Why be different if unity is a goal we should strive for?

[Tom Wetmore]

In the opening post of the topic asking where to go if not the Adventist church Alex noted a perplexing response from evangelists when asked why we focus on our peculiar emphasis on prophecy rather than Christ. The response was that we somehow needed to distinguish ourselves from other Christians.

This got me to thinking. Why do we strive so hard to be different, distinctive, separate, peculiar and special to the point of being stubbornly proud of it when the last fervent prayer with his disciples before being crucified was expressly for our unity?

And as you might be able to detect from my last few posts on that thread, my impression is that the result of emphasizing differences is divisive - it disunites us from the rest of the body of Christ. It causes people to leave the body of Christ. It fosters being even more different to the point that churches split and form new disitnct groups centering around new pet distinctive ideas.

What would happen if we really endeavored to emphasize what we have in common with the rest of the body of Christ? What exactly would we need to do to set aside our differences and come together in a real spirit of unity? What would unity look and feel like?

[teresaq]

perhaps if our focus had been Christ in prophecy we wouldnt be having this discussion?

if our mission is the 3 angels messages, the very first thing the first angel is doing is spreading the gospel.

course now the problem is, what exactly is the gospel?

is the gospel, "i came down lived a perfect life and died for you so you better accept it and shape up or ill incinerate you and that most horrible as possible"?

am i heading in a different track than intended? :)

[Dr. Rich]

The ONLY way to become one and in unity with God is to keep all of the ten commandments and obey the words of Jesus that have been written down for us by eyewitnesses. Following anyone other than Jesus will cause confusion--which of course is what Satan loves.

[Tom Wetmore]

I agree, CoAspen.

What we emphasize most is most likely the object of our worship. If we think that Sunday vs Saturday is what separates us, maybe it is because we think they are worshiping Sunday rather that worshiping on Sunday. Perhaps we might be inclined to think that way because we tend to worship the Sabbath of the Lord rather than the Lord of the Sabbath.

A true Christian should feel a special bond of unity with anyone else worshiping Christ, no matter how different they may be, think or look. It is not compromise to ignore those differences, IMHO.

[Woody]

Amen.

[John317]

It may be that some evangelists responded the way you say but that is certainly not a full or even an accurate answer as to why our church places so much focus on the prophecies. It doesn't take into account the history of the development of our doctrines, as well as the reason our church is concerned with Bible prophecy.

Prophecy is certainly related to our differences from other denominations, but when understood rightly, those prophecies are actually centered on Christ. Christ is who they are all about-- from the first prophecy regarding the coming of the Messiah as the seed of the woman, to the prophecies of Daniel 2, 9, and 11. If we don't see them as pointing us to Christ, we're not really understanding them. Unfortunately it's true that many church members see the prophecies as just a lot of beasts and horns.

I don't see the SDA church as striving so hard to be different or as stubbornly proud of the differences between our church and other Christian churches.

Are we different? Yes, certainly. But is it simply for the sake of being different? I don't believe history shows that we set out consciously trying to be different just to be different. And I don't see evidence that this is what our church is doing today. Maybe some individuals are, sure, but not the church as a whole.

I don't think we should do anything in order to be different, but at the same time, we shouldn't do things or believe something, only for the sake of making other denominations see us as one of themselves. Neither should we try to hide our distinctive beliefs or practices if these are held sincerely and honestly on the basis of what the Bible teaches. But if we bring up these distinctive beliefs and practices only for the sake of argument or because we want to emphasize our differences, that's when I believe we should be ashamed of ourselves.

We should do whatever we can to be in unity with other Christians as long as it doesn't require us to compromise our convictions and our sincerely held beliefs. I don't think we would (or should) ask other Christians to compromise their honest and sincere convictions. It's one thing to ask people to study and consider something, but it's something completely different to ask them to ignore or give up beliefs that they believe are biblically based.

I believe we should definitely endeavor to give the greatest emphasis to those beliefs and practices that we hold in common with the rest of the body of Christ. I do this myself when I associate with other Christians, as well as with Mormons and "Jehovah's Witnesses."

But at the same time, when the time is right to discuss the differences, we should do so in a spirit of Christian love and respect, willing to consider and listen to what others are saying. We should understand correctly what they believe and why they believe it. At such times, there is no need for us to deny the differences, but we need to let it be known that we still love and choose to be freinds with those with whom we differ.

I don't believe the Holy Spirit leads believers to unify over false teachings or practices. We need to find unity over truth, not error. It would be wrong to unify with those whose beliefs are at odds with basic Bible doctrines. This doesn't mean we can't cooperate in such efforts as helping the poor or in distributing the Bible. But it certainly means that we can't lay aside our distinctive doctrines such as the Sabbath, the return of Christ prior to the tribulation, the third angels messages, the non-immortality of the soul, the health message, and heavenly sanctuary. Neither should there ever be any agreements made that we won't attempt to persuade members of other churches to become Seventh-day Adventists.

I think we should always be foremost in giving emphasis to Christ and His righteousness and demonstrating in our lives and in our relationships with others the power of Christ to change people so they become more like Him. Loving people in Christ-- and treating them as Christ would have us treat them-- has nothing whatever to do with their belief system.

[abelisle]

What Tom is referencing is quite true and quite disturbing at the same time. I just got home from church, as I write this, where we had a townhall meeting to discuss the possible renting of our church to a "Sunday-keeping/worshipping" group of Christians.

The stumbling block was the vocal minority who emphasized their worshipping of the sanctuary and its possible desecration rather than the fact that our sanctuary is only a large space when we're not worshipping in it and the issue of the Sabbath being sanctified and possibly desecrated by causing confusion in our neighborhood when people see us worshipping on both days (Saturday and Sunday).

Clearly Jesus got lost in this confused and conflated (at the same time) discussion and on a major scale. Seems that Jesus simply left the building and tried to enter our bodies which are ALWAYS the temple(s) of the Holy Spirit. It seems that if it's prophecy that attracted you to Adventism, Jesus takes on the role of a minor character in ones religious journey?

Alex (getting lost in our provincialism is getting easier everyday!)

[Woody]

Good One Alex. I'm just glad that you have maintained your sanity. But beware of your sanitation. I hope you washed your hands when you came home after being with such people.

[John317]

I agree with you, that what's happening in your church is disturbing. A lot of SDA congregations allow other denominations to rent their church buildings for Sunday meetings. I personally see nothing wrong with it.

I would use the opportunities there to sometimes attend their church services and invite them to worship on the Sabbath with us, too. I also see nothing wrong with our pastor speaking for a few minutes to the non-SDA congregations in order to show themselves friendly and invite them to our worship services, and the non-SDA pastor doing the same thing to our congregations. (I know some will disagree with this.)

I think it would be a good thing for a congregation, before renting out the building to another denomination, to have something like training classes for all the members so they would avoid doing and saying things that could be offensive or counterproductive. It might start with Romans 14: 1 as given in the paraphrase, The Message.