50 years of the Australian Unity Agreement (21)

This post continues the series of suggestions as to how Australian Christadelphians could celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Unity Agreement.

4. Above all, love each other

In looking at the "first principles" we need to take careful note of the cornerstone of our faith:

"The entire law is summed up in a single command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself'." Gal 5:14

All to often Christadelphians focus on doctrinal differences, even to the point of being nit-picking about the smallest detail. Ecclesias have divided over the most trivial things. I was once interrogated for months by the arranging brethren of one ecclesia to determine if I agreed with them about the meaning of the word "at" somewhere in the BASF! If we are obsessed with the tiniest details then it's easy to lose sight of the bigger picture, and to forget that the cornserstone of our faith is "love each other".

"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins." 1 Peter 4:8

It's time Christadelphians let go of the past and concentrated on the future: "forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead" (Phil 3:13). One of the best ways Australian Christadelphians could celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Unity Agreement would be to let go of all the minor differences which have hindered the work of witnessing to the risen Christ.

I am painfully aware that some Christadelphians are keeping "dossiers" on various people. One of them recently offered to show a brother the dossier he had on me! I've actually seen a document, put together by a Sydney sister, which purports to be a collection of heretical statements I've made but which includes writings by some other unknown person whom she has wrongly assumed is me. Someone once offered me a copy of a 200 page dossier they had been given on another brother, detailing his alleged sins and indiscretions (I didn't take up the offer!)

It's time this abhorrent practice was stopped.

"Love ... keeps no record of wrongs." 1 Cor 13:5

If Christadelphians are truly people of God, followers of Jesus Christ, then they will show the world that they are His disciples by loving each other. "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:35). No presentation of "the Truth", regardless of how well reasoned or how convincing will amount to anything if it is not based on a genuine love for one another.

If someone has "the Truth" then they will not keep dossiers on their brethren. There should be no record of wrongs.

Perhaps the 50th anniversary of the Unity Agreement could be celebrated with a huge bonfire as all these files and dossiers on other brethren are consigned forever to the flames.