On Christian Disagreement

‘You can disagree without being disagreeable,’ said Mr Evans, the wisest and gentlest of the elders in the church I attended in my teens. I like to think he was right. I wonder what he would have made of Facebook and Twitter…

Society has lost the ability to respectfully disagree and, unfortunately, Christians are not immune. Culture wars crash through the church doors with debates on immigration, Islam, gender, sexuality, Israel/Palestine, right wing/left wing politics and other such matters. Christians have different views which is not a new thing. There were controversies in the 1^st century and I have found myself reflecting on a couple of passages where Paul attempts to deal with the hot topics of his day.

In 1 Corinthians 8 it seems that there were differing opinions about whether a Christian should eat food that has previously been offered to idols; some members thought this was morally wrong, others reasoned that those ‘gods’ didn’t actually exist and food was just food! In Romans 14 and 15, Paul describes a situation where some members of the church were vegetarian and others ate meat – each was convinced that the other had got it wrong. There was also discussion over sacred days; presumably the Sabbath and Jewish festivals, some felt that these still needed to be observed, others did not.

I think there are some helpful principles in these chapters that apply to our day and our modern controversies:

1.        Accept each other: At the start and end of the discussion in Romans, Paul urges acceptance. ‘Accept the one whose faith is weak without quarrelling over disputable matters’ (14:1) and ‘Accept one another, then as Christ accepted you.’ (15:7) Yes, some members of the church only eat vegetables, perhaps we think of them as being a little weaker because we are free to eat meat but don’t look down on them or judge them, you accept them and love them unconditionally.

2.        Love is more important than knowledge: In 1 Corinthians 8:2 Paul says that ‘knowledge puffs up while love builds up.’ Unfortunately, as in our day, each side of this debate had knowledge, the kind that knows they are right and also knows that the other side is wrong. This is the problem when it comes to these sorts of issues. I get the sense that Paul doesn’t see the eating of ‘idol meat’ as a problem, but he isn’t going to press the issue. It is more important to love as it is love that will build the church up. And as much as we think we have knowledge, only God has all the answers... If both sides can genuinely act in love (and that might be a big 'if') then things will work out.

3.        Let God be the judge: Paul seems to accept that there are different views, these were hard issues and everyone had to do what they believed was right in terms of their personal ethics. In the debate about honouring days he says we should ‘each do what we believe to be right, we should each be fully convinced in our own minds’ (Romans 14:5) Ultimately we all have to answer to God and to our own conscience. So ‘stop passing judgement on one another’ (Romans 14:13)

4.        Behave yourself rather than policing others: Inevitably if we are sure of our views, we will likely have the temptation to share our views and attempt to correct others. Here Paul challenges our priorities. As members of the church our responsibility to support and build up fellow Christians is more important than our right to express our views. Paul warns several times about the dangers of causing other people to stumble even stating that he would avoid eating meat and drinking wine if it caused a problem for his fellow believer (Romans 14:21).  In 1 Corinthians 8:9 he states ‘be careful, however that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak.’  So, I may choose not to eat meat that has previously been sacrificed if that is going to damage the other person’s faith. I will respect rather than asserting my rights and attempting to correct.

5.        It’s all about love and unity: So, we should ‘make up our minds not to put a stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister…. If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love.’ (Romans 14:13,15) Paul urges Christians to unite on the higher things. The things that we are arguing about may or may not matter. Often, they are of some importance but often they are not in the grand scheme of things. Paul brings us back to Jesus and his kingdom, “the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking but justice peace and joy inspired by the Holy Spirit“ (14:17). He tells us not to destroy God‘s work for the sake of food. We might think of modern-day issues where our arguments and divisions are getting in the way of God‘s work.

Finally, since so much of our disagreement is played out publicly in our online forums it might be worth thinking of the effects of our discussions on those outside the Christian faith. In the New Testament new believers were attracted to Christianity by the visible love displayed for others. ‘See how much these people love each other.’ The opposite is also true ‘See how much these people kick lumps out of each other’ is unlikely to be followed by a desire to find out more about following Jesus.

 It is of course possible in theory to have intelligent and respectful disagreement but it’s actually quite rare. It probably needs face to face conversation and the presence of a loving relationship. I’m certain it won’t happen arguing online with strangers. This may mean that there are times when biting our tongue and saying or typing nothing is the correct and loving response. But it may also mean challenging those who revel in stirring disagreement. Paul advises Titus to warn a divisive person twice and then have nothing to do with them. (Titus 3:10) As much as these people have a right to their opinion, they are neglecting their responsibility to build up the wider church. In the digital world, the mute and block buttons are very helpful as a digital way of rejecting such division.