Wrangling

This morning prior to our eucharist I was praying Morning Prayer. The reading from 2 Timothy 2:14-21is a difficult one for me. Paul tells the young churchleader "avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening."

Obviously, I am not a fan of picking a verse (or in this case, part of a verse) and building a God-delivered mandate for every time and season. The truth is, the Scriptures are always best utilized when we apply them correctly. There is a time to build up and a time to tear down, etc. Our dilemma is reading the signs of the time.

Therefore, it appears to be an oversimplification to simply state "avoid wrangling over words" as if we can simply sidestep every argument. Theology is the art of wrangling over words. Trying to keep a balance, we must exercise extreme caution, as we carefully construct our definitions. Careless statements about God are very dangerous. People can be led into all manner of evil because they have not thought through their theology, or they have failed to grasp the true teachings about God.

Yet, there is much wrong with the constant arguing and fighting amongst Christians. There are times when one church or another identifies some line in the sand and draws swords (figurative and literal) to stand to the death (their own or others). Finely tuned arguments can turn vicious and divide the church into factions. But the refusal to wrangle can result in each person going his/her own way without a thought to what others are saying. To say "we just agree to disagree" can be a polite way of saying, "Go thee hence!"

Wrangling! The world is full of it and most of us are very weary of hearing it and participating in it. Would that we all embraced the truth and lived in the truth. Yet, sadly, this side of the Kingdom, seeking the truth entails more wrangling and conflict than most of us want. For as Paul continues in the same letter, "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by Him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth." Explaining that word of truth, unfortunately, leads to wrangling.