“Do your best to preserve the unity which the spirit gives you by means of the peace that binds you together.”
Ephesians 4:3
“There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism; there is one God and father of all, who is Lord of all, works through all, and is in all.”
Ephesians 4:5-6
The two quotes above talk about unity again and how there is only one God and there should only be one church. The first Ephesians quote says that we have been given means to preserve the unity, because we have shown that we can unite with people, like our friends.
“By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ I appeal to all of you, my brothers and sisters, to agree in what you say, so that there will be no divisions among you. Be completely united, with only one thought and one purpose.”
1Corinthians 1:10
St Paul used this reference to appeal to the church community to unit and come together as one.
Being a Christian is about loving each one another; therefore we should be united rather than divided. There should be nothing separating us, and we should do as God says.
“There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same spirit gives them. There are different ways of serving, but the same Lord is served. There are different abilities to perform service, but the same God gives ability to all for there particular service.”
1Corinthians 12:4-7
This says how God made everybody to be different, so that everyone’s individual talents could be used in there church communities. With all these different talents we could unite our ideas and worship in a big community to the same person who made all of us.
There are also many other reasons for why the churches should unite, firstly all Christians believe in Christ and his teachings- we follow the same basic code- we share more in common that we disagree on, and this should show in our unity.
Secondly if all Christians were united, Christianity would grow stronger. Christians would be more effective in spreading of they showed a united front. It would also make it easier for the world council and for the ecumenical movement.
Thirdly many divisions and arguments are caused by the differences of opinion and practice within the Christian church. This is bad. If Christians were to unite now, it would be a very good witness for the church in this day in age, and a real challenge to secularism.
I am now going to the points that disagree with the idea of Christians uniting, and the reasons for why it would not work out if it were to happen.
To start with there are real differences in belief, which prevent unity. These should not be minimized. Examples for instance, Christians believing in communion and the Transubstantiation. Whereas the Church of England believe in consubstantiation.
Secondly there are also differences in practice, for example Catholics baptize babies, whereas the Baptist practices believer’s baptism.
Another point that can be made against could be that there is different appreciation of the importance of sacraments for example Catholics recognizes seven sacraments, most other Christians recognize two or three but the Salvation Army has no sacraments. This could cause a lot of arguments if they were to unite.
There are different interpretations of Jesus’ teachings. Catholics follow the bible and Jesus’ teachings very strictly, whereas other Christian groups just use Jesus’ teachings as a rough guide.
Another factor could be that no matter how much we may want unity, individual Christians and denominations can not betray their own belief in order to join in with a different group of Christians who may believe or practice differently.
Some churches may want to be stricter than others. There may be a different emphasis on how important it is to be forgiving and loving, or how demanding Christians can be.
It is believed by some that there is no need to change the way people are worshipping because different churches have different beliefs and practices which have been established for many years and are working and ministering successfully therefore they do not want to change.
It is only human to have differences and discrepancies- this diversity adds to rather than takes away from the Christian churches as a whole.
As a conclusion I would say that Catholics are strong followers of the Bible, and they believe in one church, so we should all unite as God intended. And that if we were to unite it would be more beneficial for everyone. A bigger community equals bigger ideas which equal bigger worship which they would think of as a good outcome.
Whereas other Christian churches who do have the same basic beliefs, may have a more modern day view. Other groups may think that it best not to unite as it would bring more disagreements and controversy to the world, something that there is already enough of.
My personal opinion is that it would be nice if everyone could unite as one, I do believe in what the Bible says about the Lord wanting us to unite and worship as one, but it would be best if it didn’t happen. By uniting it would just bring more arguments and controversy which would lead to more wars into the world, something we don’t need more of. God made us as individuals, knowing that we wouldn’t always agree with each other, God didn’t intend for us to all have the same opinions. Even if opinions about practices and the sacraments differ, it doesn’t matter; as long as we all maintain our belief in God it will be just fine.