I recently had the experience of being fooled by someone I thought understood the idea of Christian unity. He said so many things that sounded very loving and non-judgmental… but when it came right down to it, he wasn’t at all prepared for the challenge of accepting that I have the same kind of faith he does and that it’s possible that we both know God though I may be Catholic and he is Pentecostal.
I was having lunch at a table next to this man and a lady who was driving him home from church. They had stopped for lunch because she felt that God was leading them there to speak with someone. When he sat down, he introduced himself to me then turned to the woman and they started talking. The conversation began with the woman saying to him, “So, I didn’t know you’d been to heaven”. And the man told a beautiful story of a vision he’d had. It included God saying to him that all Christians are the same. The souls in Heaven of those who have passed on are not labelled as Pentecostal, Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran and so on… They are one body. After he’d told his story he eventually started talking to me again and near the beginning of our conversation, used these words: We don’t need to all be under the same roof… but the walls between us need to come down.
Sounds good, right? I thought so. I love meeting Christians from other churches and when I get into a conversation about the faith with them, it is always in the hope that we can relate to each other simply as Christians. I feel that it’s a blessing to be able to share what we have in common and enjoy the unity that is intended for us. But not everyone feels that way. Some people have pity on you as soon as they find out you’re part of a certain church. Older traditions are seen as devoid of the Holy Spirit. They think we go to church to feel like we’ve done our duty. This man I’m talking about said things like, “Do you want to know God?” and “You must be born again” and “Can I pray with you?” and he prayed against the “religious spirit” within me and told me to stop running from God. Wow. Judgment without sufficient information. I couldn’t be further from running. I pray, I’m open to God’s leading, and I finally feel grounded and sure of things I want to do with my life. Besides all that, I DO NOT believe in the idea of being born again and will never go back to believing that. I’ve been an evangelical and it stopped feeling right… and my theology changed naturally, to the point where I understand Catholicism. So I know I’m where I need to be. I can practice my faith and have a relationship with God, without being in an environment where someone is constantly beating me over the head with a doctrine that I’ll never believe in. I think we each need to be where it feels right. It isn’t logical to think that your salvation depends upon acceptance of a particular doctrine. I will always believe that my words and actions are involved in my salvation. I know very well that I will be criticized by protestants for that. But that’s ok. It’s what I believe and it makes me want to be a better person because I love God and believe that “love does no wrong to a neighbour. Love, therefore, is the fulfillment of the law”. I am in complete agreement with John and that scripture has meant so much to me. And I also completely agree with James, who said that faith without works is dead. He wrote about the necessity of faith and works. He wasn’t denying the grace of God. But believing in God’s grace, for some of us, just cannot simply mean we are ‘born again’ in the way it is often understood by evangelicals. It’s too easy and it allows people to think they’re far more special than everybody else and to treat the rest of the body of Christ like we’re inferior. It’s not overly “religious” to believe that if you want to be saved, your character must change and you must try to love as Jesus loved. And some Christians would do well to take a really good look at how Jesus loved. For me the first thing that comes to mind is that he loved without discrimination. The Bible didn’t talk about Him having pity on everybody He met. He simply loved and spent time with people, being a friend. And He taught them about how to treat one another.
The Lord did not create denominations. We all know that. But when I say that, I’m not saying you shouldn’t be a member of a particular denomination. So many people use this idea that God didn’t create denominations to rail against the old traditions like Catholicism. Many of them think they are going to be able to find the perfect way to be part of a church – “Apostolic” or “First-century” or something like that. Well, here’s what I believe… there will never be a perfect church with perfect doctrines. We are not God and cannot understand everything about what is unseen. We know in part. Each denomination interprets the message of Christ as best we can. And the interpretations we have can certainly help us to live better lives and live the gospel. Some people need to stop preaching the gospel long enough to see that kindness doesn’t mean trying to convert people to your way of thinking… even if you do it with a smile on your face and show compassion for those wayward non-evangelicals who couldn’t possibly have a deep enough relationship with God.
As I talked to my partner about it last night, we came to the conclusion that you can’t actually have a deep relationship with God apart from being in harmony with other human beings… and not just the ones in your church. We all know what Jesus said – that what we do to other humans, we do also to Him. But here’s something else to consider – God created us all, He created the earth and all living things. The Spirit of God is everywhere… in everything. God gave life not only to us but to all living things. His life is in everything. If you cannot be in harmony with those outside of your little North American evangelical bubble (or your Catholic bubble or your Baptist bubble – whatever the case may be), you are missing out on a large part of being one with God. I’m no better than anybody else and I know my relationship with God can always be better. But it is certainly there. It is deep, but I don’t compare the depth of it with the depth of someone else’s relationship with God. That’s not my business. I give people the benefit of the doubt. But for a long time I’ve observed that some people can love without needing to convert, they can truly be in harmony with people of all denominations and they look at us all as equals. They accept differences in doctrine and realize that each Christian’s needs for a place of worship may be different. I have evangelical friends and family who treat my partner and I with the same love and respect (not pity) as anyone in their churches. These people are living the gospel.
There is still no doubt in my mind about what I believe. This is what I told the Jehovah’s Witnesses who just came to my door. I believe in the message of Christ and have seen that message lived out in the lives of people belonging to all different churches. I respectfully told them I didn’t want to meet with them again because their interpretations of scripture are not the same as mine and there’s no point debating them. I’m very happy with where I am in my spiritual journey and very confident that what I believe makes more sense than Christianity has ever seemed to make before this point in my life. I believe that I, along with people in many different churches, can truly live the gospel and that theological differences only make us more comfortable in our respective churches – they don’t make some of us more Christian than others. As the song says, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.
“Preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use words.” – St. Francis of Assisi
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