Beyond Religion Section 1

Section 1: Where Did It All Begin?

When the topic of history arises, many respond dismissively, claiming that the “past is past” and cannot be changed. However, God views history differently. Throughout Scripture, the simple yet profound command to “remember” recurs repeatedly. It is often the failure—or refusal—to remember that leads to tragedy among God’s people.

The present moment is fleeting, a nanosecond between the past and the future. Who we are today is profoundly shaped by our past, and it lays the foundation for who we will become. Without understanding the past, we cannot make wise decisions for the future. While knowledge is essential for decision-making, wisdom and discernment are even more crucial, for they guide knowledge toward truth and understanding.

In our modern world, we face an overload of information—a deluge of facts and data that often lacks the discernment needed to process it effectively. Without wisdom, this accumulation of knowledge becomes not only overwhelming but potentially dangerous. Our youth-oriented culture frequently equates maturity with acquiring knowledge and embracing the new, while disregarding the past as irrelevant. Yet true maturity comes from embracing the past, learning from it, and allowing it to shape us into wise and discerning individuals. Ignoring or running from the past is an act of cowardice that inevitably leads to disaster. Wisdom and discernment take time to develop and require the perspective that only age and reflection can provide. A society that elevates youthful exuberance at the expense of seasoned wisdom endangers its own future.

So, how does this emphasis on wisdom and discernment relate to the Church’s future? Quite profoundly, for understanding the Church’s past is essential for charting a way forward. Without such understanding, we risk perpetuating division and error.

From the very beginning, Satan has sought to divide God’s people. His first act of deception in Eden was predicated on separation—tempting Eve apart from Adam. What was Adam doing during that fateful conversation? Where was he? Scripture does not provide specifics, but it is evident that some form of separation allowed Satan to deceive Eve. Even though Adam was with her when she ate the fruit (Genesis 3:6), the initial opportunity for deception arose from division. This principle continues today: separation creates fertile ground for deception, both within the family and the family of God.

The Church is no exception. While theologians agree that the Christian Church began at Pentecost (Acts 2:1–13), the people of God—the “ecclesia” or “called-out ones”—have existed since Adam. As Augustine observed, “The new is in the old concealed; the old is in the new revealed.” The Church under the New Covenant fulfills the promises of the Old, forming an unbroken thread from Eden to the present day.

Yet humanity’s fallen nature has a persistent tendency to “improve upon” God’s design, often with noble but misguided intentions. Isaiah warned against this human inclination to substitute our thoughts for God’s (Isaiah 55:8–9). Jesus Himself condemned the religious traditions of His day, which had distorted true faith into an institutionalized religion (Matthew 15:1–9; Mark 7:1–13). Today, we risk making the same mistake, equating God’s Church with institutionalized Christianity. The Church as an organized body is essential, but when it becomes a powerful Institution with a capital “I,” it risks losing sight of its true mission. The Church is fundamentally about people; the faithful people of God going as far back in time as Adam and forward to Christ and His Apostles and even to the poor, isolated widow ten years from now in a quiet corner of the world where no organized church has ever existed.  Yet, this widow, because she has placed her trust in Christ, like so many others, is also part of the “fullness” of the Body of Christ. 

So, simply put, the Christian faith is reality, as grasped from God’s revelation, grounded in a relationship with Him through Christ. Instead of being merely a religion, Christianity is “the Way” – God’s designed path for human existence – it is the blueprint for living all of life!

Jesus focused His condemnation not on pagan Rome but on the religious leaders who led God’s people astray. Likewise, the Church today must guard against internal corruption and division, for Satan’s primary target has always been God’s people. From the earliest days of the Church, false teachings and heresies threatened its unity: Gnostics, Judaizers, Ebionites, and others. Later centuries brought challenges from Arians, Montanists, Marcionites, and Donatists. The Church’s efforts to clarify doctrine and maintain catholicity through councils—beginning with Nicaea (CE 325)—often coincided with internal strife. Schisms followed: the Nestorian Schism (CE 431), the Oriental Orthodox split (CE 451), the Great Schism (CE 1054), and the Protestant Reformation (CE 1517), leading to further fragmentation and denominationalism.

