The Weaponization of Theology
I don't know about you, but I am tired of fighting with people from different theological perspectives. For some reason, over the past several centuries it seems that we have taken honest differences in interpretation of faith and practice and turned them into weapons.
Somewhere in the fog of theological argumentation, individuals have risen up and taken discussions between brothers and sisters and turned them into implements used to exclude, wound, and separate in general.
It turns out that we have been disagreeing from the very beginning. Out of those early disagreements came some of the most important documents of beliefs in the Church's history (usually called creeds). The questions was (and still is): what are the core beliefs one needs to have to be considered a Christian?
They came to several important decisions around that. They generally include the humanity and deity of Christ, the nature of the Trinity, the role of the Father and Spirit, and the necessity of Jesus for salvation. That, along with a couple more, is what all denominations, sects, and factions share.
What is always interesting to me is the host of "hot button" issues that are not in there. Just name your favorite, and look for it. You will most likely not find it there.
That means something beautiful: those things have no bearing on whether or not someone is a Christian, and after we disagree we can work together in service of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
That's the key. My heart is that we would take our theological swords to Jesus and have him turn them into something that is useful and helpful. I want Jesus to take my theological distinctives and use them to minister to the world and help me to see that he is using those "other people" to minister through their distinctives as well.
"He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore." Isaiah 2:4
From: MORF
