As one friend of mine recently pointed out, history must be very important or every evil dictator would not be so determined to change it. This is an interesting point, as there does seem to be a drive in every evil leader to rewrite and change history. This should compel those who love the truth to be even more determined to protect and maintain an accurate history, regardless of whether it makes Christians look good or bad. Truth is our most important commodity, and those who love the truth will be defenders of the truth.
It is true that the church has been used to do much evil in history, causing many cultural and religious wounds which have not yet been healed. The way that we will get healed of these terrible wounds is not to cover them up, or pretend that they do not exist. Like with any wound, it must be cleaned and dressed. If all the foreign material is not removed when cleaning a wound, it is likely to become infected and send deadly poison throughout the rest of the body. This is one reason why the body of Christ is so weak and sick today—it has suffered many wounds from Christians fighting Christians which have never been dressed, or even closed so that they can heal.
It is also still suffering from the curse that comes upon those who shed innocent blood by its historic treatment of the Jews and other religions, including Muslims. This is one of the important reasons for studying church history, not to point the finger at any denomination or group, but to see and acknowledge "our" mistakes so that we can repent of them, and be rid of the infection which continues to cause the same mistakes. Acknowledging our mistakes does not erode people's trust in us, but rather increases it.
We should note that very few of the reformers ever wanted to leave the Roman Catholic Church, including John Huss, Luther, and most of the other great reformation voices that arose. Their goal was not to leave the church, or split it, but to reform it. That is why they were called "reformers." The movement they ignited was called The Protestant Reformation because they were doing this from a basis of protesting the evils and false doctrines which had crept into the church. Their goal was to reform it, not leave it, or divide it. However, most were driven out of the church forcing them to start new movements which became denominations.
Other, more righteous leaders of the Roman Catholic Church arose who considered that there was much truth to the protests of the reformers. They began a reformation within the Roman church, abolishing many of the false doctrines and practices. Even so, the persecution of Protestants by Roman Catholics, and then the persecution of Roman Catholics by Protestants wherever they were able to gain political authority, raged for centuries. Very deep wounds were inflicted on both sides.
Then, John Paul II stunned both Catholics and Protestants by taking the high road and actually apologizing for the persecution by the Roman Church against the reformers. He did this without requiring a reciprocal apology from Protestants. This gained much trust and respect from the rest of the body of Christ, especially the Protestant churches, as well as non-Christians who have had an abiding distrust in the church because of her historic failures.
This simple act of repentance on behalf of the Roman church did a lot to heal the wounds which still fester from the conflict that has gone on for over half a millennium. This was a remarkable and noble step in the right direction for bringing unity to the church, but it is just one step. Until the doctrines and policies which caused the terrible mistakes and persecutions of that period are corrected, the level of trust will obviously be limited simply because the door will still be open for them to happen again.
So, how should we react to these matters? First, it is always right to remain humble enough to be teachable and acknowledge the sins of our fathers while repenting of them ourselves. This was the basic spiritual demeanor of the great restorers in Scripture such as Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah. However, we must also resolve to never compromise the truth just for the sake of making peace. That is false peace, and it can never last.
Jesus alone is the Head of the church; He alone is the mediator between God and men, and His atonement on the cross was enough to pay the price for and cover all of our sins. There is no other remedy for sin, but the cross of Jesus! That is the foundation upon which all Christian truth and faith is based. There are doctrines within the Roman Catholic Church and the other high churches, which I think deny some of these basic truths, or at least erode them, making them of little or no effect. Because Christians in these denominations call on the name of Jesus, I can have a certain level of fellowship with them based on this. I have many friends in these denominations who have such a close relationship with Jesus that they have my deepest respect. However, the unity that I could have with their denomination will be very limited as long as they hold to some of the doctrines which I believe erode the very foundation of the New Covenant.
The most vital element of our faith is the atonement of Jesus on the cross for our sins, and that through Him we have reconciliation with the Father. There is a reason why such an assault has been upon the cross from the very beginning. The cross is the righteous stumbling block that separates those who have true faith in God from those whose faith is in a humanly devised religious counterfeit. The cross is the power of God, and to remove its power from the church certainly is an "abomination that desolates," which many of the reformers believed to be the case with some of the doctrines that had crept into the church. We will cover these in a bit more detail next week.
The Headship of Jesus over the church and His cross being the only remedy and salvation from sin is the only means of true reconciliation between God and men, which is non-negotiable. Any unity based on a compromise of these is a mere human alliance at best and is more likely a pact with the devil without these. There can never be the basis for a true unity of the faith. Who Jesus is, and what He accomplished through His sacrifice, is alone the basis of true unity.
Even so, we must also keep in mind that tolerance and compromise are not the same thing. We should be committed to tolerance, but not at the expense of compromising our own beliefs. We should treat all people with dignity, and respect their beliefs, but this does not mean we accept them as true. It is often right to challenge those who differ, especially on the basics of the faith, but we must always do this in the right Spirit, not disrespectfully.
We have the strength of truth on our side so we should be the most magnanimous of all people, but this is based on the truth that we must never compromise our convictions. Truth is non-negotiable, and we must hold to it while loving those who do not understand it as we do, tolerating them as generously as we can. This does not mean that we do not stand for the truth, and testify of it, but let us do it in the right Spirit, the Holy Spirit, and "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control..." (Galatians 5:22-23).
It has been the divisions and the infighting between Christians that has probably caused most people to reject the gospel. Before we will probably ever agree as we should, we must learn to disagree as we should, loving and forgiving one another just as we were loved and forgiven.
