John 17: 21a May they all be one, as You, Father, are in Me and I am in You. (HCSB)
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The current, official version of this blog is located at christianunityblog.net. For now, I am keeping this copy of the site online also, since so many google searches land here.
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Foundation for Christian Unity
Unity requires consensus on a set of premises or postulates. These form the foundation on which the unity is built. For our quest for Christian unity, I propose that we should begin from the following premises:
1) God is the creator of the universe, and the ruler of all he created.
2) The Bible is his word.
These form a sufficient basis for beginning our discussion. They provide an authority and a standard which will guide our discussions as we work toward unity.
At this point in the quest we should be careful not to dive too deeply into minutiae on these postulates. There are some raging debates in certain details that could derail our efforts to reach consensus on weightier matters. It seems hopeless to me to build Christian unity without agreement on those basic points, so I wish to begin the dialog with people who accept these postulates at face value.
Proceeding on that foundation, we can discuss the basic Christian doctrines. The scriptures will serve as a guide and a standard as we seek to answer important unity-related questions:
1) What doctrines require absolute agreement in order to have fellowship?
2) In what areas can we accept honest disagreements / misunderstandings within the fellowship?
3) How should we handle areas of honest disagreement in the fellowship?
4) What are the areas of common ground which can anchor our unity?
5) What are the spiritual character traits that need to be built in order to sustain unity?
There is a lot to consider as we move forward. As always, comments are welcome. ¶ 11:38 AM
1) God is the creator of the universe, and the ruler of all he created.
2) The Bible is his word.
These form a sufficient basis for beginning our discussion. They provide an authority and a standard which will guide our discussions as we work toward unity.
At this point in the quest we should be careful not to dive too deeply into minutiae on these postulates. There are some raging debates in certain details that could derail our efforts to reach consensus on weightier matters. It seems hopeless to me to build Christian unity without agreement on those basic points, so I wish to begin the dialog with people who accept these postulates at face value.
Proceeding on that foundation, we can discuss the basic Christian doctrines. The scriptures will serve as a guide and a standard as we seek to answer important unity-related questions:
1) What doctrines require absolute agreement in order to have fellowship?
2) In what areas can we accept honest disagreements / misunderstandings within the fellowship?
3) How should we handle areas of honest disagreement in the fellowship?
4) What are the areas of common ground which can anchor our unity?
5) What are the spiritual character traits that need to be built in order to sustain unity?
There is a lot to consider as we move forward. As always, comments are welcome. ¶ 11:38 AM
Comments:
I agree wholeheartedly with your post. It is a shame that too many times we have put the things of which doesn't matter if agreement is made or not. If we have a foundation of the unity we seek (Lordship of Jesus and authority of the Bible) then we can possibly get somewhere.
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