Sloganized Christianity: Part 1 - Doctrine Divides

There are a great many naïve Christian slogans floating in the air, and I’m quite certain it is a solely western phenomenon. I doubt the underground church in China uses slogans like the ones we have got. They do not have the luxury of being naïve; they have too much at stake. I mean popular phrases like, “Love unites; doctrine divides”, “Don’t judge, lest you be judged!”, and “Christianity isn’t a religion; it’s a relationship.” All of these phrases emerge out of some valid concern; they’re all used by well-meaning persons. The trouble is that, like most reactions, they go too far.

Of the three phrases I have listed, the first is downright dangerous, the second is merely an honest mistake, and the third phrase makes us look ignorant and is potentially misleading in several ways.

Love unites; doctrine divides! That sounds awfully nice, but is rather silly. If you were paying attention, you noticed that “love unites; doctrine divides” is itself a doctrine. To put it another way, this slogan is saying “Love unites, but rules about what to believe are divisive.” But this is absurd; this slogan is also giving you a rule about what to believe: that love unites and that doctrine divides.

What persons usually mean (I hope) when they say that “love unites, but doctrine divides,” is that there are some doctrines which are not salvific ones, but which are often enough to divide Christians. I mean doctrines like those of baptism—do we immerse or pour? Or questions of the gifts of the spirit—are cessationists right, or is it the continuationists who are right? To be wrong on questions like these is not to be a mortal heretic.

The trouble is that when we say that doctrine divides, it implies that doctrine is either bad or unimportant. But every theological question is important, because every question is a question about God, and God is infinitely important.

How is every theological question a question about God? All theological questions can be classed as questions about God’s nature, God’s wishes, and God’s acts. But God acts and wishes only according to His nature. So even questions like “What is man?” can be understood in terms of God’s nature. (God created man in His own image and created man good, according to His nature. Man did not obey the wishes of God, and found himself at enmity with God, etc.)

Doctrines ultimately unite. We may disagree over doctrines, and that is magnificent, because it means we must respect each other enough to disagree. G. K. Chesterton writes that “creeds are always in collision. Believers bump into each other; whereas bigots keep out of each others’ way.”* Our disagreements force us to become better listeners, to practice love, to always be reexamining our convictions. If we ignore our disagreements, we do so by ceasing to listen, by loving only those who refuse to anger us, and by hiding our convictions under a smug blanket of cold tolerance.

Yes, love also unites; it is like string, or bandages. But doctrine is cement. Doctrine is the reason the universal Church exists as a universal Church. It is because we share the fundamental doctrines of Christianity that we are brothers and sisters in Christ. It is because of the doctrines of love that we understand our need to love.

*What's Wrong with the World, I.3 -- G.K. Chesterton.


Read Part 2: Don't Judge!
Read Part 3: A Relationship, Not a Religion