“Unity, Liberty, and Love”

“Unity, Liberty, and Love”
An editorial by Bruce White

Often we Christians disagree about what the Bible means by what it says, as well as about how we should respond to it. That’s only natural. After all, none of us knows the mind of God fully. None of us understands the Gospel perfectly. None of us has all knowledge and understanding. All of us are learning and growing, and we will never understand all things fully this side of Glory. Some things in the Bible are clearly understood, and some are not. Scripture itself tells us that, “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” [1 Cor. 13:12] Someday when we meet God “face to face” we will see how wrong we’ve been about many things, and we’ll also see those times when we got it right. Until then we should be humbled in the knowledge that we don’t know everything.

To disagree and debate is normal, and I would even say that it is healthy. A pastor friend once told me, “I’m glad that my congregation doesn’t agree with everything I say. It proves that they are thinking.” I learned a lot from that man, but there is still much that we do not agree on. We debated often, but always with love and respect.

I pray that we as Christians would always feel free to debate, and that we would always do so with love and respect for one another. The give and take of a good debate is a great learning tool that should not be disregarded.

It’s been said about the Christian faith that we should have “unity in the essentials; liberty in the non-essentials, and love in all things." We should always stand together on the clear teachings of Scripture, but please don’t be offended when someone disagrees with you over some doctrine that the Church has been debating for centuries. Defend your beliefs, but don’t vilify one another. None of us are perfect, so allow others the “liberty” to disagree with you. After all, they may be right.