I was reading Philippians 2 last night at our gathering and something jumped out at me that I hadn't really noticed before. In the NLT it reads in vs 2 "Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one heart and purpose."
Then the phrase came to me from times past 'it's ok to agree to disagree'. . . Paul, here in Philippians, was trying to get the people to unite and stop arguing, it displeased him and obviously it seems to not be the ideal reflection of the body of Christ. After all Jesus says in John 15 I think, something like, my desire is that they (the disciples / followers) would be one as we (Father, Son and Holy Spirit)are one. Because of this verse in Philippians i'm now questioning that phrase, agreeing to disagree, i think it may be a cop-out. I have seen the destruction of disagreeance and from that, disharmony and then the destruction of relationships. On the other hand I have seen what it is like to be a part of a community that agree with each other in heart and purpose. The harmony the relationship, the fact that you can move on as a group and not be just putting out spotfires of disagreeance etc. Does this mean that in everything about life the community need to agree? Well I reckon that could be boring, maybe robotic, maybe cultish. On the core parts of that community though, maybe to agree to disagree isn't good enough. Maybe it should be worked out until agreeance has been settled? Let's face it if this Tiger and this man can agree not to kill each other, maybe we could learn to try and agree on less important things and move forward in love and harmony?
Monday, June 30, 2008
Agree to Disagree??
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4 comments:
I think the oneness relates to love. To suggest we shouldn't have different opinions would be to suggest we are all the same. Our common ground is the Love that bonds us by Spirit. From there, churches form visions. Some people support them and others undermine them. Certainly if you are going to align with a church, visions should be created collaboratively so as division does not occur.
Good thoughts.
Romans 14.5 "One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind"
so obviously we can have different views.
Yep, I agree with both of you there. The love one is interesting though. I could love someone and still not be at one with them. Eg I could love my family but that doesn't mean I could share a vision of what a church is or is to be with them, without doing some really hard yards to come to a point of agreeance. I guess that's what I was aiming at, at what point do we say 'I agree to disagree' and possibly not be 'one' or do we go down into the tunnel until we agree and come up the other side? This doesn't infer the same view or robotic behavior but maybe an agreeance to share vision and step forward together in community and oneness.
you little ripper!!!!
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