IF YOU REALLY LOVED ME YOU'D....

"Kill them all and let God sort them out" - attributed to Arnaud-Armaury, the Abbot of Citeaux, and "spiritual advisor" to the Albigensian Crusade

I read with interest today this story about the Reverend Max Lucado whose church is in our city.
In brief, the article states that some members of the Church of Christ are upset with Lucado and or his theology.
In recent months Lucado has allowed musicians during certain services to play instruments.
His stance on baptism also apparently differs from traditional Church of Christ teachings.

I'm certainly no theologian and I'm sure there are stout biblical arguments for many of these divisions. However I have to wonder if God is nearly as concerned by them as Christians seem to be. I know I'm not.

I've never felt compelled to speak in tongues, but I've been in churches where folks did it. I'm fairly reserved during worship, but I've attended churches where a lot of the congregants raised their hands, swayed and nearly swooned in showing their affection for God. I've never attended a church where people handled snakes, but if that's how you communicate with God, I'm certainly not going to get in your way...assuming the snakes are kept at a distance.

I know there are people who attend my church who do not believe exactly as I do on all sorts of issues. We don't spend our time debating those though.

I know we all agree on one thing: We love God.

Despite our differences, we've opted to journey together in hopes of growing closer to Him.

As I read the bible I see a constant quest of God forever trying to establish a true and loving relationship with man

Yet as I read articles such as the one about Pastor Lucado, I see the familiar story of Christians working feverishly at separating themselves from each other.

Am I alone in wondering if the net result is that we're only distancing ourselves from God?