I’m just going to come right out and say it: Stop speaking on God’s behalf. God is big. God is different depending on the religion. To speak as if one person or a group of people know EXACTLY what God wants is ludicrous. Each person of faith has a different lens they view their faith and their God with. They interpret holy texts and sermons through that lens.
According to recent statistics, there are roughly 41,000 Christian denominations (differing mainly on doctrine, see flow chart), five major Jewish movements (differing mainly on practices and rituals), four major sects of Islam (although most Muslims are Sunni), four Hindu denominations (differing mainly on how to achieve self-realization), three major branches of Buddhism, and many other smaller religions or non-religious variants.
So, first of all, clearly Christians have more divisive problems than the other major religions of the world. I can’t really even wrap my head around 41,000 different groups and sects of Christianity, but it doesn’t really surprise me. Christians bicker like they have to prove something. But what are they trying to prove and to who? God? Their peers? Themselves? In the end, does it matter if they have all the answers and win every argument?
Personally, I was once one of those Christians. There was a time when I would see a differing viewpoint on some social media and I would have to state my perspective. At the time, I really thought I was right and “correcting” them was what God wanted me to do. I realize now that I was just being arrogant. It’s not my place to tell people what to believe or how to believe it. We all have different journeys and different views and now I see how beautiful that is. I believe that God is big enough to show himself to people in so many more ways than we can imagine.
As for the other religions, there’s really not as much differing between them. With three to five major sects in each group, I don’t see much need for conflict or bickering between them. Not to say that there isn’t, but just that it’s not as prominent. I think all of us can think of a Baptist and a Pentecostal battling it out on a Facebook post, whereas it’s not so common to think of a Reform Jew and an Orthodox Jew battling it out over social media.
Since my experience is with Christianity, I want to go back to focusing on that. Why do so many Christians claim authority over what God says and what The Bible means? If there are 41,000 different variations of Christian doctrine, how can one group have it right? More than that, there have been 450 different translations or versions of the same Bible throughout history! I think Christians have an ego problem.
“I’m right and my church is wrong, so let’s create a new group with a new Bible and we’ll be right and God will love us.”
That’s basically what every founder of a new denomination or new Bible translation has said. They disagreed with the previous way of doing things, so they stood up and changed it. That’s what Martin Luther did. A lot of people praise him for what he did, but that seemed to have started a snowball that turned into an avalanche.
So, what do we do? Well, I don’t claim to know everything, but I’ve got some ideas:
Love People
Stop trying to convince people of what you perceive to be wrong. Just love people. Sacrifice your time to help those less fortunate. Share your home and invite people over for dinner. Send a letter to that certain someone who might need a pick-me-up. Smile at a stranger. Give a hug to someone who you really disapprove of their life choices and don’t even mention your disapproval. God is big enough to handle sin, so stop acting like you have to play God with people you see sinning in your eyes.
Be Humble
You are not the best thing since sliced bread. There’s millions of people on planet earth and we are all special. Be proud of your faith, but don’t forget to consider other people and their faith. You are one small person and you don’t know everything. Along those same lines…
Be Open
Don’t shut out people who believe differently than you do. Open your heart to their differences. Hear their point of view. Whether it’s two people of the same faith group with differences, or two totally different religions. Like I said, you don’t know everything. Be open to what you may be wrong about. Be open to change.
I think there is a movement of people of faith taking strides to love people, and to be humble, and to be open. I believe that the early Christians were this way. I believe other faiths can be this way. I even believe people of no faith can be this way. There’s no reason to bicker about theological differences, when most of the time we all have the same goals at our core.
Rambling Geek 