{"id":171,"date":"2004-07-16T23:50:11","date_gmt":"2004-07-16T23:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2004\/07\/questions_on_fu_1.shtml"},"modified":"2021-05-29T02:48:43","modified_gmt":"2021-05-29T02:48:43","slug":"questions_on_fu_1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2004\/07\/questions_on_fu_1.shtml","title":{"rendered":"Questions on Fundamentals II"},"content":{"rendered":"

Part two of my response to VirusDoc’s questions in the comments here<\/a>. I’ll attempt to tackle questions 1 – 3 because they kind of go together:
\n1) Why do you feel so strongly that Christianity needs *a* definition instead of *many* definitions? Is there evidence within the life or teachings of Christ for such a demand? <\/b>
\nWell, I think that there is one small core set of fundamentals that define Christianity and that there can only be one set. If it has many definitions or sets of core teachings, how can it be one? How can several groups or people claim Christ and follow different fundamental beliefs?
\nThat said, I think there are also many means of living beyond that core. Much like a tree grows up from a common trunk and spreads in many directions so does Christianity. Paul spoke of that when he spoke of our many gifts (1 Cor. 12) and different roles (Eph. 4:11-13) but in each passage he speaks of that diversity in the context of unity. It is not an either\/or proposition, there must be both. In that same chapter of Ephesians he also speaks of the importance of unity:<\/p>\n

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit–just as you were called to one hope when you were called– one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. – Ephesians 4:4-6<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/i> Paul’s comparison of the church to the body in 1 Cor. 12 is a great example of diversity from unity. We all recognize a hand or foot as human, a part of the body. However, if a man came to you and had the hand of a baboon or a hoof of a donkey, you’d immediately recognize something was wrong. It was a hand and foot, but not a human hand and foot. I think the same can be said for Christianity. It ought to be recognizable when something is similar but doesn’t belong.
\nAs far as the teachings of Jesus, yes I think there are several:
\nJohn 4:16 – No one gets to God except through Jesus.
\nMatthew 7:13-14 – The narrow road implies a precise definition.
\nJohn 17:11, 20-21 – Jesus prays that we may be a united as He and God are. Can you imagine them disagreeing on fundamentals (or anything for that matter)?
\nOther parts of scripture, some outlined above, teach of the importance of unity. 1 Cor. 1:10 even says that we should ‘be perfectly united in mind and thought.’ Unity is a big deal in the NT.
\n2) Do you think it is possible that the diversity within Christianity is something God intended? <\/b>
\nAbsolutely. See 1 Cor. 12 again.
\n3) In your opinion, where does diversity become disunity (not doctrinally, but practically speaking)?<\/b>
\nI’m not sure about that one. I think that this is one of the reasons that defining the core is so important. After all, if everything<\/i> is fundamental, then nothing truly is. The question then becomes is the disagreement or diversity a violation of any of the core of the faith? If so then I think the line has been crossed.
\nI think that identifying disunity or divisiveness is something we must approach with caution. It’s far too easy to become the dividing force ourselves<\/i> by pointing our fingers at others and calling them<\/i> divisive. Suddenly it is we who are drawing lines in the sand and saying who’s in or out based on our own whims not on scripture. I think that’s why keeping this core value set small and clearly defined is important as well. If we’re to draw lines in the sand, we must do everything we can to draw them only where God would and nowhere else.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Part two of my response to VirusDoc’s questions in the comments here. I’ll attempt to tackle questions 1 – 3 because they kind of go together: 1) Why do youRead More Questions on Fundamentals II<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nQuestions on Fundamentals II - salguod.net<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2004\/07\/questions_on_fu_1.shtml\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Questions on Fundamentals II - salguod.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Part two of my response to VirusDoc’s questions in the comments here. 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Reading back over my two posts and the associated comments, I've realized that I have some explaining to do. First is to give some back ground on why I feel the need to explore this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "God and Church"","block_context":{"text":"God and Church","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/god-and-church"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":106,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2004\/03\/bible_vs_tradit.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":171,"position":1},"title":"Bible vs. Tradition","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"March 11, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Let me start here by saying that \"Bible vs. Tradition\" isn't a good title. Perhaps I'll come up with something better before I'm done typing, but if not, I'm sorry. :-) Virusdoc has once again dragged me into a Catholic or Prodestant debate today. Try as I may to fight\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "God and Church"","block_context":{"text":"God and Church","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/god-and-church"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":247,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2005\/01\/the_truth_about.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":171,"position":2},"title":"The Truth About Western Christianity","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"January 10, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Please, go read this article at Christianity Today. (Thanks to Daniel at Alien Soil for the link.) It's a powerful expose on modern western Christianity. Ronald J. Sider does an excelent job pointing out the hypocracy of what is called Christianity in the US today. Quoting many polls and other\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "God and Church"","block_context":{"text":"God and Church","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/god-and-church"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":168,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2004\/07\/what_have_i_got.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":171,"position":3},"title":"What Have I Gotten Myself Into?","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"July 11, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Look at the callender in the upper right corner and you'll see that it's been a bit sparse around here lately. Frankly, a big part of me didn't want to sit down and write this tonight. Partly out of obligation to the 2-3 readers I have* and partly because I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "God and Church"","block_context":{"text":"God and Church","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/god-and-church"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1033,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2010\/05\/morality_is_not_the_baseline.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":171,"position":4},"title":"Morality Is Not The Baseline","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"May 18, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Jared Wilson once again skewers the idea that the aim of Christianity is to produce good people, or better people. The bottom line is lots of folks do good stuff and are 'good' by any worldly standard and do so with no help at all from any church or from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "BlogWalking"","block_context":{"text":"BlogWalking","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/blogwalking"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":123,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2004\/04\/crash_helmet_ch.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":171,"position":5},"title":"Crash Helmet Christianity","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"April 14, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Why do I feel as though I just stepped into a bunch of quicksand? Another post that got me thinking about the idea of fundamentals was this one by didymus I 'met' didymus at Infellowship. He also came from the ICoC, but no longer worships with an ICoC church. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "God and Church"","block_context":{"text":"God and Church","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/god-and-church"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2100,"href":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171\/revisions\/2100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}