church, but does the Lord want it that way here on earth? Don't forget the Tower of Babel.

If He didn't want one Church, why did He start only one Church?