WE ALL HAVE DIFFERENT VIEWS!

WE ALL HAVE DIFFERENT VIEWS!

One thing we should learn early on as Christians is that no other Christian shall agree with us on everything in life. I doubt if you can find two people on earth that will be in total harmony and agreement about everything in life. Yes, we will often have different views about many things. How we deal with and adjust to these differences will define who we are and our peace and happiness in life.

If we cannot face the reality that others will have their different views from ours about things then we shall find a life of frustration and turmoil. We have to learn to respect the differences that make up humanity. It is up to you.

I have found that I alone must determine my destiny. I must study and learn and draw those conclusions that are just and right. I can only do the best I know how to do. I must follow the light wherever it leads me. God made me as an individual and has work for me to do. Others may or may not understand that. My life is not to be determined by what others like or do not like. My pleasure is that of God!

Once you make peace with who you are and what you believe then the ideals and beliefs of others are no threat to you whatsoever. You listen to others, ask questions, think, and seek to learn what you can from the wisdom and experiences of others. However, their conflicting ideals do not rock your boat. You are at peace and have confidence in who you are.

Sadly, many in churches of Christ are not comfortable with what I have written here. They feel it is their task to be the thought police and to force others to conform to their way of thinking and if not it is their job to persecute and run such out of the church. If nothing else, it is their task to so intimidate others that they are pushed into absolute silence and will never say a word of disagreement with these "thought police." The "thought police" call this and that 'SOUND DOCTRINE" and they determine who is the "SOUND PREACHER" and who is not. More and more I find all such "thought police" sickening. At the end of the day they do much more harm than good. As their power grows and grows the more they shut out, offend, and drive away. The church declines and people wonder why. Amazing.

For me as a Christian, I believe in God, I believe in the Bible as God's Word. I believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and my Lord and Savior. I believe that all sinners should submit to the NEW BIRTH as taught in John 3:1ff and WALK WITH GOD. No human will ever experience absolute perfection in morality or doctrine. Everyone will be wrong about some things and make mistakes. If everything was known about everyone; their thoughts, ideas, and their actions we might all see more clearly the frailty of humans and their sinfulness and then we might be more humble and tolerant of each other.

I can be a FAITHFUL CHRISTIAN and not agree with you. You can be a FAITHFUL CHRISTIAN and not agree with me. In the end it is God that determines what is faithful and what is not faithful and He is the final Judge. He has not given His role to any of the "DOCTRINAL AND THOUGHT POLICE" of our day. After years of persecution there came a Casesar Constantine in the early 4th Century and he made peace with the Christians. Soon the "DOCTRINAL AND THOUGHT POLICE" in the church of that time came to Caesar. They demanded power to torture and kill those in the church that did not agree with these "Church Men of Power". Gibbon says in THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE that these "THOUGHT POLICE" killed more Christians than the Romans ever dreamed of killing. I sometimes wonder if some today would like such power again to persecute and destroy those that do not bow to them?

If we as CHURCHES OF CHRIST cannot learn this, then more and more of our congregations will see" For Sale" signs in the front of their Church buildings. More and more congregations will decline. I can see now on the top of the roofs of these buildings the last holdouts saying, "WE ARE RIGHT, WE ARE THE ONLY ONES RIGHT; WE ARE FAITHFUL, WE ARE THE ONLY ONES FAITHFUL, AND WE WILL GO DOWN WITH THE SHIP." Shameful and so very sad. What more can be said? Yet, the glorious Church that belongs to God shall march on through history doing and being what God alone determines. At judgment we might be very surprised as to what is right and what is wrong.
  
So, have your opinions and beliefs but know others will not agree. It is life. Grow up. Face the reality. Get over it. Every human has the freedom to think, dream, and follow their path. Though many in churches of Christ deny such, I affirm without shame that we are saved by the GRACE OF GOD (Eph. 2:8-10). Yes, we are to seek God and obey God but in the end it is by His glorious Grace that we are saved. No one shall live a completely and totally PERFECT LIFE. HIS GRACE SAVES! Otherwise, no one is saved. In the end, all who are saved can shout the words of the old song, "AMAZING GRACE! HOW SWEET THE SOUND, THAT SAVED A WRETCH LIKE ME!"

*Allen Ashlock, 2014