If God’s will is for His people to dwell in unity, where do divisions come from? Scripture attributes them to human actions, often influenced by Satan (Romans 16:17–20; 1 Corinthians 1:10; Galatians 5:20; Jude 1:19). A house divided cannot stand (Luke 11:17–20), and the Church must remain vigilant against the forces that sow discord.

Understanding the Church’s past is essential for addressing its present challenges and ensuring its future faithfulness. Only through the wisdom and discernment gained from history can we hope to chart a course that reflects Christ’s will for His Church: a unified, faithful, and living witness to the Gospel.

Can the Church ever hope to be “One”?

Throughout the Christian pilgrimage, so many of us think upon Jesus’ “High Priestly Prayer”:

“… that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,” (John 17: 21-22).

We hold that the Church is the “fullness” of Christ’s Body as being all members of His Body:

“And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”  (Ephesians 1:22-23).

We take seriously the admonitions against division:

“I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.” (Romans 16: 17).

“I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.” (I Corinthians 1:10).

“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.” (Galatians 5:19-20).

“… ‘In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.’ It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.” (Jude 18-19).

And, yet there continue to be those who adamantly hold that their particular group, denomination, tradition, or movement as being exclusively the “true” Church.  Not only are such factions deceived in their conclusions, but these factions only foster a false sense of identity and security as well as arrogance and pride among their members.  Finally, these factions only perpetuate discord and division in the Church.

The First Ecumenical Council of Constantinople (AD 381) asserts that "[We believe] in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church” as the Four Marks of the Church.

•       One – expressing unity

•       Holy – being set apart

•       Catholic – being universal

•       Apostolic – holding to the teachings of the Apostles as derived from the Holy Scriptures

However, tragically, such aforesaid factions continually try to reinterpret the above Four Marks in such a way as to support and “legitimize” their faction as being the “one true Church”.

In the recent past, there have been several ecumenical attempts to bring the Church to unity, all leading to failure.  The problem is that these noble, yet misguided, attempts have not succeeded because of the inability to grasp the fundamental problem as to why the Church has become fractured in the first place.  This problem is a worldview problem, which will be addressed later in our discussion.

One of these failed attempts has been unilateralism, which states that “we want to be united but ultimately only under our church tradition, denomination, movement, group, etc.”  Really?  Does anyone seriously believe that this could ever happen?  Simply believing that everyone else will just give up and surrender their deeply held theological positions that have been fought over for hundreds of years, at times, even to the point of bloodshed?  Those who would even think this as a reasonable option would either be blind out of their arrogance or have little true understanding of the real issues at stake.  This will simply never happen.

A second failed attempt has been in some sort of pan/trans-denominationalism, holding some sort of “United Nations” approach.  This approach seems to say, “orthodoxy really does not matter so much, only that we are inclusive and united”.   This is the position representing groups such as the World Council of Churches.  Again, noble, and well-intended, but false in that “truth” is seen as merely a human construction rather than stemming from God’s revelation.  As a result, there remains very little in absolute terms of what encompasses the Christian faith leaving just a bunch of “good people” trying to do good things in the hope of making the world a better place.

Experientialism may be described as trying to unite the Church based on shared spiritual experiences.  For example, many Christians recall the 1960s and 1970s of the charismatic movement, ever hopeful that if all Christians could experience the “second blessing” of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, this shared experience would be the one thing that would overcome all differences and unite us in the Christian faith.  While shared experiences can be quite warming to our hearts, there is still the issue of “truth” that is propositional and can never be left to experience alone.  Thus, just placing our hope in commonly shared experiences will not be enough to bring us together when reality must confront propositional truth that must be addressed outside of one’s experience.

