Searching for Meaning and Purpose...

As I talked about the needed unity of essential beliefs, it also means I must think about things that are non-essential that become harmful. Are there things beyond the pale outside of that mission? Absolutely. Sin is always sin and sin leads to eternal death, thus we can never soft pedal that. By the same token, God is God and the entirety of Scripture is meant to show us who He is, what He has done, what He is doing, what He has called us to do, and what is yet to come. In other words, in those beliefs that are so far beyond the pale there cannot be room for wiggle because they remove us from the body of Christ. Paul addressed enough controversies through letters to the new testament churches that we ought to know how to deal with things fairly thoroughly! Fighting through the Gnostics and Judaizers, both of whom added things to salvation, Paul sought to keep the central things the central things and defined our place through Christ and Christ alone. Then we see through church histor...

Most of the time we can clearly identify what is one side of a line and the other. If you watch any football game, the different colored jerseys easily identify which team someone plays for and the line of scrimmage clearly separates the offense from the defense.  When driving, it's essential we stay on our side of the dashed (or solid!) line to avoid maiming or killing ourselves and others. In politics, the letter we associate with clearly defines who we follow and who we shun. Throughout the ages, the Church has defined orthodoxy with a clear line parsing out what we believe and delineating things outside the pale of those beliefs. The growth in creeds is clear from the Apostle's to the Nicene in the simple opening phrases: I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of Heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ His only begotten Son our Lord...     becomes We believe in in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. And in ...