Acceptance and Arguments in Christian Belief

Sunday, August 15, 2021

Acceptance and Arguments in Christian Belief

"Accept into your group someone who is weak in faith, and do not argue about opinions."

(Romans 14: 01)

As a young man, growing up in a time when access to information and knowledge has become freely available, I am thrilled at the way how the modern idea of 'God' and 'Faith' are shaped in recent times. Well, I have a bunch of Christian friends who anyhow find an argument about how we understand 'God' and about the latest knowledge on 'faith' with someone on a social media platform.

We tend to argue and debate about what we understand (or maybe what is difficult to understand) and at the end of it, we only have divided opinions and diverse attitudes amongst. I don't find any spiritual nourishment in arguing; no one gains anything by trying to make a point when there is no acceptance! It is interesting for us to see these two words just dominating the verse we have taken for the day - 'accept' and 'do not argue.'

Indeed, there are opinions and surely 'different opinions' among people. Each person amongst us is different, and surely our opinion about anything would differ. We form our opinion about anything based on our past experiences, our background, our mental status, our maturity and even our aims, goals and visions. And it is no wonder that when we sit together and take up topics such as faith, belief and our practice of that faith, there will be diverse opinions and ideas poured into the common pool. What is important is that we place Christian acceptance before Christian arguments!

The person who differs from our opinion may be weak in faith. We may feel that it is pointless spending time with this person and trying to argue on something which may be difficult or even impossible for her/him to understand. But Romans 14:01 reminds us to first accept the person. Let us ensure that we will be bearers of the abundant love of Christ Jesus and we will first learn to accept the person.

As a student who has been in a field of study (humanities and social sciences, especially literature) that may have multiple perspectives on the same matter/issue/problem, we have always been trained by our teachers in the university to "attack the idea and not the person!" This is very common when we watch or listen to debates. Only a few debaters in the world know to stay focused on the idea being debated, and many of them slowly tend to attack the person on the opposite side. I find this to be very true in Christian living. Acceptance should first be there for spiritual nourishment. Arguments without acceptance are waste of time and damaging for the soul, especially when it comes to the Christian faith.

Thus, Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Romans, chapter 14: 01-23 (I encourage you to have a reading of the whole passage), encourages us to first accept each other in faith and not to argue. I have personally overcome many giant arguments thrown at me by first accepting the person, his/her past, their experiences and their level of faith. It doesn't take more than a warm heart and a caring smile for a person to first know that their opinion is heard, seen and considered. Probably that would be the gateway for the knowledge about the truth to be imparted in that person. And this is why a Christian is called to accept and not argue about opinions. I have had some good friends during my university days who were so good at easily having ice cream with someone with whom they had fought about an idea just in the prior class. Isn't that possible amid us?

I want to encourage you to be one of those ambassadors of the love of Christ Jesus today in this world that we are living in with multiple opinions about everything. Let us first learn to accept someone who may be weak in faith, may differ in their opinion about something and may not fit into the framework that we had drawn for ourselves. Let us be full of love, accept each other even in the middle of diversities, and grow together towards finding the bonding that we could build and make stronger with God's help. May the blessings and power of God the Father, the love and grace of Christ Jesus the Son, the fellowship and guidance of the Holy Spirit, be with us and help us, as we continue to learn to accept more than arguing and build a network of love and acceptance in this world.

May God bless you.

Yours in Christ,