New news, old news. Another schism.

Dec 18, 2023, 9:49 PM

I read this article with an eye not towards Methodists, or even towards any cultural, philosophical, or theological divisions that might be in the air today, but with an eye towards one of the most basic human issues; tolerance, or lack thereof, in whatever.

For instance, the greatest schism in Church history prior to the Reformation was the Great Schism of 1054. The thing that literally broke the Church into two halves, the Eastern Orthodox and the Western Orthodox, aka Roman Catholic, was whether to use leavened or unleavened bread in the Eucharist. I'm sure both sides entrenched thinking, "Only one of us can be right on this crucial issue."

Both sides worship the same God to this day, but they have not come to an agreement on how to worship him in almost 1000 years. And that human intransigence goes right back to Cain and Abel's opinions regarding vegetable vs. animal sacrifice.

By the time Joshua came along, it was Samaritans insisting that God wanted to be worshipped from Mt. Gerizim, while other Jews insisted it should be from Mt. Zion, 40 miles away. Both groups still defend their stance to this day, over 3000 years later.

Even in my own extended family, I have a distant, thankfully very distant, step-uncle who once broke with his rural congregation of 20 or so over a new assembly hall. Eight or so members wanted a new building, 12 did not. So, the great schism of 1990ish occurred when those 8 started, paid for, and built, their own little church, leaving the unenlightened 12 behind to suffer their own fate at the hands of God.

A few months after the new assembly hall (aka, pre-fab Home Depot shed) was completed, the 8 lost faith in my step-uncle's ability to lead their new church and, writing off their losses for the new construction, grudgingly went back to their old church in its old building.

That left my step-uncle as the proud owner of a brand-new church building, and a church congregation of exactly one; himself.

That doesn't say much about God, but it does say something about people, or at least, some of my people. You can have everything your own way, you just might end up alone doing it. If every single issue in life is a hill to die on, with no acceptance or tolerance of other's views, that's just one step away from being a hermit. Or, from being that guy Jesus drove the demons out of and into the herd of swine.

Along those same lines, maybe next time I'll share the story my other relative who earned the distinction of getting banned from John Deere stores worldwide. I didn't even know John Deere would do that, but they will, and he had the official, legal letter showing me they would.

The fact that he was still ranting about how bad their products, services, and prices were, and how awful their store representatives had been in "serving him" when he showed the letter to me, made it easier for me to accept its authenticity.

I'm not sure if loving your neighbor involves getting into a fist-fight with a lawn-mower service representative or not.

People, SMH.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/deadline-looming-united-methodist-church-185245532.html

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Fun story. If a church of 20 will split, good luck holding a denomination together.

Edit:
We chose the church we attend because it is small and non denominational, one of those one-name churches. We enjoy "Leviticus" (not real name) because we love the people, yada yada. The music is done informally by whoever has an instrument, people bring coffee, etc, that sort of vibe. But after a few months we began to see the typical organizational stuff: central control of responsibilities that should be disbursed, more tradition/ritual than is necessary, etc. So, last week we were at party, and someone asked where we go to church, and MissTulsa said, "Leviticus Baptist Church". She got a quizzical look on her face, and looked at me like, "Something's wrong, but I don't know what."
"Its not a Baptist church", I said.
"Did I say that?? Oh crap, I didn't mean to say that."
"Honey, it's fine. We like it, but that's what it is."

It can be hard to let all the human stuff go. I blame the industrial revolution for church discontent. When you had to walk or ride a buggy to your neighborhood church, you learned to follow Jesus with whoever sat beside you. Now we drive a car past 20 churches to go to one because we like the music. When dissatisfaction can be addressed by google maps, that's going to be the usual state.

Message was edited by: CUintulsa®

New news, old news. Another schism.

I belonged to a Bible club once when I was in the third grade.

Re: I belonged to a Bible club once when I was in the third grade.

My brother and me, being ignorant, would have voted him VP and our sister...

Re: New news, old news. Another schism.

Re: New news, old news. Another schism.

Why hasn't man evolved past pride and love?

Re: Why hasn't man evolved past pride and love?

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