Uniting all Christians as one body.

[colinlindsay]

Is this really possible?
I submit humbly that the divisions amongst fundamentalist churches is as great if not greater than in other denominations. This is inevitable, surely. After 2000 years of exposition, where there is still disagreement amongst fundamentalists there will be disagreement until the Lord comes back.
A way round this is usually to argue that there are truths we can disagree on and still have fellowship.
However I've seen a web-site challenging bible-believing Christians to prove that there are different categories of truth. Those necessary for Salvation, those necessary for working together and those we can disagree on or hold in tension.
It's not acceptable on this count for a John Macarthur for example to say he's a leaky-dispensationalist. It's not possible for a bible scholar to be leaky.
Other people put the fear into you by saying that the enemy works and achieves his end by insinuating the 5% or 1% or even .1% error in your system.
Is it possible to make any progress towards unity with this burden?

[e=mv^2]

To ahve progress towards unity - unity must be desired. In the case of Fundamentalism vs Rome that unity is not desired. Fundamentalism seperates itself from bad doctrine and does not want to unite with it.

Talking about unity in a seperatist environment is like selling fords at a chevy convention.

Having said that - it is the fundamentalist position that all true belivers are already united in christ and that unity can never be compromised.

Suggested reading:
Chapter 60: The True Church (http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/6528/fund60.htm)

[Albion]

Having said that - it is the fundamentalist position that all true belivers are already united in christ and that unity can never be compromised.



That is a point to be remembered whenever a discussion like this arises.

We are told to be of one accord, but we will never be of one accord in every conceivable doctrinal nuance. And certainly not in organization. That's just the effect of sin upon mankind.

The Fundamentalist movement called every believer to at least: 1) recognize the non-negotiable essentials, and 2) to realize unity as you wrote about it above. The key is to stop eating our insides out and pointing fingers because of the non-essentials.

[e=mv^2]

The Fundamentalist movement called every believer to at least: 1) recognize the non-negotiable essentials, and 2) to realize unity as you wrote about it above. The key is to stop eating our insides out and pointing fingers because of the non-essentials.
And this my friend is the exact reason that I identify myself with the movement.

Issues like communion wafers turning into the body or is the body in around and under of is it symbolic - My answer - I do not know. I also do not think that I have to know. It is not something that I am going to get upset over and tell someone that they are not saved over.

It also means that when there is doctrinal error that is pertinent to the foundation of our faith we can more easily identify it and we have an infallible source with which to correct it.

When we got too concerned with the small stuff it is easier for the enemy to sneak in something really bad on us.

[jlujan69]

I tend to look at the unity issue as one big family (the essentials) who happen to have differing opinions on many things (the non-essentials). I don't have to like my siblings, but I am called to love them in the Lord. Growing up, I may not have liked my sister very much, but when someone was bullying her, guess who was the first one to jump to her defense? If we were living under the same roof, she'd still get on my nerves ('cos big brother is always right), but we're still family. It's the same with the church. The only difference is that they must be blood-bought brothers, not step-brothers.

[mark kennedy]

For one thing there is no need to unite Christians since the Scriptures make the exortation to maintain the unity of all believers. For another thing our unity is based on the love that binds all things together in perfect unity and the mark of disciples has allways been love one for another. Division exists and I know all too well that it is easy to contibute to contentious issues. I have total confidence that there is one church, one body, one faith and one Lord overall. These are pretty basic things, fundamentalists like us do well to emphasis them.