Do We Have to Agree About Everything to Have Unity?
Can two walk together, unless they are agreed? Amos 3:3 NKJV
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Amos asks how two people can walk together unless they are agreed. Does this mean they have to agree about everything in order to walk together? I think the New Living Translation helps to clarify the question:
Can two people walk together without agreeing on the direction? Amos 3:3 NLT
The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary supports the NLT by saying the meaning of this text is, “How can two walk together unless they have a common purpose?” 1 You don’t have to agree upon every little thing in order to go in the same direction. I have traveled with friends who, when we stop to eat choose a different restaurant than I want. I go to one, while they go to the one next-door. We eat, get back in the car and continue our journey in the same direction.
I have shared this passage a few times before:
In Wesley’s time, as in all ages of the church’s history, men of different gifts performed their appointed work. They did not harmonize upon every point of doctrine, but all were moved by the Spirit of God, and united in the absorbing aim to win souls to Christ.–Ellen White, Great Controversy, page 258.
We talk about how we need to study the Bible with an open mind. Well, I believe we need to study The Great Controversy with an open mind as well. Many staunch Adventists talk like the book is all about proving which day is the real Sabbath. Of course that becomes clear in the book, but one major theme I see in The Great Controversy is that we should all worship according to our own convictions and none should force others to believe just like them or just like us. I have talked with several Adventists in the past, who would dispute this passage, because they strongly believe that if you are led by the Holy Spirit you will think exactly like they do. They are mystified by the idea in this passage that two people can be led by the same Holy Spirit without totally agreeing on every point of doctrine. Yet I believe inspiration is telling us that people can be led by the Holy Spirit without being carbon copies of us!
Here is another passage from Great Controversy, which I believe contains a very strong warning to Seventh-day Adventists.
Yet honest and God-fearing as they were, the Pilgrims did not yet comprehend the great principle of religious toleration. The freedom which they sacrificed so much to secure for themselves, they were not equally ready to grant to others. “Very few, even of the foremost thinkers and moralists of the seventeenth century, had any just conception of that grand principle, the outgrowth of the New Testament, which acknowledges God as the sole judge of human faith.” The doctrine that God has committed to the church the right to control the conscience, and to define and punish heresy, is one of the most deeply rooted of papal errors. –Ellen White, Great Controversy, Page 292
I have encountered Seventh-day Adventists who were just as papal as the papacy. When we try to dictate what others believe or exactly how they worship, are we not imitating the papacy? Again, a major theme I find in the Great Controversy is that everyone should worship according to their conscience, and that includes people who don’t agree with us.
Tolerance for different opinions is not just something Ellen White preached. She also practiced tolerance in her own home.
We must remember that there are a great many different minds in the world, and we cannot expect everyone to see exactly as we do in regard to all questions of diet. Minds do not run in exactly the same channel. I do not eat butter, but there are members of my family who do. It is not placed on my table; but I make no disturbance because some members of my family choose to eat it occasionally. Many of our conscientious brethren have butter on their tables, and I feel under no obligation to force them to do otherwise. These things should never be allowed to cause disturbance among brethren. I cannot see the need of butter where there is an abundance of fruit and of sterilized cream. Those who love and serve God should be allowed to follow their own convictions. We may not feel justified in doing as they do, but we should not allow differences of opinion to create disunion. May the Lord help us to be as firm as a rock to the principles of the law spoken from Sinai, and may He help us not to allow differences of opinion to be a barrier between us and our brethren.-Ellen White, Counsels on Diets and Foods, Page 269
Now butter may not be a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but what I truly appreciate in this passage is how Ellen White recognizes that people who do not see things her way are still her “conscientious brethren.” She does not question the hearts of people who disagree with her. This is in contrast to a discussion I once had with a brother who told me I would see things his way, “once I get closer to Jesus.” Ellen White recognized you can be close to Jesus without thinking exactly like her!
Amos 3:3 says we should all be heading the same direction, but that does not mean we have to agree on every little thing. We don’t have to start a new church or denomination every time we have a difference of opinion.
I once worked in an area that had one main church. It seemed perfectly balanced to me. A leader in the church had some evangelistic meetings which spawned a new church plant. The church plant was more liberal than the main church, so all the liberal members of the main church joined the new church plant. This left only conservative members in the main church. Suddenly in my opinion, the church plant became too liberal and the main church became too conservative. I thought it was much better when the liberals and conservatives went to the same church, because together they kept the church balanced. Now neither church seemed balanced, as far as I could see.
When we surround ourselves only with people who think exactly like us, our thinking becomes skewed!
Of course there needs to be a balance between tolerance for other opinions and letting every wind of doctrine freely blow through the church.
How tolerant should we be of other people’s opinions in the church?
What example did Jesus give us for tolerance within the church?
How do we decide which doctrines are worth splitting the church over, and which ones we should just show tolerance?
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