One of Jesus’ concerns before returning to God was that his followers might all be one. John 17:21-23 Unfortunately, the broad world of Christendom is very much divided today. This can lead a person to ask a number of questions. Questions such as:
A Major Reason for Division: Different Agendas and Perspectives
Although a number of immature reasons such as hurt feelings might cause some divisions, today the more significant reason for the great diversity of churches tends to revolve around the sources for different agendas and the perspectives those agendas create. People have different agendas and hence different perspectives for many reasons:
• some fully embrace the values and assumptions of their society or subculture,• others impose definitions upon significant biblical words in a way foreign to the biblical authors' usage,
• others perceive a problem in our world or in their church and seek to solve that problem by interpreting all of scripture through the agenda of fixing the problem,
• and still others for any number of reasons have an agenda and a direction which they are determined to pursue.
Militants provide an obvious source for agendas. If someone has a predetermined course and recognizes the pragmatic value of using God’s Word to further his or her cause, that person will actively seek to "put his spin" on the Bible. It doesn’t matter whether that individual is a homosexual, a fundamentalist or a liberal, a feminist, an evangelical, a Catholic or Protestant, or a conservative, a spin can be discovered. But just because someone can create a spin on the Bible, does not mean that such a message came from God, nor does it indicate that the true message of the Bible is difficult to discover. However, admittedly, if someone has been trained to interpret the Bible through a perspective foreign to the author's intended message, it becomes more challenging for that person to discard that baggage in order to perceive God's intended message.
The Force of Societal Values and Norms
While serving in Brazil as a missionary, I personally heard people erroneously claiming that the Bible supports the practice of astrology as well as spiritism (communicating with the dead/ spirit world)! Any perspective can attempt to use the Bible to further their agenda and this does create division. Admittedly, the following assertions will not be popular with some folks. But an honest look at history, sociology and theology would suggest that feminist theology and gay & lesbian theology did not emerge as the result of scholars asking the question, "what message is the Bible trying to communicate to us?" Rather, what initially was a subculture in America sought mainstream legitimization by "discovering" within scripture support for their goals and initiatives.
Interpretations which are motivated by a value system based upon secular society or a secular subculture will create a spin on the biblical message which the biblical author had no intention of communicating. Such filters tell us more about the person doing the interpreting than they do about what the Bible actually teaches.
The Agenda of a Perceived Problem
Another source for agendas comes when someone perceives a problem. When a "solution" is found (and one will be), this "solution" often becomes the primary doctrine through which the rest of the Bible is understood. In other words, the rest of scripture is forced to serve this agenda which is expected to solve "the big problem at hand."
It has been well documented that not only did Martin Luther respond to the problems he perceived in his religious context by affirming "justification by faith," but that this also became his key through which he interpreted everything else.(1) Although he originally did not plan on starting “another church,” this doctrinal agenda did create another one.
Likewise, during the 1800’s there were some people who felt that the main Protestant denominations had lost what it meant to live a holy life. This perceived problem led to interpreting the Bible through the lens of holiness.(2) Quite predictably, this new agenda created a new movement which we call today the Holiness movement.
Several decades later, some within the Holiness movement perceived a new problem.(3) Did their holiness originate from human effort or did it come from the transforming power of the Spirit? Physical evidence was sought to confirm that the Spirit was indeed at work. The eventual result was “speaking in tongues” and the birth of yet another church movement - the Pentecostals, who read the Bible with an agenda on emphasizing the activity of the Spirit in human lives.
When the perceived problem is "our congregation needs to grow faster," then often the value of numerical growth will be given top priority. Depending upon how much value is given to numerical growth, the biblical message or practice may be altered to make the gospel more palatable to the unchurched. Ironically, many church divisions have been caused by making the number one priority the desire to "start growing."
Note: altering the message does not merely mean "teaching a new doctrine" it also includes omitting teachings which might be considered offensive to the general public or to a particular congregation, etc. For example, the Biblical teachings on divorce, hell, creation, or the second coming of Jesus might simply never be mentioned from the pulpit because a person might make the determination that these are embarrassing or offensive if taken at face value.
Even the perceived problem of religious division can create an agenda and a key filtering principle through which the Bible is read. Since Biblical authors placed the primary value upon loving God and calling humans to be faithful to Him, to elevate unity to the foremost position will distort the original message. Yes, unity is important. Jesus prayed for it. But it is not to be the highest value which interprets all other values. To place it highest will tend to cause a person to seek union, rather than the true unity based upon truth.
Jesus prayed for unity, but not at the cost of abandoning truth. It is a simple fact that as long as people approach the Bible with different agendas there will be division. Even Biblical ideas, if given an improper emphasis, can alter the original message.
Other articles which may be of interest
"Part 2: "Unity - Paul's Prescription" Observations on 1 Corinthians
Goals That Should Supercede Personal Preferences
The Unity Principle Observations on Philippians
Endnotes
(1) Ian Fair, "Disciplines Related to Biblical Interpretation," Biblical Interpretation Principles and Practices. Edited by F. Furman Kearley, Edward P. Myers, Timothy D. Hadley. (Baker, Grand Rapids: 1986), p. 32.
(2) C. Leonard Allen and Richard T. Hughes, Discovering Our Roots: The Ancestry of Churches of Christ (ACU Press, Abilene: 1988), pp. 142-143.
(3) Allen and Hughes, p. 145.
© 1998 Barry Newton