DO YOU AGREE WITH ZINZENDORF’S STATEMENT

Some of my readers will have at least heard the name if not know something of Count Zinzendorf (1700-1760) who was a Bishop in the Moravian Church. It has been said that after a difficult problem he was involved in, he coined a phrase which I full endorse.

ON THE ESSENTIALS- UNITY, ON THE NON-ESSENTIALS -LIBERTY, IN ALL THINGS CHARITY/LOVE.

In reality there are few (so called) essentials when it comes (for example) to Theology, and these all relate to the substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ for fallen mankind, and for this we must have unity, that every person must repent and be born again, receive forgiveness and the gift of eternal life.

Sadly within the essentials there are many, many “secondary” schools of thought that must be placed in the non-essential category. there is virtually nothing that hurts and saddens me more, when a person/teacher adamantly put these in the “essential” category, and if you don’t believe them you are a false teacher, and are a heretic!!!

We must learn to have “liberty” between ourselves on these non-essentials and our attitude must be one of LOVE.

I know I have written on these issues before, I do not believe we are compromising if we cannot dot every I and cross every T, I want to be CHRIST CENTRED NOT DOCTRINE CENTRED (except on the essentials). It has taken me too many years to have at last come to this position.

Let me give you just one illustration for example within Reformed truth, Calvin taught that the Gifts of the Holy Spirit ceased on the death of the last Apostle, this is called Cessationism, but also within Reformed ranks there is what is called the stream of Continualism (that the Gifts of the Holy Spirit are still operational today)

I put the major truths that came out of the Reformation, in the “essential category” whether you believe in Cessationism, or Continualism, I believe both of these positons fall into the non-essential category.

I happen to be personally a Continuationist, and this will surely have been recognised in my blogs in the past, and that I was a Minister of a Pentecostal denomination for over 50 years, but I do not believe you must operate the Gifts of the Holy Spirit to be a Christian, nor, are you a superior Christian if you do (or are 2nd class Christian if you don’t). Everything that God makes available to Believers must be appropriated and taken and used. We live in a generation of Biblical illiteracy and many Believers live in ignorance of all that was obtained for us through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

My prayer like Zinzendorf, is on all such non-essential matters we LET LOVE RULE AND REIGN AMONGST US.

The only basis people will enter their eternal reward is not whether they spoke in tongues or not, or were Reformed or Arminian but that THEY ARE BLOOD WASHED.

I would appreciate your comments and response to this blog please ?