Slimy Skinned Brethren

A little while back I was explaining to a friend what it meant for me to come from a “Brethren background” (yeah, I know, veeeeery complicated topic), and so part of my explanation included something about how among our circles we often think of the word “denomination” as kind of like a cuss word haha.

So I’m pretty sure that my friend thought that I was pretty crazy for saying something like that because she was like, “I don't see why you would say denomination is like a cuss word. They are so apperent.  An evangelical church is nothing like a brethren church* and a presbyterian church nothing like a baptist church. Not only are they different but they are identified differently. It's like distinguishing a frog from a toad- the words have to be there or part of the meaning is lost.”

Randea

And so that definitely got me thinking because I actually think that presbyterian, baptist, evangelical, and brethren congregations are in fact pretty close to being something like each other [and so naturally, I had to Google up the words “frog” and “toad”, and guess what? Toads are frogs! haha (and you can ask Google here if you don’t believe me)].

Toad

But anyways, apparently the word “frog” is the broader name for the various types of amphibianatic type animals such as toads and ranidea (and you can look at the pictures to see some of those differences), but even among these two sub-groups, apparently there can at times be some ranidea that seem very much toadish and similarly, at times there can be some toads that seem very much ranideaish. In other words, while most toads are dry and warty skinned, "It is not uncommon, for example, to find a warty skinned frog that isn't a toad, or even a slimy toad!"

And so what I told my friend [and what I’m telling you right now (whether you would like to be my friend or not is your call)] is that in my mind it’s like the word “frog” would kind of be like the equivalent for the word “Christian” and so it’s like - why ever even bother with the word toad?… they’re still frogs haha … and so along the same thread of thinking - why ever even bother with the words brethren or evangelical or presbyterian or baptist? ...we’re all still Christians, right? (yeah, that was a rhetorical question, and the correct answer is yes, we are - if we believe in the Lord Jesus).

And so that is the point.

Sometimes I feel like the whole concept of denominations can detract from the point that if we believe in Jesus, then we are all part of the same body and that we all have the same Spirit and that we all share the same hope, and Lord, and faith, and baptism, and God and Father of all who is over all and through all, and in all (Ephesians 4:4-6).

And so I think that those things are really important.

And I also think that hey - those things are even more important than our differences.

So let me explain. Because sure, we each have our own distictives [and I would even try to defend my own distictives with a lot of zeal and a lot of Scripture (and if on some point I couldn’t defend them over someone else’s zeal and use of Scripture, I hope that I would change)]… but the point is that even within the Scriptures, there are noticeably some doctrines that carry a whole lot more weight than others.

And so that is not to say that all true doctrines are not important, because all true doctrines are important, but it is to say that some true doctrines are more important than other true doctrines… like for instance the main one that all of us Christians agree on - that by believing in Jesus as the Son of God we are saved from our sins.

Martin Luther

And so see, I really believe that all Christians have the ability (and I think we should also all have the desire) to study the Scriptures for ourselves (and by the way, that was one of Martin Luther’s main points that he fought for as he challenged the Catholic church) but undoubtedly, as we are engaging in this process of studying the Scriptures for ourselves, there will inevitably be some instances in which we will come to a point where we will disagree with one another… perhaps with a brother, perhaps with a sister... and it will be as though we are taking two different sides and neither one of us will want to budge.

And so, I can almost guarantee it that as this starts to happen it will start to be very tempting to forget to love one another… But let me ask this: what is the second greatest commandment? [That’s another rhetorical question by the way… and the answer is to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:38)] And you know something? The last time I checked, that commandment went before the one that says “Thou shall defend thy beliefs with all thy heart and soul and mind” {where that one is located I’m not exactly sure, [but it sounds a lot like the one that says we are to “love the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and mind (Matthew 22:37)”… (and so I think that that’s why a lot of us get them mixed up you know? - because the second one I mentioned is actually the first, but they both sound pretty similar)]}. [And in case you didn’t get the joke, “Thou shall defend thy beliefs with all thy heart and soul and mind” isn’t really a commandment in the Bible (or at least it’s not an explicit one)].

Ok, At least it’s not an explicit one… hm. But wait a second! What if it is - implicit? (uh-oh, here we go again)… Some may argue that defending Scripture actually maybe could be a part of loving God… and well - I have to admit that that is a pretty great argument.

The thing is that the first commandment of loving God and the second commandment of loving our neighbor – they are both very much intertwined - in fact, 1 John 4 verses 20 and 21 say, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.”   

  

So let me say this: there is a very fine line between passionately defending Scripture and loving our neighbor while we do it, and passionately defending Scripture and not loving our neighbor while doing it. Obviously, I would argue for the first.

Because see, I’m all for debating and arguing what we believe in (because doing so will ultimately make us sharper), but we have to understand that when we do it we have to do it in love because otherwise we will have lost the battle even before having started it.

