Christians Can’t Agree on Anything!

Recently I’ve had multiple skeptics tell me that one of the main reasons they don’t believe that Christianity is true is that “Christians can’t agree on anything.” And they go on to point out events throughout history such as the Reformation and the formation of literally hundreds of denominations. But while all of these events did in fact happen, is it true that Christians can’t agree on anything? I think not!

It is true that there are countless doctrines on which Christians differ, but I believe that in focusing on these points of disagreement, skeptics are missing the forest for the trees. Have they considered all of the things that Christians do agree on, despite what denomination they align themselves with?

Now I must make an important clarification; when I say “all of the things that Christians do agree on,” the reader should not take the word “Christian” lightly. One skeptic I engaged with on this topic used Jehovah’s Witnesses as his prime example rather than the more common example of denominations to try to prove his point. And I’m glad he did! How many skeptics have pointed to “denominations” to make their case thinking that JW’s, Mormons, or the World Mission Society Church of God are included in that category? Cults such as the ones mentioned are not Christians! But why not?

Doctrines of Christianity can be divided -in relation to what is or is not Christian- into two major categories: Essential doctrine, and Secondary doctrine. Essential doctrines are those that lay at the core of the Christian faith. If you do not hold to the essentials of the faith, you are not a Christian. The most common essential doctrine you will hear is that salvation is by grace through faith alone; that is, you cannot work your way into heaven. If you believe that you will get to heaven when you die because your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds, you are not saved.

Secondary doctrines, on the other hand, can be held by a Christian and they have no bearing on his or her salvation. Such examples would be Conditional Immortality, or in other words, the doctrine that the damned are only in hell for a time before finally being snuffed out, or, ceasing to exist, in contrast to eternal conscious punishment, or the doctrine that the damned have committed sin against God that carries an infinite weight, or that people continue and never cease to sin in their rebellion against God in hell, and will remain there forever.

Another secondary doctrine would be whether we are to observe the sabbath rest as part of the New Covenant. You can absolutely be saved and hold to either view. A born-again Christian can believe in conditional immortality or eternal conscious punishment. One could believe that we are to observe the sabbath or not observe the sabbath. Or even that the sabbath was changed to Sunday, which it never was. Paul makes it clear that we are free to observe any day of the week or no days, as long as whatever we do is unto the Lord.

Now that we have that clarification down, it should be clear that there are far less things that Christians disagree on that many people think, and also that there are different levels of importance among the countless doctrines in the church. So now that you know these things, let’s take a look at just a few of the countless things Christians do agree on:

• God exists

• Mankind (man) has sinned and lives in a fallen state

• Man must be redeemed out of this fallen state in order to be reconciled to God

• Man is unable to redeem themselves (corporately or individually)

• Jesus is God incarnate

• Jesus died by crucifixion

• Jesus lived a sinless life

• Jesus’ atoning work on the cross made a way for man to be reconciled to God

•  Salvation is by grace through faith alone

• Jesus is coming again to judge the Earth

• Jesus was buried in a tomb

• Jesus rose from the dead

• Jesus is the only way to be saved from our sin

• Jesus resurrection was a bodily one (as opposed to merely appearances of His

  Spirit/Ghost)

• Those in Christ will also be raised from the dead

These are but a sample of the things that Christians agree on. Feel free to include more in the comments!

You can see that there is a solid foundation of Christian faith. Solid enough for Christians to fellowship with one another regardless of whether or not we believe we should have drums in our worship band.

For the first time, I am at a loss for recommended resources for an article. Feel free also to include any that you believe would be useful in the comments!