tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11928317.post1615837541889285347..comments2024-01-29T14:24:46.852-05:00Comments on Wes Ellis: _____________ Christianwellis68http://www.blogger.com/profile/06087588494600746854noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11928317.post-48866276103930869322010-07-15T12:38:15.435-04:002010-07-15T12:38:15.435-04:00Steve,
Great thoughts! Fackre is right. I have wri...Steve,<br />Great thoughts! Fackre is right. I have written in other posts about the advantages/upside of having denominational distinctions. Indeed, denominations, at their best, are people being people...people exercising their corporate diversity. When we one day finally mend all divisions, hopefully the diversity will not be lost. Hopefully, even in a healed church, there will be communities which worship in unique ways from one another.wellis68https://www.blogger.com/profile/06087588494600746854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11928317.post-26811363706274860302010-07-14T18:10:54.934-04:002010-07-14T18:10:54.934-04:00A quibble, Lozeerose - Jesus did not "establi...A quibble, Lozeerose - Jesus did not "establish" a church (for instance, separate from existing religious traditions) but called people to renewed commitment to the way of God.<br /><br />But no, neither did Jesus desire many competing denominations. This is, in part, a consequence of our humanness and not Christianity's heavenliness. The divisions are our fault, not Christ's.<br /><br />But in many ways, the existence of different denominations is helpful and instructive to the whole Christian body, if we let it be. Gabriel Fackre has written about the ways in which differences "admonish" us - by Church X emphasizing some aspect of faith that Church Y may give short shrift to.<br /><br />The divisions amid Christianity are an easy target for those seeking to discredit the church because "it's not perfect." Well, no, it's not - because we are not. As someone once said, the church is like Noah's ark; you can only stand the smell on the inside because of the storm on the outside.swope.steven@yahoo.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01723126408024300817noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11928317.post-35480451867110820802010-07-13T19:38:01.655-04:002010-07-13T19:38:01.655-04:00Lozeerose,
We should always be about the work of b...Lozeerose,<br />We should always be about the work of bridging divisions in the church, mending them and fulfilling Christ's prayer "that they may all be one." That does not mean, however that we should make theological compromises of our identity. We should be clear about what we are and clear about what we're not and we must do it in a way that recognizes that the conversation is still very much alive. <br /><br />1John 2:19, from my quick and unaided reading, seems to be about folks leaving the church and embracing another identity. It does not address the ambiguity and complication that arises when two seemingly different "churches", both claiming Christ and faith in the God revealed in Christ, are divided one from the other the way the Pretestant and Catholic traditions have been. I'm not sure what to do with that division but I suppose that if we start with what we DO agree on, partener with each other on what we CAN, and move from there then we may one day find ourselves truly united in the one Body of Christ.wellis68https://www.blogger.com/profile/06087588494600746854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11928317.post-49689504528326480922010-07-13T15:38:58.499-04:002010-07-13T15:38:58.499-04:00You are spot on about Christian unity but how does...You are spot on about Christian unity but how does that square with the visible divisions within the "body" of Christ? In particular I speak of the Catholic/Protestant divide.<br /><br />Jesus established only one Church no? Think about 1 John 2:19, "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out, that it might be plain that they all are not of us" (RSV).Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03567994112449781806noreply@blogger.com