There’s an old joke in which St. Peter is giving someone a tour of heaven. I’ll spare you the details of the entire joke, but the punchline has St. Peter and the newcomers passing a door with the word “Baptist” written above it. Peter instructs everyone to be quiet when passing because the Baptist think they are the only ones in heaven. I laughed the first time I heard this because it is at least somewhat true. I don’t mean to be harsh on us Baptists here, you could tell the joke about most denominations or sects and it be entirely, or at least partly, true.

When Jesus established His church, there was no such thing as Baptists, Holiness, Catholic, etc. There was just “THE” church. Many hold that their denomination is the true church, claiming that their lineage can be traced all the way back to the apostles. There is an abundance of propaganda put forth by these denominations to “support” their claims, propaganda that I, for one, don’t think can be supported historically, not even the claims of some in my own denomination.

The church that Jesus and the apostles established was made up of all kinds of people from all over the known world. These people had different backgrounds and naturally brought in different ideas from their own cultures, many of which were corrected by the epistles of the New Testament, but still everybody was unified, they were one.

But along the way different beliefs and ways of understanding the Bible became too much to house under one roof, so lines were drawn and divisions were made. Though I can’t prove this, I imagine that as soon as that first major division was made, as soon as there was an “us” and “them”, that accusations of “they are not saved” were being thrown from both sides.

Note: These divisions may have very well been warranted, I have not studied into the history of why these divisions were made.

That “us” and “them” mentality is still very prevalent today, and those accusations are still haphazardly thrown around by those that think they are able to judge man’s soul. Let me be clear, not everyone is like this, but I have heard such foolishness as preachers claiming that a preacher who uses a Bible other than the KJV was going to hell (fun fact: neither Jesus, the disciples, nor any other preacher who lived before 1611 used the KJV). I was personally even told by one particular pastor that I couldn’t be saved because I had a different eschatalogical (study of end times) view than him.

This then begs the question, what facts must one have straight before they can be saved? How much knowledge is needed to be saved?

I think we can all agree that belief is necessary for salvation, but belief in what? Belief in a certain translation of the Bible? Belief in a particular eschatology,? Is there a magic combination of doctrines and convictions that can save you?

If correct eschatology is, in fact, necessary, what other “-ologies” must be learned prior to salvation? Because there are a lot to consider; soteriology - study of salvation, pneumatology - the study of the Holy Spirit, ecclesiology - the study of the Church, and many, many more.

The above quote is from one of my all time favorite Bible stories. A man born blind is healed by Jesus, and when questioned about the man who healed him the man reveals that he knows very little about Jesus. As a matter of fact, he didn’t even know if Jesus was sinless. The man wasn’t even convinced that Jesus was from God until after the miracle. So what did the man know before being healed?

I’m not sure that he knew anything, He didn’t even ask Jesus for help. The key is, although the man lacked information, he had what really mattered, faith. He had enough faith, in fact, that although he was blind he still found his way to the pool of Siloam to wash. I’m inclined to see it like the song by the Isaac’s, he may have stumbled and even fell along his way, but his faith helped him to overcome the obstacles and obey the words of Jesus.

This begs yet another question. Faith in what? Most agree that we are saved by grace through faith, the divisions come when debating in what or whom that faith must be place in. I think the Biblical idea of faith is best understood not as belief in a certain set of ideas or creeds, but simply as trust in God. That was the case of the man in John 9, he trusted in Jesus enough to go and wash. As far as facts and information go, the only thing this man knew for certain about Jesus initially is that He had made a difference in his life.

When we place more responsibility on the potential convert; when we say you must first check this box and that box before you can be saved, we are subtracting from grace. Anything that must be DONE is a work, this includes any amount of learning or knowledge that must be attained.

What’s even more troubling is that when these stipulations are added, there is no longer a such thing as a simple gospel presentation about Christ’s triumph over sin and our opportunity to participate in His victory, but the one presenting the Gospel must also explain the nuances of whatever other belief they have deemed necessary.

I was once a very judgmental person who thought I had all of the answers. I didn’t even think a lot of people in my own denomination were going to heaven, and if they were, it would be by the skin of their teeth. If the preacher didn’t stomp and yell and the choir didn’t sing out of the ol’ red-back hymn book, then you were wrong in my eyes.

Then I began to come in contact with other people who believed differently than me, in some cases very differently. The funny thing was, they sure seemed to love Jesus. More than that, it seemed like they loved me, too. Then I was asked to pastor a wonderful church full of loving people, the only problem was, they sometimes sang contemporary music (a clear violation of Revelation 23, look it up) and… brace yourself here… the women sometimes wore pants! (Heavens to Murgatroyd!!!) I agreed to help the church, and we spent nearly 5 wonderful years worshipping God together. I even sang a contemporary song once or twice.

As much as I hate division and separation I see that denominations are probably necessary. I know that lines have to be drawn somewhere, my only recommendation is that we stop drawing them where the Bible doesn’t. We are all entitled to our own opinions and convictions, but when we try to force those onto other people, and worse yet make them necessary for salvation, we are clouding the gospel and causing division in the body of Christ.

Lastly, and with Paul’s idea of Christian unity in mind, I’d like to leave you with the following.

In Christ Jesus there is neither Baptist nor Catholic; Arminian or Calvinist; Complementarian nor Egalitarian; Asian, Arab, nor American; we are all one in Christ Jesus.

God bless!