Last Lessons #39 – DIVISION

“Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.”  Matthew 12:25

When I lived in Africa, I was able to visit various game parks.  Those trips were amazing experiences because I not only saw animals in the wild, but because several of the parks overlooked the Great Rift Valley.  For your information, the Rift Valley is a 6,000-mile crack (fissure) in the earth's crust, stretching from Lebanon to Mozambique.  Violent subterranean forces literally tore apart the earth's crust.  It divided Africa in two.

There is a great rift in Christianity that is becoming increasingly evident today.  It is the divide that is happening in churches, especially evangelical mainline churches.  The division centers on the Bible.  One section I call “the biblical Christian church” because it believes the Bible, teaches the Bible, and attempts to live out the Bible.  The other section I call “the cultural Christian church” because it uses the Bible but says that the Bible contains errors, that the Bible is not enough for us to live by, and its preaching is mostly about love and accommodation to the culture.  But there are some who try to straddle the divide between the two sections.  They want the Bible and they want the culture.  Picture trying to straddle the Great Rift Valley!  It just won’t work so it causes division in churches.

Most all the mainline Protestant churches have split over the past few decades over the issue of homosexuality, particularly gays or lesbians in the pulpit and performing same-sex marriages.  The divide started way back with the Enlightenment that began a movement based on human reason as the primary source of authority, not God. They questioned God as Creator and advocated tolerance and the brotherhood of mankind.  This movement led to questioning the inerrancy of the Bible, the sufficiency of the Bible, and the interpretation of the Bible.  If the culture can interpret the Bible however it wants, then it will eventually lead to what we have today - the LGBTQ issue that has, and is, dividing churches.  

It’s understandable why the “straddling” churches are struggling.  Most Christians have at least one family member who is gay and families do want to love and accept each other.  The problem is that the Bible calls homosexuality “sin” so there is bound to be division between those who believe that the Bible means what it says and those who don’t.  

“Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division, For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”  Luke 12:51-53

Today there are denominations studying and taking sides on the question of whether the church should accept LGBTQ members into the church.  There should be no question about LGBTQ people attending church, but the question is whether they should be members and especially leaders.  And the church should minister to LGBTQ attendees by teaching them the Bible from the pulpit, in Sunday School, and in Bible study groups.  The church’s mission is not to become counseling or therapy centers, but to call sinners to identify with Christ and live as a new person saved by grace.

I pray that church denominations will continue to be biblical.  I pray that I will attend and support biblical Christian churches and I pray that you will too.