‘On the hunt for a single version of the truth’ was a headline that caught my eye in a recent daily newspaper supplement. It was about public sector technology and the use of data.
So, I thought, it is not only Christians who nurse this kind of concern.
Where then do we stand when we make a unique claim for a particular brand of Christianity? If we leave aside the centuries of argument about the meaning of the word ‘truth’, do we see ourselves as arbiters of ‘a single version of the truth’? Should we expect ‘my authentic version’ and no other to be the inevitable or natural inheritor of the New Testament documents?
History suggests not. We remember the great divide at the Reformation This gave rise to a multitude of sects: Lutherans, Calvinists, Henricians, Baptists, Latitudinarians, Methodists, Congregationalists, Salvation Army, Brethren, Seventh Day Adventists and a host of latecomers – movements with their distinctive styles. We probably feel more at home with some than others.
Many Christianities? It would seem so. How do we decide on the validities? Respect for the title-deeds is one way of setting boundaries – or so it might be thought. This happens in the case of a will. But there remain issues of interpretation. The nature of the Scriptures is not legal, precise and beyond argument. The group making the biggest claims to be the rightful inheritor may have blind-spots. Statements of faith, changeable as they are, are not enough to lay controversy to rest.
I have known individuals who have been introduced to the Christian faith by groups named one thing or another. They have gone beyond group-teaching and in doing so have shown themselves to be more respectful of title-deeds than the group might acknowledge. It is common, for example to have a blind-spot about culture, aesthetics or language and yet to be theologically orthodox. Taste in architecture, music and garments are as likely as not to come under a ban by strict groups. The title-deeds do not cover every important issue.
It is right and proper to have strong religious convictions. We have to remember, though, that we see in a glass darkly. We must respect other people’s convictions even to the point of being fastidious about it.
SDAs
With 19 million members and 82,000 churches, Seventh Day Adventists have, as their name indicates, strong convictions about two things – observing the Sabbath on a Saturday and anticipating the return of Christ. Their retention of the Jewish Sabbath can hardly be faulted if we are to accept the New Testament evidence. They have their own interpretation of the Second Advent but they haves retained its prominence in early Christian belief.
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