Causing Divisions

April 13, 2009

Today's Reading: Joshua 19-20 and Romans 16

This is one of those days where it was really hard to find something to write about. I mean, the Joshua reading was all about dividing out borders. Then the last part of Romans was Paul asking people to greet other people. It was like he was giving a speech for the Oscars, but he didn’t thank the Academy.

Of course, he does say something about the people who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching that we learned. In all honesty, I don’t really know many people who wake up every day and say: “Today, I’m going to cause division in the church”.

No, just like a lot of things that we do in life it starts subtly and ends up becoming a lifestyle. Chances are, those people who end up dividing churches or putting obstacles probably think that they are totally doing God’s will. These are the people you really got to look out for. Man, these people will continually go against God’s will and never quit because they believe they are doing God’s will.

I remember when I was first going to the church that I go to, and a lot of people that I met said it was a cult. They were wrong, and they will never know that they were.

Has anyone ever been involved in a church split? I never have. I remember one speaker who once said: “When a church of 1,000 people splits up, you don’t get two churches of 500. You get 100 people who go one way, 100 who go the other way, and 800 who say ‘if that’s what church is like, then I’ll go my way.’”

I once heard a story of church that split up over a picture of Adam. Apparently, the artist didn’t want to put the fig leaves higher and conceal his navel, but it caused a major split. Yeah, I’m sure you have heard this story before. One version I heard had one side coming to the church with a chainsaw and taking their half, by force.

I don’t even know if this story is true. I’m sure there are a lot of stories going around pulpits everywhere that are completely false.

The question remains, should I start a church that doesn’t teach dumb stories? Sometimes I worry that this blog will teach division and obstacles. If this is the case, then I would like stop it. If anyone has stumbled because of me, let me know.