And finally, what most Christians encounter today, is what may be described as fatalistic pacifism, the belief that nothing ultimately matters except that we do not fight among ourselves and that we must merely love and accept one another.  Just claiming to know Jesus is enough, even if “Jesus” is defined as whoever or whatever we want Him to be.  “Tolerance” is the reigning religious notion where “intolerance” is not to be tolerated.  Love is all we need since ultimately, Jesus is love.  Again, truth is something to be negotiated.  Never mind who Jesus actually is and why He Himself proclaimed the reason as to why He came into the world.  In answering Pilate, Jesus said, “For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world – to bear witness to the truth.  Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”.  Pilate said to him, ‘What is truth?” (John 18:37-38).  Ah yes, that continual problem of “truth”.  Jesus facing death was not the kind of King who was ready to negotiate on this crucial matter.

In what might be seen as a very positive development, there have been several recent attempts at reconciliation stemming from a major shift in thinking by the Roman Catholic Church in the mid-1960s resulting from Vatican II.  Examples are found in the Balamand Statement with the Orthodox Church (1993); Evangelicals and Catholics Together (1994); the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification with the Lutheran World Federation (1999); Christian Churches Together in the USA (2001); the International Joint Commission for Dialogue with the Oriental Orthodox churches (2003); and the Declaration on the Way with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (2016).  However, until the foundational issue of “authority” is agreed on, regretfully, such steps are only token measures, and the Church will forever remain divided.  Until a common understanding of where authoritative truth is derived, that of a truly Christian theistic worldview, unity is not possible.

A Way Forward While Learning from Our Past

                  What is being proposed here is neither a new tradition nor denomination nor movement - but rather a better “understanding” or “perspective” – a way of seeing beyond our more traditional stereotypical notions.  We need a faith that is Orthodox, yet beyond “Eastern”; Evangelical, yet beyond “Protestant”; and Catholic, yet beyond “Roman”.  The attempt is to bring greater clarity to what we all hope to call, the “apostolic” Faith of the Church.  This Faith is 1) Orthodox, espousing that the Scriptures are held to be the only infallible rule of faith and practice by which all things are evaluated and uphold the essential doctrines of what may be called Christian – an understanding that comes out of a truly Christian theistic worldview.  This Faith is also 2) Evangelical (euangelion, Gk.; evangelium, Lat.) espousing that the Gospel - Good News - is found in the reconciliation of God and humanity through Christ (His life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension).  This reconciliation is made possible only by God’s grace through faith in Christ’s final work.  Thus, the focus of Christ’s Church is on Him alone.  Being Evangelical is being Christocentric.  And finally, this Faith is 3) Catholic, espousing that Christ’s Church is “universal” throughout the earth.  The Church is the “fullness of him who fills all in all” (Ephesians 1:22-23).  The Church is composed of all who are in Him (John 3:3-7; I Peter 1:3-5, 22-23).  In the apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans, he clearly summarizes that those who are in Christ are saved through confessing that Jesus is Lord and in believing that God raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9).  This sounds rather definitive.

Sometimes, when asked if a particular tradition, denomination or movement is truly “Christian”, a wise response has often been to contrast “content” between a particular “container” or “label” on the container.  For example, content can be placed in various containers having numerous labels.  The main issue is the content that is held within the container.  At times containers may have problematic content or very little content at all.  Labels can also be misleading.  The Christian Faith has a particular content.  In the end, it is the content that matters.  Our various man-made structures and labels will one day pass away while it is the content that is eternal.  One day, the labels of Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox or Baptist will be a matter of antiquity.  However, the Truth as espoused in the Christian Faith will remain forever.  We are reminded in Matthew 23:25-26 of Jesus’ rebuke of the scribes and Pharisees about their concern with utensils while missing the importance of the content.  Similarly, the apostle Paul had to warn the church at Corinth about overly esteeming and venerating various Christian leaders and identifying with these leaders to the point of causing division in the church (I Corinthians 1:10-17; 3:1-9).  He goes on to remind the Corinthians that we as God’s people are only temporal jars of clay (II Corinthians 4:7) bearing a great treasure.  It is this precious treasure that we are to focus our affections on and not upon particular people.  Why some Christians insist on identifying themselves as Benedictines, Augustinians, Thomists, Lutherans, Wesleyans, Calvinists, or whoever is beyond comprehension if one is to take seriously the apostle’s warnings.  It is also quite doubtful as to whether many of these leaders would have ever in the slightest way welcomed their followers to mark themselves in identifying with their names.  Some, such as John Calvin, even detested the term “Calvinism” (John Calvin, Leçons ou commentaires et expositions sur les Revelations du prophete Jeremie, 1565). 1  

