Make Amends

Mama Said 

Ecclesiastes 3:7 ESV

I was taught it’s alright not to agree but after you’ve both made your case you make

amends.

In Ecclesiastes 3:7 We are told there is, “a time to tear, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;”

The wise writer of Ecclesiastes recognized there is a time for all things. At one time in my life when I read

this chapter I was determinate to look for the loophole in the logic.

I studied debate beginning in junior high school and that continues through graduate school. The

challenge I gave to myself was a good exercise that gave me a valuable lesson.

Scripture is God breathed. I learned the words are placed there because God wanted them there. In

every instance, God breathed on scripture.

Here was a decade when there were two schools of thought about scripture and two camps emerged to

debate thought about scripture. One camp argued scripture was inerrant and their banner was entitled,

“Conservative”.

The other camp proclaimed scripture was infallible.

The two thought processes exploded and soon people were “labeled” by their stand on inerrancy who

were called conservatives and the people who proclaimed scripture was infallible. They were labeled as

liberals. The controversy exploded and resulted in a divide between evangelicals. Books were written.

The subject was heavily debated. The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inherency was drafted in 1978 by

over 200 evangelical leaders.

At the time church leaders were expected to choose which side they deemed acceptable. The

controversy bred fear among evangelicals. If a pastor was conservative they were shunned.

There was a tear in the evangelical community that led to silence and shame. If pastors were deemed as

being liberal because they described scripture as being infallible they were shunned.

Looking back the point is, God did not smile.

It was not the greatest day for Christians. Unbelievers saw the infighting in the Christian camp. As far as

they could see there was no love and according to John 13:34-35 evangelicals broke the new

commandment, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love

one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Unbelievers saw controversy. They did not see love among evangelicals.

I believe it was a defining moment in the evangelical movement.

The whole deal was difficult for me because I could feel the tear in the camps bread by the fear. I did not

feel the love. It was not the finest hour for the church.

Ultimately my personal takeaway was that both sides were wrong. They missed the love boat and the

world witnessed the battle. There were no amends made between the two camps.

Deborah

acrazyjourney.com