Disunity in Christ Ch. 8 and 9

Chapters 8 and 9 deal with different conflicts in the church such as unity and disunity among different cultural groups and different denominations. Cleveland points out many differences however, the main idea of chapter 8 is that it is ok to have different religious views even within the same denomination. One scholar pointed out that none of us are God so we do not know exactly what is right or wrong in his eyes making it harder to know exactly how to treat each situation. Some Christians are more reserved and focus on individual Christian values while others find it more important to focus on unity amongst the entire collective church. In reality, both are important and feed off each other to help us grow in our faith and further the kingdom.
Chapter 9 deals with unity among different ethnic groups and cultures. Often times we get caught up in disliking other groups simply because they are different then us but cleveland makes an emphasis on coming together to serve one specific purpose and how boundaries can be eliminated by doing this.
I really liked in chapter 8 how she mentions that there is no right or wrong way to serve. We all have our own preferences and as long as we are honoring to God should stick to them in order to further our faith. We should stick to the ideas shown to us in the bible as closely as possible because he has given us the bible as a tool for how to live our lives. I think it is most important that we focus on our own personal faith and relationship before we are concerned with the entire church. If we can all figure out our own relationships with Christ, he will give us the power to act rationally and make good decisions for the whole worldwide church.
I agree completely with chapter 9 and the idea that we should come together as different cultural groups and work towards a common goal. Just like the example she used in relating the rival High schools coming together to form one competitive team, we as Christians need to erase the boundaries that we put up based on different lifestyles and come together to worship as one Christian body. There is power in numbers and if we quit the bickering among denominations and join together we could do great things to further the kingdom.

Comments

  1. AnikaNovember 13, 2019 at 12:31 PM

    I appreciate your emphasis on the need, importance, and validity of differing views within the church. I know that in my own life, many of my friends have different personalities than me and they've had different life experiences. When I need to make an important decision, I gain a lot from these friends who are different than me, because they bring up concerns and comments that I would never have thought of. In the same way, different people with different perspectives within the church are going to highlight different characteristics of God. In this way, we as a body know God better when we share our different views and experiences. You said that you think one's personal faith is the most important. I wasn't sure if Cleveland was challenging this view in the book. Do you feel like she was?

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