This morning I rush and will keep it short. Yesterday ended up being a day that was fully unproductive yet very busy. Today I will be busy, but being very productive is on the forefront. A blog is still called for as I desire to develop this habit.

Why are there so many differences of opinion in the Christian faith? What makes MacAurther more right than Haggie? Piper than Olsteen, Sproul than VanImpe, etc.? The reason for this question is that it has been encountered when conversing with individuals who reject church. They are people who refuse to participate with the body in weekly activities yet consider their relationship with God as good as without being a part of the body. I believe the Scriptures say multiple things against such an untenable position.

The reason for this question is not to point out the flimsy arguments that are brought or point out their need as confessing evangelicals to be involved in the body of Christ. My purpose here is also not to argue concerning individual confessors need to be a physical part of the body because they are a spiritual part of the body if they are genuinely in Christ. I really want to know why there is such division among the church? It is also a reasonable question to ask if there are as many that are part of the church as we might thing or that might confess? Maybe the church is not made up of as many "churches" as we want to claim.

C.S. Lewis (whom everyone likes to quote so why should I be any different?), has some keen insight to this problem of division and schism amongst believers. "We have all departed from the total plan in different ways, and each of us wants to make out that his own modification of the original plan is the plan itself. You will find this again and again about anything that is really Christian: everyone is attracted by bits of it and wants to pick out those bits and leave the rest. That is why we do not get much further: and that is why people who are fighting for quite opposite things can both say that they are fighting for Christianity." (Mere Christianity, p. 85)

Is this why there is so much division? Am I or is my tradition and group departed and fighting for only a partial truth and not the whole? Do we think that our plan is the plan? Do we act as though we have the corner on truth? I don't believe that we fail in such a manner, but self examination individually and corporately is very necessary. If we don't examine ourselves to see if we are part of the genuine faith then we fail.

Why are we so divided? It comes down to our wants, our sinful desires. One can know the truth but it is often obscured by the many voices and faces of "Evangelical Christianity". Those whom I speak, who ask the question about what makes Piper right and Olsteen wrong need to see this and understand; divisions, fights, and quarreling stem from our sinful desire (James 4:1ff). They also need to understand that the measure of orthodoxy is ones devotion to the source that reveals not only who God is but what He requires of us. Absolutes exist, the truth is real, and quieting the voices of descent will not come through arguments. WE must faithfully preach the Word, all of the Word, nothing but the Word, so help us God! Then we shall overcome the great chasms of unbelief.

Though my argument is complete and laden with holes I would like to hear some expansion upon these question. Or some feed back to help further a better understanding of these ideas.