Different beliefs and interpretations are GOOD!
Allright, I know that this is going to be incredibly controversial, but I'm saying it anyway. So, I know that it's viewed as a bad thing that there are so many denominations and sects of the Christian church, but I don't think it's necessarily so bad. Now, the infighting and fighting with other groups is bad, but just the act of having so many is not. Here's why. The Bible can be interpreted in many ways. Why is that? Because God made it so that we NEED to have different beliefs on what certain scriptures say to help us grow closer to Him. How boring would it be if we all had the same needs! Now, here's where I'm really going to get controversial. Arminianism vs. Calvinism. Look, I know many reading this probably have extremely strong beliefs on this, but how is it that several people can interpret the hotly debated verses and be so confident in their interpretation? Is it truly that they're such sin-filled heretics that are fooling themselves, or is it that the Bible was purposely written in such a way that God could use different interpretations to help mold His children? Let me give an example. Let's say there's two Christians, one is John, and he's a Calvinist and then there's Sally, a Arminian. John may need to really focus in on God's sovereignty and grace so that when he screws up he's not backsliding in his faith, and thus Calvinism is what's good for him. On the other hand, Sally may not need that assurance and instead needs to feel prodded to actually act out her faith instead of living in a lukewarm state, and thus Arminianism is good for her. So, all this to say, the different beliefs are not bad, the other person is not an idiot for believing what they believe. They are believing what is necessary for them to grow in their faith, unless it's something that affects their justification which is attained by repentance and confession. So, yeah, can we please stop fighting and attacking others for believing differently? It's not helpful and could actually prevent others from growing if forced to believe exactly as you believe, because you likely have different spiritual needs.
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