I’ve been enjoying my new friend Marcus. He makes me think. We love the Lord, we are growing in our love for Shop Fix Academy and we do love discussing our religious backgrounds.
Let’s just say we share a lot in common in our backgrounds but also retain a very localized perspective on church–we have similar perspectives on the World and our place in it and our interaction with it. We have differing views on which direction a church should take–toward structure or away from it. Of course, much of that is based on where we believe our church’s strengths and weaknesses are currently.
He gave me a nugget to chew on that I just can’t get out of my mind. He said, ‘every church group that I have been a part of, and really every one of us (who take serving God seriously, I might add) wants to make a little more ample pledge, like Tertullian did with the three baptisms, and so we come up with brotherhood agreements.
The “little more ample pledge” is just a zinger, kind of like that Raspberry zinger tea that I don’t particularly care for, but it sure does get my attention.
Marcus goes on to quote from Revelation 22:11 and adds his own little twist–“and let him that is full of division be divisive still…”
As if that wasn’t convincing enough, he tells me…”we practiced brotherhood agreements to avoid embarrassment that comes when a member is out of line. Instead of bearing one another’s infirmities, and yes, being embarrassed by each other at times, and as the scriptures say, not to please ourselves but let ourselves be disappointed and ashamed when others go astray in our midst, we would shun and excommunicate and maybe even make the standard stricter so that everyone in the world would clearly know that we were no friend of that erring one.
What do you think? The ‘more ample pledge’ to prove to the Lord we love Him seems foolish when examined closely. I admit to thinking this way with certain actions or behaviors and see this in others. But, I need help seeing this in me today–can you point out some ways I’m falling into this ‘more ample pledge’ trap?