It is ironic because the Brethren background which I am a part of originally found its strength in challenging certain doctrines or practices that clearly were wrong within the Anglican movement of the initial part of the 19^th century; but this same movement which I am a part of has since found many of its own weaknesses in challenging certain doctrines or practices that are clearly not so wrong even within our own movement in both part of the 19^th and all of the 20^th Century (will it also be characteristic of the 21^st?).

So I hope that we can know how to choose our battles well, because it is true that there is strength in numbers. It's just that at times it seems like us Brethren have some kind of numeric phobia haha, and we divide ourselves before we ever get too big (and I’m talking like my dad right now… but wouldn’t it be better if we multiplied?), of course it would.

But another funny fact is that right now I’m living in the 21^st century and I find nothing wrong with reading books by John Stott and C.S. Lewis (who actually are both from Anglican backgrounds), while at the same time reading Jim Eliot’s journals or books by Alexander Strauch (who contrarilly are both from Brethren backgrounds). In fact, I find myself being edified by reading books from all four authors. [Or with reference to C.S. Lewis and Jim Eliot – maybe it should be “were,” because I know that they have both gone on to glory (… or maybe that would actually still put them in the “are” section, right? - like since they are currently living with God in heaven?)].

And so that’s another funny thing, isn’t it? That C.S. Lewis and Jim Eliot are probably both in heaven right now having a great time uniting with each other in their worship of the Father, while at the same time we’re here on earth still dividing ourselves over a few controversial issues... hm. Perhaps some of the division is valid (I’m not saying that it isn’t), but I still just think it's funny.

               

C.S. Lewis

Jim Elliot

Lastly, I just finished reading Lake Wobegon Days by Garrison Keillor [who incidentally also comes from a Brethren background (although he probably isn’t as proud of that heritage as some of us)], and in a very interesting way, he talks about his childhood and a special kind of merchandise that many people would buy which had verses strategically located on them so that those who read the merchandise would be edified as their eyes happened to fall upon the verses. Some of this merchandise included a telephone-book cover that said, “Let no corrupt communication pass out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying. Eph. 4:29”, a wastebasket (“Touch not the unclean thing. 2Cor.6:17”), and even an umbrella (“Giving thanks always for all things. Eph.5:20”).

Garrison Keillor

And then Garrison Keillor comments this: “I felt that so much Scripture floating around might tend to harden some hearts, that Scripture should be treated with reverence and not pasted to any flat surface you could find – at least, that was what I said when Brethren asked why I didn’t carry a “The Peace of God Passeth all Understanding” book bag to school. In fact, I was afraid I would be laughed off the face of the earth.

Then he adds a paragraph explaining his concern towards his relationship with a certain girl. He says, “My dad’s car sported a compass on the dashboard with, “I am the Way” inscribed in luminescent letters across its face, clearly visible in the dark to a girl who might be sitting beside me. “Why do you have that?” she might say. “It’s not mine, it’s my dad’s,” I’d say. “I don’t know why, I guess he likes it there.” I wanted her and me to be friends and our conversation to head in the direction of personal feelings, The Importance of Being Free and Sharing Love, and not toward the thorny subject of obedience, which tended to put a damper on things. The compass wasn’t easily removed; you’d have to get behind the instrument panel to remove the nuts. I thought of covering it with masking tape, but that might only draw attention to it. So I hung my cap on it.” (p. 142).

“I wanted her and me to be friends and our conversation to head in the direction of personal feelings, The Importance of Being Free and Sharing Love, and not toward the thorny subject of obedience, which tended to put a damper on things.” I like that.

Yeah, being obedient to the Word of God is definitely a really important thing, but I think that Garrison Keillor’s emphasis on “The Importance of Being Free and Sharing Love,” can at times be even more important. Perhaps always more importnt (provided we’re talking about agape love and the freedom that we have in Christ).

So therefore, whether I’m just a slimy skinned Brethren (which really means that I'm just a part of a sub-group of what it is for me to actually be a Christian)… or whether I’m just a purebred Christian who has a few Brethren tendencies; I don’t really know (and neither do I really care); but whatever I am, I know that all things are mine, and I am of Christ, and Christ is of God (1 Corinthians 3:21-23). 

 

And that's the main point.       

*Another disclaimer is that for us, the word “church”, when it’s used in this context is also considered kind of like a cuss word because we don’t really think we have the right to consider ourselves the church (we are part of the church, yes, but the church as a whole is everyone who believes in Christ) and so that being the case, we would generally rather use the word “assembly” or “chapel” or something like that haha… I know it’s kind of funny – but we tend to be pretty particular… what can I say?

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Pictures Used:

http://allaboutfrogs.org/weird/general/frogtoad.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther
http://www.inspirationalchristians.org/biography/jim-elliot/
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/joeljmiller/2012/11/giving-thanks-for-c-s-lewis/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garrison_Keillor