Craig Cottongim: What if we as believers could all just get along

Thankfully not all churches are territorial, yet the devil is, I imagine, awfully delighted whenever we allow our doctrinal differences to divide us. Does doctrine matter? Absolutely. But just think of what we could accomplish for God if we looked past the pride and smugness of those Bible-believing brethren down the pew or down the road who disregard our perfect interpretation of the Bible and what if we chose to cooperate instead of debate? Like leftovers forgotten deep in the back of the fridge, somehow we've overlooked this: As followers of Jesus we are only Christians, but we are not the only Christians. Instead, to "prove" our authenticity what we've settled for is bickering about form over function, perpetuated infighting by pitting traditional and contemporary folks against each other over worship styles, arguing over which is the authorized translation of the Bible, fighting over whether God finished creation in six literal days and rested on the seventh or took millions of years, squabbling over women's roles, quarreling about the role of the Holy Spirit, clashing over the name over the door, and of course locking horns over our favorite hobbyhorse theological preferences like our battle royales concerning pre-post-amillennialism/endtimes. Instead of contending for the faith, we've become contentious about the faith. Not so with Jesus, He said there was one way the world could spot an authentic Christian if they ever chanced upon one, "(34) A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. (35) By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34-35 ESV) But shouldn't we correct them for their own good? "(38) John said to him, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us." (39) But Jesus said, "Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. (40) For the one who is not against us is for us." (Mark 9:38-40) In what amounts to pettifogging, our antagonistic approach is counterproductive — we're losing the lost and we are not winning the won with our argumentative, arrogant, judgmental attitudes and our habit of labeling and insulting each other. Like an undertaker in a spaghetti Western sizing up the doomed gunfighter with his cloth tape measure as the gunslinger saunters out the saloon's swinging doors, Americans are unsuspectingly passing through the same portal as Europe, once a stronghold of faith but now they are nearly completely secular. While not all, many have traded in the Kingdom of Christ for conflict and chaos — you can either row the boat or rock the boat, but you can't do both at the same time. Rodney King famously asked after the 1991 race riots, "Can't we all get along…?" Well, what if we as believers could… just get along? Craig Cottongim is the minister at New Song Church in Kingsport. Email him at craigcottongim@gmail.com.