I'm taking my ball and going home!

Lately I've been thinking about how much we "Christians" argue over things. You can open up a can of worms just by the mention of a few words...gifts of the spirit, women in ministry, when is Jesus coming back, is the King James the only translation? I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture. Why do we focus on these things that are "hot potatoes" instead of thinking about things that really matter in the end...things like loving God and loving your neighbor (even if you don't agree with each other).

We've disagreed so much and over so many things that we've just created a new denonimation every time we hear something that doesn't tickle our ears.

There's the Southern Baptists, Independent Baptists, Primitive Baptists, Free Will Baptists, Grace Missionary Baptists, PCA Presbyterians, USA Presbyterians, Reformed Presbyterians, Methodists, United Methodists, Church of God, Church of Christ, Oneness Pentecostals, Pentecostals, "Celebrity Pastor" churches, Assemblies of God, Foursquare, "Non"-denominationals, Interdenominationals, Word of Faith, Episcopals, Lutherans, Missionary Alliance, and more I haven't even mentioned.

Why? Because every time we have disagreed with each other we just say, "Hmmph, I'm taking my ball and going home!" Then a month later we're a block down the street with a new church operating our style.

I live in the South (you know how it goes, "If this is the Bible belt, then our church is the buckle!"), and we have a LOT of churches here. We definitely can't say that the reason there are so many churches is for the sake of convenience and saving gas on a commute. The average person, on their average drive to church, has to pass 3, 5, 10 or more churches on the way to the one they feel most comfortable associating with, probably passing by some of the same denomination. All the while, thinking smugly to themselves, "Yep, I'm glad I'm not a member at that place. Do you know they have communion every week?"...or, "Can you believe that church allows drums and an electric guitar to be played during the service?"...or, "Boy, I'd be bored stiff if I had to sit through that meeting."

What we end up doing is browsing through the buffet of churches and picking the one that makes us most happy. "I like their music style." "I like the pastor." "I like the childrens ministry." "I like the way they dress." "I like their style of preaching." Then we become members and associate with our group of people who also chose this church because of the things they liked about it... after all, we're sure to get along if we all chose the same church. ;)

Another thing I don't like about this is the way we use it to gauge each other's spirituality. "Where do you worship on Sundays?" Then, based on the response, we can easily put that person into a neat little box and sum up who they are because, after all, they attend the _____ church (fill in the blank with anything other than your own denomination). I can just brush aside anything this person says because they have been influenced, deceived or not enlightened enough.

I've personally been worn down by all of this competition and naval gazing behavior. While we are caught up arguing over every jot and tittle, the world is paying attention. Instead of being known for our love for each other, we're known as hypocritical, judgmental and arrogant. Is this really the message we want to convey? Are these really the attitudes that will bring glory to God?