The Burr in the Burgh

Conservative and traditionalist Christians are often criticized for making a fuss over their doctrinal distinctives. Admittedly, we can sometimes be obnoxious. There's no excuse for that, but frankly, anytime a person takes a stand, no matter how sweetly, it is likely to offend someone else.

Yesterday, while sitting in one of my new favorite haunts, the newly opened Caribou Coffee here in Brentwood, I read an article on witchcraft in Christian Research Journal. The author made an interesting point. He wrote: "There are similarities between flour and ricin. They both are made from plants; they both are white powders; but it is not their similarities that are interesting or important, it is their differences. One promotes life and the other effects death....I am only trying to show that with some issues the differences can be just as important, if not more so, than the similarities."

He's talking about people of different religions. But here's my point. Even within the Christian world, there are significant differences of belief. These are not unimportant. While it is true that some Christians fail to take seriously what various churches have in common, it is equally true that some Christians fail to take seriously the important differences which unfortunately divide us.