Phil4:2 I plead with Euodia and Syntyche to have the same mind in the Lord….Part 1
I have been wanting to write my plea for a long time but hesitate as to whether it was worth it. I was provoked when I saw what was written about the churches of Christ in Wikipedia. If you go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Christ, you will find our dirty linen publicly displayed. How could a group of people who aspire “to speak where the bible speak and be silent when the bible is silent” split itself into so many fragments? It is true that Wikipedia may not have good quality control of its content but for those who have been in the church long enough, the issues listed resonate with bad feelings.
I am writing from my personal perspective. I have my prejudice as well. I write not to seek your agreement on what the solution is but pleading to all to fast and pray for clean hearts starting with your own. Maybe with pure hearts, we can start the journey of building one-ness among ourselves for the next generation. We have in our own ways, by our actions or negligence contributed to the current state of disunity among the sister churches in particular in Malaysia and Singapore.
My journey started when I was a student in Muar, Johor. I came from a Catholic school and was blessed with a primary school teacher who told Bible stories during “Story Time” class. When I grew older I often wondered why there were so many denominations. In my High School, a sister who was my senior invited my classmate to the church of Christ. I went instead of him because I was curious about their claim “speak where the bible speak, be silent when the bible is silent”. I was baptised in 1978, in a muddy pond in Tanjung Muar, near the river mouth. The brother who baptised me is now in JB. Another brother who gave me my first bible became a Muslim after a split over “the One Cup” doctrine! This was the first of many splits I have heard of.
After my HSC, I came to Singapore to further my studies in the University. Prior to my coming I was warned not to go to a ‘liberal’ church, Queenstown church of Christ. I went to Moulmein instead for a first visit. On my way home after church my bus passed by YWCA where I noticed a church of Christ banner. I visited that church and realised it was the Queenstown church in Havelock Road. What was so liberal about this church? I checked and studied and found nothing amiss. I stayed for close to 25 years. The folks who told me that this church was liberal had themselves not visited and confirmed their slander. This very spirit is still around perpetuating its venom.
We do have a noble aim of wanting to be true to the purity of the scripture. We are taught that denominationlism is sinful because it is divisive. We want to restore what was broken. In the process, is our righteous attempt equally “filter rags” ( Isa. 64:6)?
Let me share my thoughts of the sad state from my prejudiced point of view in subsequent entries. In the meantime, I plead with the sister churches to have the same mind in the Lord
James
Add comment October 28th, 2006
