Cheryl Schatz

Paula,

While I do agree that there are times that we must separate for the health of the body, it isn’t because there is no hope, but because of stubbornness and prideful inability to listen (perhaps on both ends).  But underneath it all we are required to love our brothers.

There was a great deal of angry confrontation and inability to get along with the issue of slavery.  Yet as the argument for the abolition of slavery started to receive full acceptance in the church, the body began to mend itself and provide healing.  Ultimately the solution will be love.  The world can separate from each other and hate each other as they separate.  When true believers have an unconditional love for one another yet believe differently about secondary issues of faith, it is a real witness to the world.  It is not our secondary doctrines that will keep our love for each other.  It is our love for the Savior who died for each one of us, that will keep us in a bond of love.  So if we separate, we must learn how to come together again in the gospel.  This is why it is vital that we do not question each other’s Christianity because of the secondary issues of faith.  What will the world of the cults see?  If I am called a “heretic” by some in the evangelical world merely because I affirm women using their God-given gifts for the benefit of all, then how will that help my work with Jehovah’s Witnesses?  Would some feel threatened when I want to share the gospel with a JW when some in the church have called me a heretic?  It is extremely unhelpful to name call and to question the salvation of those who disagree with you on secondary issues of faith.  This hinders the work of the gospel and it may be found to quench the Holy Spirit.  We are united in the gospel.  If we are divided in other things, we need to keep our divisions to ourselves and affirm each other in all of the essentials.  When I ask my brother to affirm me on the essentials of the faith and he refuses because he has called me a heretic on this secondary issue, he now stands against Jesus’ command to love.

Paula, another area that I agree with you is in small groups.  While I really love the church, I love the small groups even more.  In a small group is where we can really get to know one another and where we can all minister to each other.  There is no one person assigned to speak while the others keep silent.  Church was not meant to be a place where we all were silent.  1 Cor. 14 shows the many ways that we can speak out with our gifts and give a word of encouragement to one another.  Surely in this time, we need each other and we can encourage each other.