Is the War Over?

Now that everyone seems to be finished with the accusations and the inane discussions about trivial points of doctrinal disagreement, don’t you think it’s time to get to the real heart of what it means to be free of the institution? It is simply this: To assist in midwifing one another out of our stagnant, and potentially deadly, institutional thinking.

The only important doctrine in the Kingdom is about relationship – relationship with Father and relationship with one another. On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" "What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?" He answered: "`Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, `Love your neighbor as yourself.'" "You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live" (Luke 10:25-28 NIV).

And what about the eleventh commandment? "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (John 13:34-35 NIV). He could have used this opportunity to advance one or more of your pet doctrinal theories, but noooo! He kept it simple: Love one another.

And what about the Jerusalem Council? This was the apostles’ chance to set the doctrinal direction for all time, and what did they do? It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell (Acts 15:28-29). What??? Nothing about eschatology? Nothing about hell, or whether they should speak in tongues? Nothing . . . except concern for their personal well-being.

Astonishing.

The divisive spirit under which we all suffered while doing time in the institutional church prison remains quite alive among those of us who are on this simple pioneer journey you call S.C. So far, it doesn’t seem any different than the institution. There are little pockets of doctrinal partisan rebels out here who, left to their own devices, WILL FORM SC DENOMINATIONS over time. I am ashamed to be linked to such an abomination . . . AGAIN (since I was a denominational pastor).

Simple Church is simply about simplicity. IC is all about one convoluted law, doctrine, or denominational distinctive piled mercilessly upon another, until it has become burdensome, cumbersome, and downright destructive to its captives. But if we pretend to be SC while thinking and acting IC are we not the greatest bunch of hypocrites on the planet?




Someone, from one of my blogs or discussions on this site, asked me what we do when a person dumps a heresy into our group. Great question! My answer was simply: We laugh. Coming to maturity has some wonderful perks, not the least of which is the lack of fear of doctrinal differences. What difference does it make if you don’t believe hell is literal? We’re not going there anyway! Or who really can’t live another day not knowing for sure if the pretribulation rapture theory is accurate? Do any of these help you to know me? Here’s a thought: But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless (Titus 3:9 NIV).

We laugh for a couple of simple reasons. First, the devil’s heresy committee hasn’t come up with a new one for some time; they seem to have lost their creative edge. So, Father has already quashed it. Second, we know that heretics (big or small) only succeed in painting a target on their backs when they are around us. And what do we shoot at that target? Try to think simply . . . come on you can get it . . . wait for it . . . LOVE. Heretics need coffee; take them out and buy them some. Heretics need a ride to work; put yourself out for them. Heretics need a mommy very, very badly; don’t talk about the heresy, get to know them, earn the right to love them, and watch the transformation.

We laugh because they think their doctrine is important. We laugh because we don’t care about their doctrine, we care about them, and that’s delightful.

This stuff is pretty simple.