While the “living out” of the Christian Faith may be expressed somewhat differently according to time and culture, the “content” of the Christian Faith remains unchangeable in that it is based upon God’s infallible Revelation.  The historical problem is that both the Faith and Christ’s Church have been “packaged” poorly as some sort of religion derived out of a Greco-Roman-Medieval world; and that for far too long, have sorely needed to be “repackaged” as originally intended.  We must regain the proper perspective in that the Faith is not a religion but rather a way of life.  The Church is not primarily some formalized institution but rather the family of God.  Furthermore, we must never lose sight of the fact that the Christian Church is Christ’s Church, and it is He alone who calls those who are His to Himself.  It is Christ alone who saves.  We must never elevate the Bride above the Bridegroom.  While the Bride and Bridegroom retain a “oneness” in their relationship; they are not the same.  The Church is not Christ nor does she, out of her own being, emanate the authority of Christ.  Such a notion would be blasphemy.  Again, the Shepherd and the Sheep share a relationship, but each exists separately with very distinctive attributes.   While the Church may be called as a witness to proclaim the Gospel whereby those who are His may be saved, the Church cannot save anyone.  Such a notion would make no sense whatsoever in that the Church cannot save herself.  The Church only represents Christ by her witness; the Church does not replace Christ.  While we can and should love His Church as He loves His Church, we must never confuse the two.

Finally, we must ever be mindful that we are in a spiritual war with Satan (II Corinthians 11: 12-15; Ephesians 6:10-20; I Peter 5:8-11; I John 2:18-27; 5:19).  Satan always seeks to deceive God’s people by appearing to be good and godly, yet he is extremely cunning in causing division and destruction; starting with our individual lives, then within relationships – particularly within families, then within the Church and eventually within society at large.  Satan consistently offers a counterfeit to the Truth.  Even from the Garden onwards, he is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44) coming to us as an “angel of light” (II Corinthians 11:14) often twisting the Truth and ever offering a “false truth” by playing to our weaknesses, blinding us to God, to ourselves and the world around us.  Without a doubt, if our eyes were truly opened and we were able to see the amount of demonic activity that has taken place both in the past as well as presently within Christianity, cold chills would permeate our beings leaving us quite shocked and alarmed.

Although a common lament often heard concerns the lack of spiritual vitality in modern culture, one must attest that while there may be a lack of Christian spiritual fever, there is certainly no lack of spiritual interest.  One must wonder why science-fiction films such as the Star Wars saga by George Lucas keep audiences coming back again and again.  While no doubt there are numerous reasons for the popularity of Star Wars, one cannot overlook the spiritual core of an altered “eastern mysticism” of a “Force” that permeates the storyline.  While contemporary thinking may proclaim that the concepts of “good” and “evil” are merely human constructs, people still find themselves convinced that there must truly be some real notion of “good” and “evil” in the universe.  People still find themselves praying that they too will not one day succumb to some form of an “evil” empire and if this should ever come to pass.  Without hesitation, they would hope that there would appear a promised saviour to rescue them from certain doom.

The good news is there is much for which to be thankful and that there is a real reason for such hope.  As has been stated, Christ has established His True Church with His instructions for governance and authority.  The Church exists regardless of the mess that we have made because the Church is His Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail because He is building His Church and not us!  We just need to bring ourselves in line with Him.  We must come to grips with the fact that while none of the expressions of the Church that we have developed is exclusively His Church, each of these expressions has, to varying degrees, attempted to reflect Christ’s Church.  This understanding is the “ground zero” from which all future discussions can be entered into and upon which any hope of unity, peace and purity can be found.