What Divides Us?

The division within professing Christianity is apparent. This division is not just between the most popular denominations but includes the non-denominational churches as well. I guess if I’m honest, I have to admit that rightly dividing the Bible according to Paul’s instructions might look like just another division. So what’s the difference? Denominational and Non-denominational “Protestant” churches have settled into one very loose but similar system of Bible interpretation. This system puts the church today into Israel’s program and into Israel’s promises. How far they insert themselves depends on the name on the church and the proof texts they claim for their doctrine. The divisions we see are a result of what verses they chose to be applied to us or not. The problem with this process is the total lack of consistency in choosing the verses. Christianity picks and chooses verses based on the tradition of their denomination. A Baptist picks certain verses to apply to himself that the Pentecostal might not and vise-versa. A person that grows up in either denomination is taught how to read the Bible from a denominational tradition. I know this system very well as I spent most of my life in it. This picking and choosing of proof texts is what separates all of Christianity. So what separates a right divider from the rest of Christianity? It’s actually very easy to point out and see. We have a VERY consistent way of interpreting the Bible. We NEVER pick and choose verses. We believe EVERY verses as it stands. We DO NOT need proof texts. We believe God meant EXACTLY what he wrote and all you need to understand exactly what he wrote is a King James Bible and a believing heart. This is EXACTLY what separates a dispensationalist from the rest of Christianity. Christianity is in utter confusion because they are trying to follow Jesus’ earthly ministry to the Jews when they were not the audience of Jesus’ earthly ministry. Christianity looks at the dispensationalist and scoffs because of our emphasis of following our apostle Paul even though Jesus himself gave Paul the office and the commission. A wise man once said “If the plain sense makes sense, seek no other sense.” The dispensationalist follows this mantra by choosing to believe the Bible over church tradition. By choosing to believe that the Bible itself is its own best dictionary. By choosing to believe that we must follow Pauline doctrine to be pleasing to God because this is EXACTLY what the Bible teaches. By reading God’s word and not picking and choosing according to denominational tradition but by believing ALL the words as written TO WHOM they were written. This strict method of just believing what God said exactly how he said it IS what makes me different. This method of TRUSTING GOD is exactly why the denominations can all “get along” with each other but don’t like a dispensationalist. It’s a beautiful thing to see people that were blinded by tradition their whole life begin to understand the Bible for themselves as God intended. How about you?