This is a book about living together, as Christians, one in Messiah, from the individual perspective. It was written by two laymen—one in the legal field and one in the dairy industry—from very different parts of the Unites States who, of course, do not agree perfectly about every point of doctrine, but who do agree about the importance of living in oneness with other believers...
This book starts from the assumption, fully explained in the first chapter, that all believers in Christ are already, in fact, one with each other in Christ. This leaves us with the challenge, not of creating unity where it does not exist, but of living consistently with the oneness that already exists.
The first section of this work (Chapters 1-6) explains in some detail why living consistently with our oneness is important, including God’s commands and expectation that we do so, the benefits of living in oneness and the hazards of living contrary to the truth. Part two (Chapters 7-10) explains what oneness is and is not, including the concepts that oneness is a harmony of diverse believers each doing their own part, not unison, unanimity or strict conformity to the same mold. Oneness means that we must work together, not that we must all look, think and act exactly alike. The third section (Chapters 11-16) deals with some practical barriers to living in oneness—for instance, selfishness, misunderstandings of the concept of authority and submission, heresy, and incorrect understanding of the origin of the organizational divisions in the universal Church—and suggests how to overcome them.
Some important topics are deliberately not covered in this book. There is scant mention of the Ecumenical Movement or of attempts to merge denominational organizations. Other, more qualified, authors have covered these topics. We have not moved in those circles and do not focus on that audience. The focus is simply to help other Christians, individually, to live in the oneness they already possess in Christ with other individual Christians, regardless of what their denominational leaders may or may not do.
We accept that the reader will have his or her own way of deciding who is truly a fellow Christian and who is a false brother or sister. We do not broach the subject, but meet you once you have negotiated that obstacle on your own.
This book also does not discuss to any great degree the community aspect of living in oneness with each other, except rather briefly in the chapter on authority and submission. Instead, this book will focus on the individual aspect of living in oneness. The reader should look for a fuller discussion of the community aspect of oneness in a sequel yet to be written.
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