“Don’t tell me what to do.”
“Don’t tell me what to think.”
“Don’t tell me what to believe.”
“You have your beliefs, I have mine. And if you don’t believe the way I do … well, you’re wrong!”
These sentiments have grown so strong around the world, people are being killed for not believing the “correct” religious or political doctrine.
Even within Christianity there are divisions among people because of different interpretations of the Bible. These divisions have created over 40,000 different Christian denominations worldwide.
It is a shame there have been so many splits, ultimately caused because one person debates with another about a minor point in the Bible, they cannot agree, and the two part ways.
The devil is in the details. Debates and divisions rage because of minute details.
Take, for example, the debates over the account of creation in the Book of Genesis. Some say everything was created in seven days. (Actually it was six days because God rested on the seventh and didn’t do anything that day.) Some say the story of creation is only a humanistic way of explaining the unexplainable. Some ask which account of creation is the correct one, because there are two in the Bible.
People should not be concerned about such minutiae regarding the account of creation. Such squabbling gets in the way of understanding the underlying truth of what the account is about: God created! Big bang? If so, God lit the match! Six days? God certainly could do it! The truth of the matter is God created! He is the Creator! Period.
Does it ultimately matter how God created, or is it truly enough to know that God did create?
Take a look at the virgin birth. Some say, “Mary was a virgin.” Some say, “Mary was not a virgin. Scientific empirical evidence shows a virgin cannot conceive a child without intercourse.” This debate distracts attention from God’s truth: God came to this earth himself as a human being in the person of Jesus Christ, born through Mary.
Does the debate about Mary’s virginity ultimately matter when it comes to the truth that God came to this earth in Jesus Christ? I think not.
Again, the devil is in the details.
If Christianity is going to survive the continuous attempts to destroy it, we are going to have to set aside human pride and ego — the need to determine whose interpretations are correct and whose are wrong — and simply hold onto, promote, and preserve the truth of the gospel.
God is our Creator. Jesus Christ is our Savior. God’s Holy Spirit is God’s presence and power working in us, through us, and round us in the world. What would happen if all Christians focused on just that for the next 5 years – and not the issues that divide the Body of Christ?
The Rev. Mark Broadhead is Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church and First Presbyterian Church of Crestview’s pastor.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: FROM THE PULPIT: The devil is in the details; focus on the big picture