The Big Fat Christian Opinion Problem
Opinions, opinions, opinions. To interpret or to understand things differently, or to think about or try to understand aspects of God. To have opinions on topics or different problems inside and outside of the church isn’t the problem.
Nor does every christian need to have the same opinion about non-salvation issues of course.
But when opinions get too important and too lofty; contrary to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, what He has done on this earth and what he can do through us through the Holy Spirit.
“But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” Romans 8:11 KJV.
We start to see petty arguments start to arise, that doesn’t mean we have to be one or think all the same way. But when we can’t even agree on how to be saved, when the bible clearly states that, believing and openly declaring “… that Jesus is Lord” and believing “in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
And now we have found new life in Christ. We should repent, which means to turn away.
“The time promised by God has come at last!” he announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!” Mark 1:15 NLT
Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord. Romans 10:9 NIV
I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. Luke 15:7
Yet Christians can’t even agree on that !
So instead they have petty debates and harness a plethora of Bible Scriptures in their back pocket. So many arguments, so many debates.
The thing that made me want to write this, and I cannot fully confirm it was the Spirit of God. But what I do know scrolling through YouTube, with many conflicting christian videos, brought a rush of confusion. Some people who believe in the power of the Spirit others who don’t, others who do but who also contain Holy Spirit down to speaking in tongues and others subjecting the Holy Spirit to shaking and baking and some who believe he was a person and half the internet saying ‘Holy Spirit activate’ I mean you can’t activate a person, but to some He is a disembodied floaty thing that makes fire fall from heaven.
This all confuses me more and yet …
“…God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.”
1 Corinthians 14:33
So where does that leave us other lovers of Jesus who are not double minded but who don’t really have strong opinions. It’s so easy to jump from doctrine to doctrine especially because of the internet. What happens to the people who just want to be Christians, and not just Christians but true servants and disciples of the Biblical Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Who have and are developing a personal relationship with God and being led by the Spirit of the living God.
“For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” Romans 8:14 KJV
This article, and others to follow, is not to bash anyone with strong opinions. Instead it is to point you back to the source, to the instruction manual and to the most important person on earth, that has been quite frankly misunderstood.
And most importantly through a relationship with this person, this is most important to do one thing and one thing only, which is to point you back to a simple doctrine that all of us should follow.
Do it God’s way
(or in other words don’t try and guess what God meant or what he wants, just ask him and it is that simple really)
But do not be deceived, as we are in a spiritual war, so some things we think are God maybe really aren’t. A rule of thumb, to discern, is to see if it lines up with God’s word and character, but that topic needs its own article.
So through the next few articles I will be exploring this Big Christian Opinion Problem and the solutions. All solutions I pose, will not be my opinion but focusing on what the Bible tells us to do and on what I’m led by the Holy Spirit to say.
